Mask of Shadows (Untitled #1)(67)

Drafted everyone he could probably, whether they wanted to fight or not, and kept the rest indentured.

I’d have to ask Maud and Elise for any palace rumors.

“I do wonder,” Ruby said as he leaned across the table, elbows on the top and chin on his hands, “did you meet Lord del Weylin?”

Five shook his head.

Ruby dropped a metal pin on the table. Five’s hand flew to his chest pocket, fumbling down the front.

“Pity,” Ruby said. “You should’ve told him your real name, Lord Fernando de Lex. He probably would have seen you then.”

I gripped the table edge. Emerald tapped her glass, empty face fixed on me. Five wasn’t just a noble and an officer—he was the youngest son of one of Erlend’s oldest families. A family nipped at the bud during the war. His oldest brother had been the head mage of Erlend and the first Rodolfo da Abreu had killed. Rodolfo had taken the mages’ hands, stripping the runed skin from its bones to make sure no one would ever hold the secrets to shadow creation again. A necessary violence.

A bloody, painful violence that Fernando de Lex no doubt remembered.

I glanced at Five, a writhing mix of rage and recognition shaking down my arms. He’d have been six when his brother was slaughtered—old enough to remember and about the same age I’d been when his brother’s shadows had flayed Nacea. His parents had died in the war, and he’d vanished. We were both the last of our names.

But my fallen family hadn’t ever murdered children.

Fernando de Lukan. The officer who’d killed his valet, survived an attack from Weylin, and ended up invited here under that false identity.

Had he rebuilt himself or returned for darker purposes?

“Do you have a problem with me?” Five shifted in his chair, shoulders back and chin up. “With my old name?”

“That’s your question?” Ruby huffed. “Not how I know your real name?”

“At least one of you met my brother,” Five said. “We looked very much alike.”

The Left Hand exchanged a series of shoulder-shrugged looks. Emerald plucked his name tag from the table. It was almost sad. His brother was taken by forbidden magic and revenge, and all he had left were pieces. If the rumors were true though, he’d been killing long before he got here, and his brother had created the shadows.

Even if Five were executing some half-thought-out scheme of vengeance, he wasn’t avenging someone worth it.

And it wasn’t like he could take revenge on a dead man.

“I was mostly interested in how you were the only survivor. Your escape from Weylin’s lands is unprecedented.” Emerald gestured toward the door. “But let’s eat.”

The color-collared servants slid into the room, arms weighed down with trays—tureens full of steaming black bean stew with balls of cornmeal speckled with green chilies bobbing between mutton slices; peppery shrimp and hominy soup with stewed tomatoes; and little bowls of pickled green tomatoes, braised mustard greens, and corn fritters no bigger than my little finger. I folded my hands in my lap.

Lady, if they’d poisoned this feast, I’d punch them for wasting food.

“Tuck in.” Emerald brandished her spoon toward the place settings. The meal placed in front of her was identical to Amethyst’s and Ruby’s plates, but their sleight of hand wouldn’t work here. How lonely it was living behind their masks.

I’d rarely been without one since running with Grell, and now I’d found the one profession where I’d be trapped behind a mask forever.

“It’s safe,” Amethyst said. “Dinner isn’t the test.”

I grabbed a bit of everything but the chili-braised chicken feet.

At least the bones in Five’s room were sentimental, but I couldn’t shake them from my head.

“As of right now, your only goal is to find the name on this paper, kill no one but this person without implicating the Left Hand, and bring Our Queen proof of your kill.” Ruby fanned out three slips of paper like gambling cards and offered them to us. “No harming their guards, no killing civilians, and no letting anyone know you killed your target.”

It was every single one of our lessons rolled into one.

Five sipped wine with one hand and grabbed the target Ruby held out to him with the other. Two took hers, glanced at the name, and pocketed it. I pulled the last slip from Ruby’s fingers.

“Your group has been above average in both mortality and ability during these auditions, and several mass events narrowed the playing field.” Emerald settled back in her chair. “Which leaves us with you three, and considering all your indiscretions, we’re not holding out hope for clean, good kills. But understand this: I don’t care how you do it, but you will not get caught and you will not kill anyone else—not a hair on their heads disturbed—or I will end you.”

Emerald, as always, managed to terrify and impress me all at once. I wanted to be her, and I never ever wanted to be on her bad side.

“The names and descriptions on your paper represent three minor people who have either caused unrest, committed violent crimes, or supported the instigators in the north.” Ruby let out a long bored sigh.

Amethyst continued Ruby’s speech. “They need to be eliminated quietly and quickly. These are not to be public executions. Do not treat them as such. Understood?”