.:Chapter 20:.

If there was one thing Bernard should have remembered, it was how much Amy hated being manipulated. Amy knew a great deal about carriages, and that included how long it took to hook a draft-indel to one. If he’d planned on going anywhere alone, he wouldn’t have bothered with a full carriage. If that wasn’t clue enough, the bags loaded in the carriage was another giveaway.

Amy glowered at the carriage with distaste, and began making detailed plans on how to exact her revenge.

“Pay me. You planned this, and I’m not going to be cornered into helping you without payment.”

His lips twitched. “You always were good at reading me. What do you want then? Silver? Gold?”

“I’m withholding that information till I find out how much talking with you is going to cost me.”

Bernard glanced up at the windows of Shadowfy, and then opened the door to the carriage. “You just want time to estimate how much I’m carrying in my pockets.”

It was an unfair statement, only because she already knew how much was in his pockets. What she wanted to know was how much he carried in the interesting looking coffer that jingled when she shook it.

She shook herself to bring herself out of the daze money seemed to bring to her mind, and thought over the open door in front of her. The glossy green paint and velvet interior suggested she’d be going to a place of wealth and good fortune, but would she be safe from Schreber’s claws? What of the assassins? If they could threaten the Duke and get away with it, she was no threat at all.

“Second thoughts?” Bernard asked.

There was no other place for her to go. Noisy Ness, Kay and everyone else in Shadowfy had made it clear she was no longer welcome. She took a deep breath, and got in.

“The Duke wants to meet you personally,” Bernard said as soon as she had settled on one of the huge carriage seats. “He asked me to extend you that invitation as soon as I could do so in private.”

In all her life, Amy never imagined being invited to the castle on the other side of the gate. She supposed it was just a grander version of the communal buildings most indelfy lived in, but still the very word castle brought strong images to her mind. Imagine how much she could get from retelling the story on cold winter nights.

. “Wow,” she breathed at last. “He really is trying to equalize indelfy. What’s pressuring him?”

“The Duke formally announced his intentions to attack the Stronghold, rather than postpone the destruction of the gate.”

“And?”

He didn’t want to tell her—she could tell by the way he shrank from the question. “The assassins used nurse Hare as an example. She died trying to escape them. She was in the War Room, God only knows why. Everything in the room was stripped except the table. We think they were trying to send us a message.”

“Like maybe, ‘Back off or we kill all your servants?’ It’s so subtle. I can see how you might have missed it.”

He shot her a withering look. “The Duke isn’t going to back down. There’s no good reason for using his servants to get to him.”

“Sure there is. Every servant killed undermines the faith and loyalty of the entire city. How many of his people do you think will renew their contracts after this term? After all, it’s quite clear the Duke cares nothing for them. Why else would he allow this to continue?”

Bernard flinched. “If the Stronghold is taken, no one will have to fear the assassins again.”

“Meanwhile, they have their lives to fear for.” She pulled the curtains open so she could have a look out the window, enjoying the novelty of watching the dirty low-slung buildings slide by like the scenery in a play. “You don’t get it do you? It’s not what you do, good or bad. It’s what you’re seen doing. No one knows what you’ve done to find the assassin, and because they don’t know they don’t care. To them, you’re the bad guy because you’re not protecting them.”

He shrugged, and for the first time since he’d arrived, he sounded hopeless. “What am I supposed to do? There is so much at stake here, and it feels like either way we’re going to lose.”

“Going to? You already have. You’ve lost the Duke’s servants, you’ve lost any possible assistance, and if you’re not careful you’re going to lose this war. There’s only one way you can get out of this with some measure of success.”

He tilted his head, eyes coming alight with hope. “How?”

She took a deep breath. The time was right for a choice, one way or another. “You can hire me, under the right conditions.”