“Not if you’re rich,” Jesper added. “Then they take you to a cemetery in the country, where your corpse can enjoy the fresh air.”
Matthias hated Black Veil, but he could acknowledge it had served them well. The rumors of hauntings kept squatters at bay, and the mist that surrounded the twisting willows and stone masts of the graves obscured the occasional lantern light.
Of course, none of that would matter if people heard Nina and Jesper arguing at the top of their lungs. They must have returned to the island and left their gondel on the north side. Nina’s irritated voice floated over the graves, and Matthias felt a surge of relief, his steps quickening, eager for the sight of her.
“I don’t think you’re showing proper appreciation for what I just went through,” Jesper was saying as he stomped through the cemetery.
“You spent a night at the tables losing someone else’s money,” Nina shot back. “Isn’t that essentially a holiday for you?”
Kaz knocked his cane hard against a gravestone and they both went quiet, moving swiftly into fighting stances.
Nina relaxed as soon as she caught sight of the three of them in the shadows. “Oh, it’s you.”
“Yes, it’s us.” Kaz used his cane to herd them both toward the center of the island. “And you would have heard us if you hadn’t been busy shouting at each other. Stop gawking like you’ve never seen a girl in a dress before, Matthias.”
“I wasn’t gawking,” Matthias said with as much dignity as he could muster. But for Djel’s sake, what was he supposed to look at when Nina had irises tucked between … everything.
“Be quiet, Brekker,” Nina said. “I like it when he gawks.”
“How did the mission go?” Matthias asked, trying to keep his eyes on her face. It was easy when he realized how tired she looked beneath the cosmetics she’d applied. She even took the arm he offered, leaning on him slightly as they made their way over the uneven terrain. The night had taken a toll. She shouldn’t be traipsing around the Barrel in scraps of silk; she should be resting. But the days until Van Eck’s deadline were dwindling, and Matthias knew Nina would allow herself no comfort until Inej was safe.
“It’s not a mission; it’s a job,” Nina corrected. “And it went splendidly.”
“Yeah,” said Jesper. “Splendidly. Except that my revolvers are currently collecting dust in the Club Cumulus safe. Smeet was afraid to walk home with them, the hopeless podge. Just thinking of my babies in his sweaty hands—”
“No one told you to wager them,” said Kaz.
“You dealt me into a corner. How the hell else was I supposed to get Smeet to stay at the tables?”
Kuwei poked his head out of the huge stone tomb as they approached.
“What did I tell you?” Kaz growled, pointing his cane at him.
“My Kerch isn’t very good,” protested Kuwei.
“Don’t run game on me, kid. It’s good enough. Stay in the tomb.”
Kuwei hung his head. “Stay in the tomb,” he repeated glumly.
They followed the Shu boy inside. Matthias loathed this place. Why build such monuments to death? The tomb was constructed to look like an ancient cargo ship, its interior carved into a vast stone hull. It even had stained-glass portholes that cast rainbows on the crypt floor in the late afternoon. According to Nina, the carvings of palm trees and snakes on the walls indicated that the family had been spice traders. But they must have fallen on hard times or simply taken their dead elsewhere, because only one of the vaults had a resident, and the narrow passages on either side of the main hull were equally empty.
Nina pulled the pins from her hair, shucked off the blonde wig, and tossed it on the table they’d set in the middle of the tomb. She slumped into a chair, rubbing her fingers along her scalp. “So much better,” she said with a happy sigh. But Matthias could not ignore the almost greenish cast to her skin.
She was worse tonight. Either she’d run into trouble with Smeet or she’d simply overexerted herself. And yet, watching her, Matthias felt something in him ease. At least now she looked like Nina again, her brown hair in damp tangles, her eyes half-shut. Was it normal to be fascinated by the way someone slouched?
“Guess what we saw on our way out of the Lid?” she asked.
Jesper started digging through their food stores. “Two Shu warships sitting in the harbor.”
She threw a hairpin at him. “I was going to make them guess.”
“Shu?” asked Kuwei, returning to where he’d spread his notebooks over the table.
Nina nodded. “Cannons out, red flags flying.”
“I talked to Specht earlier,” said Kaz. “The embassies are full up with diplomats and soldiers. Zemeni, Kaelish, Ravkan.”
“You think they know about Kuwei?” Jesper asked.
“I think they know about parem ,” said Kaz. “Rumors, at least. And there were plenty of interested parties at the Ice Court to pick up gossip about Kuwei’s … liberation.” He turned his gaze on Matthias. “The Fjerdans are here too. They’ve got a whole contingent of drüskelle with them.”
Kuwei sighed mournfully, and Jesper plunked down next to him, giving him a nudge with his shoulder. “Isn’t it nice to be wanted?”
Matthias said nothing. He did not like to think about the fact that his old friends, his old commander, might be only a few miles from them. He wasn’t sorry for the things he’d done at the Ice Court, but that didn’t mean he had made peace with them either.
Wylan reached for one of the crackers Jesper had dumped on the table. It was still disconcerting to see him and Kuwei in the same room. Nina’s tailoring had been so successful that Matthias often had trouble telling them apart until they spoke. He wished one of them would do him the courtesy of wearing a hat.
“This is good for us,” said Kaz. “The Shu and the Fjerdans don’t know where to start looking for Kuwei, and all those diplos making trouble at the Stadhall are going to create some nice noise to distract Van Eck.”
“What happened at Smeet’s office?” Nina asked. “Did you find out where Van Eck is keeping her?”
“I have a pretty good idea. We strike tomorrow at midnight.”
“Is that enough time to prepare?” asked Wylan.
“It’s all the time we have. We’re not going to wait for an engraved invitation. What’s your progress on the weevil?”
Jesper’s brows shot up. “The weevil?”
Wylan removed a small vial from his coat and set it down on the table.
Matthias bent to peer at it. It looked like a bunch of pebbles. “That’s a weevil?” He thought of weevils as pests that got into grain stores.
“Not a real weevil,” said Wylan. “It’s a chemical weevil. It doesn’t really have a name yet.”
“You’ve got to give it a name,” said Jesper. “How else will you call it to dinner?”
“Forget what it’s called,” Kaz said. “What matters is that this little vial is going to eat Van Eck’s bank accounts and his reputation.”
Wylan cleared his throat. “Possibly. The chemistry is complicated. I was hoping Kuwei would help.”