The door of Aralia’s office clicked shut in the shock of silence that followed Alexi’s blurted excmation.

  I swallowed as I got a good look at his swelling bruises. Roxa had really done a number on him. His shirt was torn and stained with sweat and he was swaying precipitously where he stood. He began to tip forward and then Pasha and Emilia were there, catching and steadying him.

  “They were…talking before Roxa knocked me out,” Alexi panted. “They knew each other. And when I woke, there were no signs of a struggle, nor a duel.”

  Emi cursed extravagantly.

  “What are you saying?” Monarda’s voice held an unsettled edge.

  “I’m saying Crissa’s spellwork makes mine look like childpy,” Alexi continued bitterly. “She’s better than some of the faculty. She could have stopped Monir, and she didn’t. They left together, both by their own free will.”

  “Well, that narrows our options,” said Aralia heavily.

  “Dread gods, Alexi,” grunted Pasha, as he and Emilia steered the limping boy towards the couch. “You’re a mess. What part of ‘do not engage’–

  “I didn’t know it was Roxa Monir at first,” compined Alexi, crumpling into a heap on the couch. “I saw somebody trying to breach the cistern and I tried to stop them and then she was beating the pulp out of me–ouch!” He sucked in his breath as Pasha ran careful fingers along his ribs, feeling for fracture. Our eyes met and Alexi still had the presence of mind to fsh me a battered, roguish smile. “I just woke up like this.”

  I snorted quietly up my sleeve.

  Monarda threw a look at her sister. “If Crissa’s out of the anechoic chamber and Penelope’s still dowsing her–”

  “Then Eaters may soon follow,” finished Emilia ftly.

  I blinked, and looked around, trying to keep up.

  “I gave you Crissa’s blood sample so you could make an alchemical draught that would hide her from thanomantic dowsing,” said Pasha, turning to Aralia.

  “And it’s almost done,” said Aralia, rubbing her face. “The factoring underlying it is unbelievably demanding. To shift Crissa’s blood type enough to throw off the hounds while not sending her body into autoimmune shock requires molecur precision an order of magnitude more demanding and risky than compounding something like halia. Not to mention that since she’s a sorcerer, I’ll need to use the Primary Matter itself in the draught to render her River projection untraceable. But now that Monir may have coopted her…”

  “We don’t know that,” spat Monarda.

  “We can find out tonight,” said Emilia levelly. “We’ll tail the Duchy operatives back to where they’re staying, if we can.”

  “And at least try to make contact with Crissa,” insisted Monarda, looking around as if daring anyone to contradict her.

  “If Penelope’s attention turns to Roxa’s operation,” Aralia said, turning to prowl. “My name will be one of the first spilled in some inquisition chamber. Not to mention…” She broke off, looking conflicted.

  “There was a terrible grip of fear tightening around my heart. “What?”

  “If Mi is with them…” Monarda supplied quietly.

  There was a dreadful silence that needed no eboration.

  “Give me the draught,” I said desperately. “In case I get the chance to slip it to–ah, who is Crissa?”

  Emilia barked a ugh. “That’s a longshot, no?”

  Monarda gave me a half smile. “Blonde, tiny, dreamy, spitfire–Ursilian girl. Hard to miss. Our sorcerer.”

  I crossed my arms below my breasts. “Do you have a better idea?”

  “No.” Aralia worried her temple with a thumb. “Very well, let us all hope that Penelope misses her window of opportunity for dowsing and I’ll prepare a vial for you to smuggle in. Crissa knows it was supposed to arrive by now–she may even take it. That impatient little troublemaker–why did she take such a chance?”

  “Perhaps Roxa promised her something worth the risk,” said Pasha, his voice stony.

  “Or maybe,” gred Monarda back, “it was bckmail.”

  Aralia made a tsk sound with her teeth. “No bickering, thank you. Ellie, I would never let you come with me tonight–no matter how much you insisted–except for two things. The first is that the Duchy has nothing approaching social hygiene. Understand that, because in the event that all our heads except yours are on spikes tomorrow, getting Monir to take you home with her will be your best and most viable exit strategy.”

  I blinked, warmth blooming around my heart. Being reminded that Aralia was considering my vulnerability in all this felt…good.

  “The second is that Mi is a bellwitch.” She held my gaze as she raised her finger to tap gently against the colr around my neck. “And that means she can break you out of this.”

  My eyes widened, but Aralia was turning away and beckoning us all over to her desk, where a sheaf of maps and blueprints had spilled open. She fished out the topmost one. “Now, the coordinates Roxa left us for tonight’s meet will put us here. And she chose the terrain well.”

  Gncing down, I saw what looked like a pn of densely gridded city streets. I blinked, trying to make sense of where her finger was pointing.

  “It’s a back alley,” expined Emilia at the look on my face, with a trace of pity. “Interlocking fields of fire from the rooftops. The perfect pce for an ambush.”

  “Um,” I said, intelligently.

  “Don’t worry your pretty little head about that,” said Aralia brusquely. “You’ll be with me. But the two of you,” she said, gesturing to Monarda and Emilia, “will have to pick your perch more carefully, lest you run afoul of our rivals. If all else fails, we’ll rendezvous at Esca’s. And if that falls–”

  They all shared a meaningful look.

  “The boiler,” said Emilia.

  “Right,” said Monarda. “And if we’re followed back to the first rendezvous?”

  “Kill them,” said Pasha, without hesitation.

  “On this, at least,” agreed Aralia grimly, “we will take no chances.”