look. She had no sense of the city; she had no memory of being there. Twice a year, on each solstice, the four of them were taken to the small antechamber built into the Wall, where a balcony cityside overlooked the Lord’s Square. When she thought of the city, it was the Square she pictured: grand manors, graceful linden trees waving like the fans the lady courtiers carried these days, the same sea of pale golden-haired people dressed in their best and most vivid colors surging below. Never among them did she see hair or eyes like hers; always, Elban’s red-and-gold banner hung from every window ledge and lamppost. The air felt thicker in the Square, and smelled faintly of burning from the factories.
Elban’s solstice speeches tended to follow the pattern of the one he’d just given the Wilmerians: so much conquest already, more to come, steadfast in the face of evil, glory and glory and riches and glory. When the speech was done, the four of them were herded out onto the balcony. If she listened closely to the cheers from the gathered masses, she could pick out voices calling Gavin’s name, and Elly’s. Sometimes, for reasons she didn’t understand, she might even catch her own. Rarely poor Theron’s, but she didn’t think he’d ever noticed. The crowds and the noise made him feel sick and it was all he could do to stay on his feet. The height did the same to Elly and Judah had her hands full, keeping the two of them upright. Gavin claimed to hate solstices, too—although he always seemed to stand a bit straighter when the crowd chanted his name—but even so, they all had to appear. Protocol, the Seneschal said. Gavin said it was to prove they were still alive.
There were no crowds beneath her now, and the air that blew in from over the Wall, wherever it blew from, was crisp and alive. From here she couldn’t hear the calls of the coachmen who waited in the courtyard to carry the city-dwelling courtiers back to their manors, or the rattle of their wheels on the cobbles. After the crowds and heat of the hall the cool silence was a relief. She felt the scratch on her wrist and ignored it again.
In time, the terrace door creaked open behind her, and she heard the faint hush of silk. “How did you manage to get away so quickly?” Elly said.
“Misdirection.” Judah leaned against the railing. “Ducked out when the dancers came in. How’d you escape?”
The blonde girl, whose dress fit perfectly and whose hair was dressed with rubies, didn’t step through the door. The railing was high and solid and the terrace itself much wider than the balcony over the Square, but Elly still preferred to stay inside. “Gavin told the Seneschal I was sick from the wine, and he let me go. He said I have to work on building up my tolerance, though.”
“He didn’t give you a bottle to get started on that, did he?”
“He did not.”
“You should have taken one anyway. You were drinking Sevedran up there. Down in the pit, we were practically drinking vinegar.”
“It all tastes like vinegar to me.” Elly yawned. “Gavin said to stop ignoring him.”
“Being ignored is good for him.”
“I’ve always thought so. You’re lucky you got out when you did. I had to dance with the Guildmaster. He smells like a sick sheep.”
“How do you know what a sick sheep smells like?”
“I grew up in Tiernan. I’ve forgotten more about sheep than you’ll ever know. Anyway, you’re the one he should have danced with. He was full of questions about you.”
“Did he ask you if I stole Lady Clorin’s soul?” Judah said.
“Not in so many words.” Elly arched her back in a stretch, or as much of one as her dress would allow, and groaned. “Gods, I’m so glad they’re leaving. My mother would be horrified to learn that she sent me five hundred miles away from Tiernan and I still ended up doing blackwork until my hands ached. I’ve never been so glad to see the back of anything as I was that altar cloth.”
“I suggest being talentless. The Seneschal never asks me to make state gifts.”
“Only because people think they’ll end up cursed. By the way, there’s some cake inside for you. It’s good, it has that cream in the middle.”
“Thanks.”
“Also by the way,” Elly said, and her voice sounded so casual that Judah knew that whatever she was about to say