Mask of Shadows (Untitled #1)(61)

I stiffened. I’d uppercut Five if he ever spoke wrong about my gender again or spoke to me at all. I was dressed as a man. I was clear as day.

And I hadn’t been disqualified.

“I can do whatever I like. I’m Ruby, and you still have a big number on your face.” Ruby shooed Five away from him and waved at me. “Twenty-Three was never disqualified. He was on probation. Four admitted to lying about the kill, so Twenty-Three is reinstated. End of discussion.” He turned Five around by the shoulders and pushed him into a chair. “Also, because we said so and our word is law.”

Five clenched his jaw shut, flinching from Ruby’s touch. I grinned, the stress Ruby had placed on “he” warm and comfortable in my ears. Almost regretted tossing him in front of that pitcher.

Amethyst beckoned Maud. She tried to do her best to look surprised, but Amethyst laughed softly behind her mask.

“Due to recent events, let us reiterate the rules.” Amethyst put the broken door back on its hinges best as she could. “The servants, soldiers, courtiers, guards, nobles, and whoever else isn’t one of you three are off limits. That includes indirect injuries caused by your actions.”

“Use discretion.” Ruby splayed his hands over the broken table, head tilted toward me. “Your first test was about physicality. This one was about subtlety. Your last one will require both. Only those capable of the two will succeed.”

“For lack of a better phrase, you are the best auditioners.” Amethyst was rigid under her armor. “Though you have arrived here sooner than expected.”

No doubt—Four, Eleven, and Fifteen would’ve been safe if Eleven had thought through her plan.

“Whether that is through your own skill or the skill of others, it doesn’t matter.” Ruby twisted to look at us each in turn. “We prefer shorter auditions because they are more efficient.” He gestured to me. “And unless you think Twenty-Three is a better Opal than you, his presence here is of no consequence.”

That smacked the smile off my face.

“As such, we must bring the auditions to a pause,” said Ruby. “Right now, your goal is no longer to eliminate the competition. It’s to do exactly as we say when we say it. Your servants will be briefed, and at dinner tonight, we will provide you with your final test. You will succeed, or you will forfeit your place in the Left Hand.”

At least I wouldn’t have to worry about Five creeping through my door and putting a knife in my neck.

Probably.

“Further rules will be provided over dinner.” Emerald shoved the door out of her way, voice still quietly angry. “Make no attempts on each other’s lives and set up no traps. Your rooms have been cleaned and baths drawn with special soap. Use it. Your servants will dispose of your clothes. Five, with me.”

Ruby and Emerald swept out of the room, the crowd of servants outside the door scattering, and Five followed. Amethyst looked around the destroyed table.

“It would be best if you ate and rested. The audition is designed to test you and wear you down. We must know how you act under exhaustion and pressure. You should be proud of yourselves for getting here, but it isn’t over yet. There is still much to do.”

She left us in silence.





Thirty-Five


I collapsed over a chair, laughing into my mask, heart bursting at the muffled sound I’d grown used to.

“How’d you last?” Two turned to me, hands shaking. She was young, younger than me by maybe a year, and bone-tired by the shadows under her eyes. Blood dotted the whites. “Four’s a better fighter than you. We all are.”

Were better fighters. Lady help Two when that fact hit her.

“So far as you know.” I salvaged a cup of water from the unpoisoned pitcher and took a sip. “I’ve been fighting for years.”

She made an odd sound in the back of her throat. “He thought you were only a thief. Death doesn’t settle well when you’re not used to it.”

Erlend forced me to be used to it. “Says the circus performers.”

“And look how well we fared.” She opened her arms wide and shot me a funeral smile. “See you at dinner.”

“See you at dinner.”

She wasn’t handling this well.

“Twenty-Three?” Maud appeared at my elbow. She was perfectly Maud again. Every hair was in place and her face showed the emotionless passivity all servants had, but she’d bitten her nails to the quick. “If you’d like to go to your room?”

“I’d love to.”

Maud didn’t speak, didn’t even look at me, till she shut the door to my room. I sat on the bed, ripping off my coat. Elise’s ink crinkled on my arms.

“The bath is hot. Don’t soak your stitches.”

I flashed Maud a weak smile. Trusting people was nice—no wasting thoughts on second-guessing. “Thanks.”

I sunk into the bath behind the screen, and Maud fiddled around the room, washing my mask in a small basin and hanging it up. I kept my inked arms out of the water and crawled into bed still damp, laughing as Maud left with a huff. I fell asleep to the midmorning sun slipping through the slats above me.

I awoke to the sounds of clattering plates, mouth dry as cotton and head filled with sand. I rolled onto my stomach.

“Time?” My voice cracked, and my shirt clung to the fresh salve on my side. “You change my bandages?”