City of a Thousand Dolls (21 page)

Nisha wanted to let the subject drop, but fear—and the memory of Lashar’s wide, dead eyes—drove her on. Lashar was gone, Tanaya’s life had been threatened with that snake, and Jerrit had almost died. If Sashi knew anything, Nisha needed to know it too. “There are things happening that you don’t understand, Sashi. I’m trying to help.”

The brown hand holding the cutting knife trembled. “There
is
a lot going on that I don’t understand. Like how I could be standing here, cutting up roots, when suddenly I’m surrounded by snarling, growling animals. They wouldn’t let me take even one step away from the bench. I had no idea what was happening. Do you have any idea how terrifying that was?”

“They
snarled
at you?” Nisha looked at Esmer, who stared back without blinking.

We needed her. We were frightened too
.

“I’m sorry the cats scared you, Sashi,” Nisha said. “But they wouldn’t have hurt you.”

“How do you know that?” Sashi whirled around, the knife still in her hand. “Don’t tell me you can talk to them.”

Nisha swallowed and didn’t answer.

Sashi snorted. “Well, you keep your secrets, Nisha, and I’ll keep mine. I can’t tell you about the blood.” Sorrow and guilt twisted her features. “You’ll just have to trust me.”

Nisha grabbed Sashi’s arm. “Sashi, a girl was killed today, stabbed. You have to tell me how you got blood on your asar. Please.”

Sashi pulled her arm out of Nisha’s hand. “You think I stabbed someone?” she said. “You think I could
kill
?”

Nisha hesitated.

The hurt in Sashi’s face was like a blow. “Nisha, we were friends.”

Nisha crumpled like a paper kite. “We are friends.” Her protest sounded weak to her own ears.

“It doesn’t feel like that to me,” Sashi said, her voice raw. “The healers were right. Putting so much trust in friendships
is
unwise! Emotional attachments only hurt you and get in the way.” Sashi set the knife down on the table with a sharp
click
. “I should have listened.”

“Sashi—” Nisha said, holding out her hand. “Wait.”

But Sashi had already walked through the greenhouse door.

Nisha stared after her. For a moment, she considered running after her, but the anger in Sashi’s voice had cut deep. Nisha didn’t want to get tangled in another argument before she could give Sashi a solid reason to trust her.

She had to think.

After checking on Jerrit, Nisha lit a clay lamp and made her way back through the heavy black of Darkfall toward the Council House and her bedroom. Her shoulder and hand still hurt from the run-in with Zann, and her mind churned and frothed with questions.

How had Sashi gotten blood on her asar? Why wouldn’t she talk about it?

And what was she going to tell Matron?

Because she had to tell Matron something—Nisha had no doubt of that. She had to tell her enough to make her protect Tanaya. The killer had seriously threatened Tanaya once, and there was nothing stopping her from trying again. Not when whoever it was might move unseen and unnoticed in the House of Flowers itself.

If she told Matron about the note, Matron might forbid her to go to the quarry tomorrow. Or, worse, send someone to try to apprehend the killer. And if the killer escaped again, Tanaya would be in danger. Nisha couldn’t let that happen.

Nisha thought of Sashi working over Jerrit. She didn’t believe that her friend could have hurt anyone. It wasn’t just that she
liked
Sashi and didn’t want to believe the girl was a murderer. The idea went against every instinct she had. But more than that, it just didn’t fit. There was the connection to the House of Pleasure, for one thing. Sashi had no reason to visit that House. And there was no reason for her to be up on that roof with Atiy.

If only I could be sure
.

And that was the problem—Nisha couldn’t be sure. Not without knowing what Sashi was hiding.
What do you think?
she asked Esmer.
Should I tell Matron about Sashi?

I don’t know, Nisha
. Esmer’s mind-voice was as uncertain as Nisha had ever heard it.
I have never in my life bit the hand that fed me, but—

But what if another girl dies?
Nisha finished. She felt as if someone was twisting her insides.
Sashi just saved Jerrit. I don’t want to turn her in on a suspicion. But
I can’t let someone else die
.

I know
, Esmer sent.

The side door was locked. Nisha hit the thick wood of the door with her palm, feeling it sting with the force.

We’ll have to go in the front
.

The Council House was lit by long-burning torches on either side of the front steps. Nisha ran up the steps and pushed her way in. Still thinking about Sashi’s odd behavior, she walked quickly down the hall, forgetting to be quiet.

“Nisha.” Matron peered into the hallway, running a hand through her hair. “What’s wrong?”

Nisha scooped Esmer up in her arms, holding her as if she were a shield. She didn’t want to talk to Matron right now, not when she was tired, heartsick, and so confused she wanted to scream.

“Nothing happened. Someone locked the side door early. I’m sorry I disturbed you, Matron. I’ll be more quiet.”

Matron narrowed her eyes. “I’m afraid that’s not good enough. You’ve been neglecting your chores, which leads me to believe you’re pursuing an angle you haven’t told me about. Then you ran out of the House of Beauty without any explanation. Now you’re sneaking back in and you look like you’ve been in a fistfight.”

Nisha looked down at her gray asar, rumpled and streaked with Jerrit’s blood. “I … There was a medical emergency in the House of Jade, and they needed some extra hands. I was … passing by and they called me in. That’s all. Everything’s fine.”

“You’re lying, Nisha. And not very well.” Matron reached out and grabbed Nisha’s arm, her knobby fingers pressing her skin painfully. “I want the truth. I won’t let you go until you tell me.”

Nisha’s mind went blank.

She had to protect Sashi. She had to protect Tanaya. She had to speak. She had to stay silent.

“I … it’s nothing …”

Matron’s grip tightened.

Nisha hunched her shoulders, feeling defeated. “Not here,” she whispered, stalling for time.

Matron followed Nisha down the hall to the library. Flickering light from the fireplace played over the long shelves of scrolls. Matron shut the heavy oak door behind them. “Well?” she asked, folding her arms.

Nisha tightened her grip on Esmer. She could tell Matron about the attack on Tanaya.

“I found—I had a bad feeling,” she lied. “I was looking at Lashar’s body, and she looked so much like Tanaya.... I just had this horrible fear that Tanaya was in danger too. And she was.”

“She was?” Matron went pale around the mouth. “Is she all right? What happened?”

“She’s unhurt,” Nisha hastened to reassure her. “Someone put a blood krait in her rooms, but she’s fine.”

“I must put a guard on her,” Matron muttered. “I must increase security. How did she get away? How did
you
get away?”

A lump clogged Nisha’s throat. “Jerrit—Jerrit—one of the cats attacked the snake. He killed it, but he was wounded. That’s where this blood came from. I took him to the House of Jade.”

Lines of fear etched Matron’s face. “What is happening to my City, Nisha?”

“I don’t know,” Nisha whispered. She thought of Sashi’s shaking hands and the pulse beating in her own throat.

Matron gave her a sharp glance. “Is there something you’re not telling me, Nisha?”

Nisha squirmed. “No,” she said, trying desperately to make her voice calm and convincing. “Nothing else happened.”

Matron reached out and grabbed Nisha’s wrist. Her face was harder than Nisha had ever seen it. “Don’t push me, Nisha. If Tanaya is in danger, then the stakes have just gone up more than you can possibly imagine, and I
will
do anything I have to in order to protect this City. Hold back on me, and I will sell you myself.”

The betrayal of her old protector’s words made Nisha feel as if someone had punched her in the stomach. It would be that easy for Matron to hand her over, for her life to be gone. How could Nisha take care of her friends if no one would take care of her?

A dam somewhere within Nisha broke. She felt the words flow out: She told Matron about Sashi saving Jerrit in the greenhouse, about the blood on Sashi’s asar. “It doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the murders,” she finished dumbly. “One of the servants could have cut themselves, or Sashi could have brushed against a bloody asar without realizing it. She could be protecting someone else who was careless.”

“It’s possible.” Matron frowned. “And I would not have considered Sashi—” She shook herself. “Say nothing of this to anyone, Nisha. I must decide how best to use this information.” Her words were a dismissal, but Nisha didn’t move.

“I don’t think you should take action yet,” Nisha argued. “We don’t
know
anything. Give me time to figure this out. Please.”

She swallowed down her desperation, aiming for a persuasive tone instead. “The House of Pleasure connection, for example. That can’t be a coincidence.” She forced herself to look Matron straight in the eyes, as if they were equals. “It will look bad if we accuse the wrong person, even worse if the killer turns out not to be a House girl at all.”

“True,” Matron said. “I will do what I can.” She turned to go, then looked back, her mouth hard. “But let me be very clear, Nisha. If it would save the City of a Thousand Dolls, I would sacrifice any girl here. Even you.”

Nisha was too tired to push anymore. “I understand,” she said. “Good night.”

As soon as Matron left, Nisha sank down on one of the low padded benches that dotted the library. Esmer snuggled against her, and Nisha closed her eyes.

Did we do the right thing?
Nisha asked the gray cat.

Esmer did not answer.

THE SOUND OF rustling paper brought Nisha out of her restless sleep. There was no warm cat next to her, and as she blinked awake, she realized it was day.

Something moved in front of the long window, a dark smudge against the gray light.

Nisha blinked. The smudge resolved itself into a girl seated cross-legged on the floor, her hands holding a scroll. The girl was wrapped in a black overrobe, the hood pushed down. The light turned her bent head to burnished gold.

“Tani?” Nisha propped herself up on one elbow. A hectic flush stained Tanaya’s smooth cheeks, and faint lines accented her perfect mouth. The light from the window threw her cheekbones into sharp relief.

“You look terrible,” Nisha blurted before she could stop herself.

A flash of fear crossed Tanaya’s face. She put down the scroll and picked up the fan lying next to her.

“It’s the strain of the Redeeming coming so soon,” she said. “I’ve been getting so pale and puffy lately.”

“No—” Nisha started, but Tanaya cut her off with an imperious wave of her fan.

“I appreciate your concern, Nisha, but please stop.” Her voice was heavy with an arrogance that Nisha had never heard before. At least, not directed at her.

Nisha pushed down a stab of hurt. Tanaya
was
under a tremendous strain. She probably didn’t realize how she sounded.

“What are you doing here, Tanaya? You have music lessons in the morning.”

“It’s not morning,” Tanaya said, a smile lifting her face. “It’s well after lunch. I asked Matron to let you sleep. It was the least I could do after last night.” She shuddered. “That snake gave me nightmares. How is your cat?”

Nisha smiled. The relief of Jerrit’s recovery was like a warm blanket she hugged to herself. “He’ll be all right. Where did that horrible thing come from?”

Tanaya started playing with her fan, opening and closing it aimlessly. “I have no idea. I opened my chest to change my asar, and there it was, staring at me.”

“It’s a good thing it hadn’t slithered farther down into the chest,” Nisha said. “If you had reached in without seeing it—”

Tanaya wrinkled her nose. “Let’s not think of that.”

But Nisha could not stop thinking of it. She knew why the snake hadn’t been placed in the bottom of the chest. It had been a warning, not a true attempt on Tanaya’s life. Nisha and the killer were playing a game now, one that she wasn’t at all sure she could win. She knew the only way she could keep the killer from striking again was to go to the quarry. Tonight. Before anyone else got hurt.

Nisha went to Tanaya and hugged her hard, feeling the knifelike shoulder blades under her black overrobe.

“It’s over now,” she said.

“Really?” Tanaya asked, with unexpected vulnerability.

“Really,” Nisha said, looking her friend in the eye. Tanaya had protected her when Nisha was a child. Now Nisha was going to protect her. “Trust me.”

Tanaya smiled.

The door to the library flew open with a bang. Matron looked both calm and deeply displeased as she strode into the room, filling it with her presence.

“Tanaya, where have you been? House Mistress Indrani is looking for you. You are taking dinner with High Prince Sudev’s representative today—have you forgotten?”

Tanaya’s smile drained away, and the fan in her hand snapped open and shut in a dance of irritation. “I am speaking to Nisha,” she said. “And I intend to go on speaking with her. I will have plenty of time to prepare for dinner.”

“Indrani is looking for you,” Matron repeated. “To choose the asar you will wear to dinner. No more of these somber colors. And for the love of heaven, girl, eat something this time. You’re growing too thin as it is, and we don’t want the prince to think you’re getting sick.”

Tanaya drew herself up until she was as narrow and tight as a well rope. “
I
choose my wardrobe,” she said. “Not you, and not Indrani. I will wear exactly what I choose to wear. I will eat exactly what I choose to eat. Nothing more.”

“Girl, you are forgetting yourself.” Matron’s quiet tone sent shivers down Nisha’s spine.

“But Matron, I am never allowed to forget.” Tanaya made a gesture with her fan that Nisha couldn’t identify. “I would remind you that you need me more than I need you. I owe you
nothing
. Do you hear? Nothing!”