to the throne room, Vasin stopped while the servant sang of his arrival. Anuja’s attendants sang back that Anuja was here and ready to receive him. Only then did he step forward, planting himself on the threshold.
‘Lady Anuja Ruby, hand of your High Lord, I stand at your door and ask that it might be opened. I stand within your walls and ask that they might shelter me. I stand with a hand outstretched in friendship, and ask that you might take it.’
Anuja was seated on a wide padded couch. She too was bound in silk, white, a high-necked gown fitted over it, with broad sleeves cuffed in Wrath Tear red, and lined in Vexation’s darker shade. Had he not known it was there, he would have missed the hint of gold on her cheeks. Her left eye was unadorned to make the golden legend around her right blaze in contrast. It struck him as odd that she had not risen to greet him. Perhaps the servant had been instructed to be disrespectful, a prelude to the true insult.
And yet when she spoke, her voice was warm. ‘Lord Vasin Sapphire, sky master, Ruby-friend. Fly to me as you did on your last visit and you will find my hand is ready to clasp yours, tight and true.’
She raised her hand and he strode across the room until he stood before her. Still, she did not rise, so he bowed as he took it. They locked eyes as well as fingers.
Vasin was never the best at reading faces but even he could see how tired she looked, the fierceness of gaze that he usually admired seeming to quiver like a nervous candle.
Anuja gestured for him to sit, and the servants arranged his gown around him before turning back his sleeves. Then they placed a selection of dumplings on a low table between them, and poured two glasses of sweet wine before retreating to the edges of the room.
‘I was sorry to hear about your mother,’ he began.
‘Thank you. We sorely miss her strength.’
‘Were you there when it happened?’
‘No, we always leave one behind in case the worst happens.’ There was a bitterness in her words, and Vasin remembered that the last time the Ruby High Lord had gone travelling, Anuja had been left behind, the High Lord taking her older sister.
‘I’ve never seen the Toothsack with my own eyes,’ she continued, ‘but I hear it was a great battle. Our Story-singers are already preparing a work to honour it.’
‘I hear the Toothsack was wounded but not killed.’
A little of her normal spark returned. ‘Much like your own encounter with the Corpseman, yes?’
‘Yes.’
‘Like us, the things of the Wild have a way of coming back.’
‘Speaking of that, may I ask how quickly your mother and sister will begin their next lifecycles?’
She made a short gesture and the servants left the room. ‘Actually, I was hoping to talk to you about this very thing.’
‘Me?’
‘Yes. I wanted to ask your advice.’
‘Lady Anuja, I am not known for my wisdom. But,’ he added hastily, ‘it’s yours if you want it.’
‘My mother has prepared a vessel for her next lifecycle but the next auspicious alignment is over a year away. Normally, I’d wait, but with things as they are …’
‘What’s the alternative? Even we need the favour of the suns.’
‘There’s a partial alignment coming in two weeks.’
Vasin frowned. A partial alignment would place the rebirth at risk. To even consider it Anuja must be desperate. He asked, ‘Can we talk as we did before, as friends?’
‘Please. I’d like that. Acting as the High Lord’s hand is … tiring.’
‘I believe it and I want to help. How bad are things here, really?’
She sipped at her wine, prompting Vasin to do the same. ‘The Toothsack didn’t just take my mother, any more than the Wild took my sister; it decimated our hunters. The ones we’re fielding now are barely more than apprentices. Normally, a successful hunt silences the Wild, but the Toothsack’s attack seems unrelated to the other troubles.’
‘Have you had any trouble from Quiverhive?’
‘No. We’ve had Murkers, and at least one Weeper. And all kinds of rumours. My people are afraid, Vasin. They’re jumping at shadows, seeing all kinds of things that aren’t there. That hopefully aren’t there, I mean. We don’t expect the Toothsack to return any time soon, but just in case I’m making sure that no Deathless hunts with mortals alone. That’s possible at the moment with support from the other houses, but they won’t stay here forever.’
‘House Tanzanite sent three Deathless, didn’t they?’ Anuja nodded and he continued, ‘Was Lady Pari among them?’
‘Last I heard, she was between lives.’
‘Still?’
‘I believe she’ll be undergoing a rebirth any day now. Do you need her?’
‘Not exactly.’
The gold around her eye flashed in the gemslight ‘You’re hiding something from me.’
It was true. He was. But much as he wished to confide in Anuja, some secrets were too dark for their budding friendship. ‘I’m sorry.’
There was a pause and they both sipped from their drinks.
‘Well,’ she said. ‘I am still glad you came. Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I was hoping House Sapphire would send at least two Deathless so that I could relieve some of the others. And where are your hunters?’
‘I’m afraid I’m all you’ve got.’
She digested this for a while. ‘The last time you came to us without escort, you were here as messenger. It made sense for you to fly alone for the sake of speed. This time you are here to hunt. It makes no sense to hunt alone.’
Vasin kept his face neutral.
‘Could the great House Sapphire not spare any of its hunters to support you?’
‘My High Lord believes they are all needed at home.’
‘How are things in your lands?’
He wanted to just come out and say it: he hadn’t been sent. He’d come alone so that no others would suffer for his actions. ‘Things are quiet. High Lord Yadavendra would tell you this is only the case because we are being so vigilant.’
‘Yes, I have heard many tales of how vigilant the Sapphire have become. We had thought your wingless hunters a passing fashion but they seem to have lingered. No tales of battles against demons have reached us, but there are many stories of harassment suffered by any house traders not flying a blue flag. Perhaps you could make sense of them to me, Lord Vasin?’
‘Would that I could.’
‘Houses
