the pillars that mark the entrance to the city. Here, buildings on the fringe of the bustling market and courthouse are mostly five or six stories and boxed around the cathedral. The closer the buildings are to the cathedral the tighter and taller they are, packed like crooked teeth leaning into a gap.
The fringe has a line of posts for horses, as the cobblestone streets are labyrinthine and crowded. The right of way is for pedestrians like those farm girls with small brass libbies in their pockets. Esteban is already tying his horse to a post, the creature lapping up water from a trough. He pretends like he doesn’t know me, which is no different than when we’re in ángeles.
“Take your gloves off,” Margo murmurs as she comes to a stop beside me. “They’re a dead giveaway in the height of summer.”
I do as she says and ball my bare hands into fists, feeling naked in the morning light.
“Stay close to me,” Margo whispers. She links her arm with mine, and my entire body tenses. Warmth radiates off her, the pull of her magics surrounding me, and when I look down, I stare at my hands in awe. They’re not the flawless, soft hands of a highborn girl, but they aren’t the scarred hands of a Robári either.
“Thank you,” I say. “For this, and for helping me.”
“I’m here for Dez, not for you,” she says. “Though I’ll admit I was impressed.”
“Why?” I’m too tired to laugh, so it comes out as a huff.
“From our lessons, I’ve always thought of you as Illan’s pet. I never thought you’d defy him.”
“Not my fault I’m his most clever pupil.”
“Obedient is not the same as clever,” she says with a smirk. I realize it’s not for my benefit but for the guards changing stations.
In their dark purple-and-brown leather uniforms, they remind me of the men in the forest. The one Margo blinded and the one Dez killed.
We enter the open city gates in silence. Esteban and Sayida keep their distance so as not to draw attention to our group, but we try to remain in one another’s sight.
The capital has a way of making you feel like you’re adrift at sea. There are commotions everywhere. Loud voices shout out the price specials for bright green tomatillos, and dairy farmers offer samplings of salty, stinky cheeses. Vintners from the southwest of the kingdom sell their products by the barrel while wealthy merchant women stroll in high-heeled boots so as not to dirty their fine silk dresses with the sludge that dots every street corner and fills the empty spaces between the cobblestones.
At one point, a child as tall as my knee brushes against me, and I look down in time to see a hand dip into my pocket.
“Hey!” I say, but before I can do anything, the girl darts away, disappearing immediately into the crowd.
“She must be training,” Esteban whispers, coming up beside me. “It’s clear from our footwear that our pockets are probably empty.”
“Training?” I ask.
Esteban shoves his hands in his pockets, flashing an easy smile like we’re two friends at a market. “When you’re small like that, you usually practice on the people who look just as poor as you. That way if you’re caught, you know they’re too poor to bribe the citadela guard to help them.”
I look at him in surprise. “How do you know this?”
“I was the best pickpocket in Crescenti,” he says, his white smile breaking across his brown skin. I can’t remember the last time he smiled at me so often. “Folks were so used to looking away from the poor they didn’t even notice they’d been robbed blind.”
“I didn’t know you lived on the streets,” I say.
“There’s a lot we don’t know about each other.” Esteban picks up a ripe peach from a vendor and throws a pesito in his direction. The sweetness of the fruit’s scent mingles with the smells of the sizzling fried pork belly being readied for the afternoon crowds, the black café beans roasting in a large metal container, and the sewer water that runs in a river along the sidewalks.
“How are we supposed to get to the palace gate?” Margo asks as she sidles up beside me. She pulls out her handkerchief and dabs the sweat on her face.
Sayida and Esteban keep walking to the café vendor. She loops her arm around his to make them look like a couple. She buys two cups, and I don’t miss Esteban’s frown as he