City of a Thousand Dolls (16 page)

Nisha considered this. “What if Jina found something in the scrolls that someone was willing to kill for? She mentioned the Shadow-walkers—”

Matron set her scroll down with a snap. “Please, Nisha. The Shadow-walkers are a legend, a tale the servants use to scare young children.” Her eyes slid away from Nisha’s. “You’ll have to do better than silly rumors if you want the Council to believe that you can solve this.”

Rubbing the back of her neck, Matron picked up another scroll, her voice steady. “If that’s all, I have a lot of work to do. You’re dismissed.”

Nisha stared at Matron, her mouth open.

Matron was lying to her. The way she’d shut down the conversation, the way she’d glanced away, all of it reeked of a lie. Matron could be evasive, even manipulative, but to Nisha’s knowledge she had never outright lied to her before. It was unexpectedly painful.

Matron looked up. “Is that everything, Nisha? I said you’re dismissed.”

It was a clear command, and Nisha obeyed it. She walked out of the study, her heart thumping with the betrayal.

Matron had lied to her, had tried to throw her off course. Nisha knew it down to her core. And if Matron was lying, that meant that some part of the rumors had to be true.

Nisha quickened her steps. Somewhere on the estate there might be a House that trained assassins, a shadow House that no one knew about. A House that could be connected to Jina’s death.

And Nisha had to find it.

To some eyes, Aarya’s death looks like a simple training accident. But the Mistress of Shadows is convinced that the novice Aarya stepped into the path of that dagger on purpose. Aarya had become increasingly restless and distraught over her future, begging to be transferred to another House, calling herself a monster.

I and no other bear the guilt for her death, but what could I do? Aarya was raised in the ways of the Black Lotus. It would have been too dangerous to put her with the other girls. My concern is the City as a whole. If the novices knew all the things we trained girls for, knew the dark requests we are sometimes called upon to fill…

There was no other choice. But I do not think I will sleep well for some time.

From the scrolls of the Matron of the Houses

NISHA CLOSED HER eyes and saw the City of a Thousand Dolls as if she were looking at a builder’s plans. There were the six Houses: the House of Flowers, the House of Beauty, the House of Pleasure, the House of Combat, the House of Jade, and the House of Music. There was the Council House, the bathhouse, the cremation field, the gardens, the stables, the forest—

Her eyes flew open. The forest, the one behind the House of Combat. Nisha had been to every corner of the estate, but she had never bothered to go deep into the small forest inside the walls. The trees were too thick, reminding her of the woods outside the City.

But if I were hiding a House full of assassins, that’s exactly where I’d put it
, Nisha thought.
That’s where I have to go next
.

Getting into the forest was easy. Combat novices practiced scouting in the fringes all the time, so all Nisha had to do was put on her Combat tunic and trousers, and she blended right in.

It was
finding
the House that proved difficult.

After creeping past all the Combat girls on the outskirts of the forest, watching, listening, and searching for what felt like hours, Nisha was hot and discouraged. There were no paths through the forest, and the trees grew close together. Her tunic caught on branches, bushes, and thorns. As the trees thickened and the light dimmed, she could barely see her own feet.

What in the name of the Long-Tailed Cat are you doing out here?
The voice was low and tinged with amusement. Esmer appeared like a ghost near Nisha’s feet. Her dark-gray spots were black in the fading light.

Are you looking for what I think you’re looking for?
Esmer sent.

“That depends,” Nisha said, folding her arms. “Are you following me?”

Of course
, Esmer sent, without shame.
You didn’t think we’d let you go hunting by yourself, did you? Besides, this forest is my favorite spot to catch breakfast
.

Nisha almost bit her tongue in frustration. The cats hunted all over the estate. Of course they would know if there was a secret House somewhere. Nisha was starting to get the feeling that the cats knew a lot more than she did about this place.

I need to find the House that trains assassins
, she sent.
It’s important
.

Esmer flicked her slender tail.
Why?

“Because people are dying,” Nisha snapped. “And I need to find out why.”

Esmer shook herself.
I suppose I can’t blame you for that
, she sent.
The House you’re looking for is called the House of Shadows, but they have nothing to do with any of this
.

Nisha pushed past a wild rosebush, scratching her hand in the process. “How could you possibly know that?” she asked, holding up her hand. “Never mind. I have to talk to them myself. If I can ever find them, that is.”

Well, you’ve been going in circles for about twenty minutes
.

Nisha stopped. She had passed this way before.

Esmer sat in one of the few beams of soft light and washed her ears.

Nisha waited. All her years with the cats had taught her patience. Esmer yawned and began to lick her shoulder clean.

The cat curled up and closed her eyes.

Nisha gave up. “Esmer!”

The cat blinked.
What?

“Do you know where the House of Shadows is?”

Maybe
. Esmer started to wash her tail.

“Will you tell me how to get there? Please?” Nisha forced the “please” through clenched teeth. She knew better than to be rude to a cat when she needed a favor.

Esmer sat straight, her playful manner gone.
On one condition
.
You take me with you. You need someone at your back
.

Nisha bent down and petted the cat’s sleek fur. She had a point. If Esmer was wrong, and the Shadow-walkers did have something to do with Jina’s death, walking in there alone would be the height of stupidity. Nisha would still do it, but it would be stupid nonetheless.

“All right, you can come,” she said. “Will they talk to me?”

Esmer gave a purr that shook her body like a laugh would a human’s.
You might be surprised
.

The way to the House of Shadows was a deer trail, so narrow that it was almost invisible. Thick, thorny trees grabbed at Nisha’s legs. Esmer led the way, a pale flicker in the still gloom.

Finally they stepped out of the trees and into a natural clearing. A small brick building occupied one corner. Like the Houses she knew, it was copper trimmed and flat roofed. A greenish-black blanket of heavy vines smothered half the structure. Ropes, some smooth and slender, others thick and knotted, hung down the sides. Shadows blurred the roof.

Fascinated, Nisha stepped forward, ignoring Esmer’s warning hiss.

Nisha! Don’t!

Something leaped onto Nisha from a nearby tree, slamming her into the ground. Blinding pain shot through her cheek. Someone forced a gag into her mouth, a silk cloth that tasted like black pepper and burned her tongue and lips. Slender cords that cut like wire bound her wrists and ankles. There was a jabbing pressure between her shoulder blades that felt very much like a knee. Through watery eyes, Nisha saw a black leather boot step into her field of vision.

“Adequate, Mayanti, quite adequate.” The voice was like velvet over ice, soft and freezing to the touch. “You snapped a twig before you leaped, though. If this intruder had not been staring like a frightened goat, she would have heard you, perhaps pulled a knife, like this.”

There was a flicker of motion just above her, and the weight on Nisha’s back grew very still. A warm drop of liquid dripped onto Nisha’s cheek, and it wasn’t until it ran down and touched the corner of her mouth, all copper and bitter and sweet, that she realized it was blood.

“Tell me the price of carelessness, Mayanti,” the velvety voice commanded.

“Death, Shadow Mistress.” The girl sounded neither terrified nor hurt, just calm and wary.

“And the price of hesitation?” More hot blood dribbled into Nisha’s hair and trickled into her ear. She fought to keep from struggling.

“Death, Shadow Mistress,” the girl said.

The Shadow Mistress’s voice dropped to a purring whisper. “And the price of failure?”

The girl shifted, sending a twisting pain through Nisha’s spine.

“Death,” she said. “The Black Lotus has never failed. The Black Lotus will never fail. We are the shadow in the alley, the arrow in the dark. We are—”

“
Death
,” the woman finished, a tinge of amusement warming the words. “You have performed to expectation, Mayanti. You may go.”

The pressure melted off Nisha’s back, and the cords were whisked away as though they had never been there. Nisha scrambled to her feet and tore off the gag. She wiped the blood from her cheek and ear; then, her mouth still burning, she turned to meet the Mistress of the House of Shadows.

She was the thinnest woman Nisha had ever seen. The House Mistress’s hair was cropped close to her head, and her eyes were so dark brown they looked black.

“What do you want at the House of Shadows?” the woman asked in her cold, soft voice. Her hollow eyes, and the sticklike thinness of the woman’s arms and legs, gave Nisha the uneasy impression that she was talking to a skeleton. “How did you find us? Why have you come?” Her long, thin fingers twirled, the flash of knives glittering in her hands.

Esmer wound herself between Nisha’s ankles.
Pick me up
, she sent.

Why?
Nisha sent.

Trust me, Nisha. Pick me up
.

Without taking her eyes off the motionless woman, Nisha bent down and gathered the spotted cat into her arms.

As she straightened up, she caught a flash of recognition in the Shadow Mistress’s eyes. But all the woman said was “Follow me.”

Nisha put Esmer down and followed the Shadow Mistress across the clearing and through the heavy front door, the spotted cat trailing behind. The House Mistress wore a tunic and trousers of mottled brown and gray, like the flickering shadows in the forest. In the dark, narrow hallway, she almost disappeared.

The Shadow Mistress directed Nisha to a tiny side study, empty but for two chairs and a wall of cabinets made from the same dark wood as the front door. Nisha sat on a hard chair and forced herself not to look all around her.

The Shadow Mistress stared at her for a long time, and Nisha felt as if the woman’s eyes were taking in every detail. “Nisha Arvi,” she said finally. “You’ve grown since I last saw you.”

Nisha gaped at her. “How do you know me?” she asked.

“You don’t remember?” The Shadow Mistress studied Nisha’s face as if looking for something she’d lost. “I was the one who brought you into the City.”

What?
Nisha looked down at Esmer, who stared back impassively. Nisha closed her eyes, thinking back to the memory she’d played a thousand times. The hard stone against her back, watching her father walk into the woods, and then…

And then—like a scroll unrolling—the memory stretched a little further. Nisha remembered a lean woman with wiry muscles and short black hair coming out of the gate. A hand held out, a voice tinged with pity but underlined with steel.

Come inside, Nisha
.

Nisha opened her eyes. “You’ve changed,” she said.

For a moment, she was afraid the Shadow Mistress would be offended, but the woman gave a barely discernable shrug. “My profession is not an easy one. And ten years is a long time.”

“How did you know I’d been left there?” Nisha asked.

The Shadow Mistress turned away. “That is not what you came here to ask. There is another question in the set of your mouth, one important enough to brave my woods and my novices. State it, and be on your way.”

All of Nisha’s half-formed plans dissolved like smoke on a hot day. The Shadow Mistress’s eyes stared through her, and Nisha knew—without knowing how—that those eyes had seen more lies than any one person could tell in a lifetime. This woman would accept only the complete and utter truth.

Esmer jumped up into Nisha’s lap.

She took a deep breath and told the Shadow Mistress about the two deaths and everything that had happened since she had come upon Atiy’s dead body two days before. When she was finished, the woman sat unmoving for a long time.

“You suspect my daughters?” The ice in her voice was so thick and hard that Nisha felt bruised by it. She hesitated, opened her mouth—

“Do not think to engage me in a dance of words, girl,” the Shadow Mistress said. “I have played the game of intrigue for longer than you have been alive, and I tire of it. Answer me true. Do you suspect my daughters killed these girls?”

“No!” Nisha almost shouted, louder than she’d intended. Quieter, she said, frustrated, “I mean, that wasn’t the only reason I came. I hadn’t thought that far yet.” She swallowed and hugged Esmer closer. “But they could have. I mean … you do train assassins, don’t you?”

To her amazement, the Shadow Mistress let out a barking laugh.

“The Black Lotus is more than an assassins’ guild,” she said. “It is a way of life that requires focus and stern discipline. All day yesterday I had my daughters in meditation and balance exercises. They were all in the same room with me from Firstlight to Darkfall. We did not even stop to eat. While I cannot say where they were this morning or two days ago, I can tell you none of them were gone yesterday.”

The Shadow Mistress’s voice turned as flat and cold as a frosted pane of glass. “I tell you the truth, Nisha, I ordered no such killing. If one of my daughters ever took a life without permission,
I
would deal with it.”

Nisha remembered the novice’s blood trickling over her cheek and shuddered. The Shadow Mistress’s way of dealing with disobedience would no doubt be very painful and very final.

But Nisha still had to ask the question she’d come here to ask. “This House is a secret,” she said. “One that Jina had somehow uncovered. Who would kill to protect that secret?”