“I don’t know what to tell you.” Ernald shrugged. “World is full of bad people.”
“He’s not people,” I countered. “That feather Zahra uses, you know it’s a real angel feather, right? There’s people out there convincing themselves these things are bird feathers. But we know better.”
“Course we do,” said Finn.
“He’s an angel of death,” I said. “I could feel it on him. He glows with a terrible power. He’s got fire in his eyes, and this sort of divine wrath thing. It’s really off.”
Ernald blew out a smoke ring. “Sure, and I understand your divine wrath concerns. But he has offered us a considerable amount of money. Very considerable indeed.”
Well, now he had my attention. I needed money. And moreover—maybe this was my chance to find out what happened to Alice. “Us? Both of us?”
“Twelve thousand crowns to me, and two thousand to you. Per year.”
Two-thousand crowns nearly solved my mum’s debt problem. But not entirely.
Zahra snatched the paper out of Ernald’s hands. “All due respect Ernald, but that’s not what it says. It says twelve thousand crowns to Zahra Dace. That’s me. And two thousand to you. Per year.”
Ernald grabbed it back, his eyes narrowed in a warning. “Well you won’t be getting any, will you? You’re nothing to do with this, apart from your name being on the contract.”
“I’m not asking for any money.” Zahra nodded at me. “But that means twelve thousand should go to Lila, who is pretending to be me. If Lila is taking the risk, she should get the money. What have you got to lose, Ernald? You’ll be behind a desk.”
I stared Ernald down, arms crossed. “I’m not risking my life for the beggar’s portion.”
Despite my negotiations, I knew I wanted to do it. Even apart from the money, I wanted a chance to see inside the castle. Was Alice still in there? Maybe I could actually see her again.
And if I was going to do it, I might as well get as much money as I could out of the situation. “If I take this job,” I added, “I will be consorting with an enemy of Albia. If I ever make it out of there alive, I’ll be an outcast. A traitor to the Albian kingdom. I’ll need all the money I can get.”
“A traitor to your kingdom?” Ernald didn’t like my bargaining. In fact, he looked like he was considering leaping over the table and smashing my head into it. “First of all, there is no Albian kingdom. Not anymore. Can’t have a kingdom without a king, can ya? Second of all, things weren’t exactly better when we had a king. He was a prick. Lastly, six thousand crowns for me, eight for you. My final offer. And if you argue any more, the deal is off. I’ll fire you from my employ completely and leave you to negotiate with the Rough Boys on your own.”
I sighed, but nodded anyway. It was more than enough to pay off Mum’s debts. Not only that, but I could pay the Holy Sisters to look after my mum and keep her out of trouble.
I glanced at Finn. Unlike Ernald, I trusted Finn completely. “Finn, what do you think?”
Finn had his hat in his hands, and he was toying with the brim. “Seems dangerous, boss. And people say he’s planning something. Something that will happen soon. A storm of death or something.”
“What are you on about?” asked Ernald.
“Mass killings, I think,” said Finn. “Total domination. Destruction. They’re going to start killing all the Albians in Dovren. Rounding them up. Starting with the children.”
“And how exactly would you be privy to that sort of information?” asked Ernald.
Finn shrugged. “There are Albian spies. Watching what he does. You hear things when you keep to the shadows. But like I said, he’s dangerous. We all know that.”
“Everything is dangerous,” Ernald shot back. “Turning down the man who rules our nation is dangerous. Not having money to pay the Rough Boys is dangerous. There is no decision on the table that is not dangerous, but one of them comes with fourteen thousand crowns, so let’s do that one.”
The man had a point. “Fair enough. But what do we know about him?” I bit my lip. “If he’s dangerous—can he even be hurt?”
“They can,” said Finn. “I know a man who saw a dead angel. He swears by it. The angel’s wings were cut off, so it was just the stumps. He was floating in the dark river. White feathers all around him, blood staining the water. I heard they’re immortal, except they have a weakness. Don’t know what it is, though.”
I frowned. “I didn’t see any wings. He must keep them hidden.”
“Is it settled then?” asked Ernald.
“Here are my conditions,” I said.
Ernald rolled his eyes. “Here we go.”
I lifted a finger. “One. Two thousand five hundred goes to pay the Rough Boys. Stop them from coming after my mum. Then I want to pay a cloister house to look after her, so she stops racking up debt. Dry her out, make sure she gets off the gin. The rest of the money goes into a safe deposit box for me, with a key only I can access.” I glanced at Finn. “And I need Finn to oversee that.”
“Lila.” Ernald touched his barrel-chest, sounding hurt. “It’s almost like you don’t trust me.”
“You’re literally a thief,” I said.
“Coming from the other thief,” said Ernald.
“And two, I want a really good dagger,” I added. “Not the old dull one I have now.”
Ernald scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “You don’t plan on stabbing the good count, do ya? It’s not a good idea.”
“I just need self-defense in general. That’s it. For all we know, amanuensis means ‘someone I can murder for fun.’”
“If he planned to murder you, you’d hardly get an annual wage for that,” said Ernald.
True. The money was interesting, I supposed. Count Saklas didn’t have to pay me. Those who opposed him swung from the gallows. He made the laws.
“Fine,” said Ernald. “You get a new dagger, and the cloister house, and the lot. Zahra will pick out your courtesan clothes so you’re not in your usual rubbish attire. The money will be in a safe deposit box for you alone, in East Dovren bank. Finn the Trustworthy will deposit it under your real name. You’ll have your receipt and the key in the morning. Then, you leave for the castle. And make sure to look nice. And smile and all that. You’ve got to be lovely. Not being funny or nothing, but you’re not really good at that, typically. Being lovely.”
My stomach tightened. “Tomorrow morning?”
Finn caught my gaze. “You’ll be careful, Lila, won’t you? The last time I saw Alice, she was heading into that castle.”
The last bit of that was unspoken—and she never came out.
I took a deep breath. “Well, maybe I’ll find her there.”
8
Lila
I sat up, drowning in dread. I hadn’t even fully woken up, and already adrenalin was pumping through my veins. Today, I was about to become an amanuensis to the Angel of Death. Whatever that meant.
I cast a long look around the little flat I shared with Mum. We lived on one side of a ramshackle room. Drying clothes hung from a line above our bed. The place looked just about like it always did, except today, a maroon velvet suitcase lay in the middle of the floor.