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Briar continued, merciless If he couldn’t make her sorry for the ruin she had caused, he wanted to ht "If I were your faone too far If I were the ary when they find out nobody cared how many poor folk and slaves you murdered Lots of the mutabir’s Watchfolk come from poor districts, I bet He can order them to shut up about what they see here, but howbefore your family thinks maybe it’s time to wash their hands of you?"
"You’ll be the first relative of the amir to see the top of Justice Rock," Evvy put it The top here executions were done in Chammur
"Or maybe they’ll just hand you to commoners," Briar re inside the house "That sounds like the Watch" He held Lady Zenadia’s eyes with his, showing her no warmth or mercy She hadn’t shown either to anyone -- none to those pitiful bodies, shoveled without ceremony into dirt to serve as fertilizer Normally he approved of fertilizer, but not, it seeht to be etting to her feet "Inform the mutabir I will be with him directly" She walked into an inner roo on his sleeve "She’ll get away!"
"She can’t go anywhere," Briar replied softly "The house is shoulder-deep in plants and the Watch" He knehat he had thought he’d seen in the woreat deal of aardness As he waited, as the sound of searchers came nearer in the house, he tinkered with the ebony and sandalwood screens in the rooh thefeet just outside, he walked into the lady’s bedroom
She lay on an opulent bed that was draped in silks and heaped with damask-covered cushions Her eyes were closed, her clothes neatly arrayed, as if she had gone to sleep Briar lifted the simple pottery cup on her bedside table, to sniff its contents It held the quickest-acting poison money could buy
Despite Lady Zenadia’s attempt to look as if she’d felt no pain, there was a trace of foaainst her throat There was no pulse
He thought for a moment Then he spat on her, and walked away
Three days later, the plants around the Karang Gate told Rosethorn where Briar and Evvy could be found: the huge caravansary by the Aliput Gate, outside the city’s southern walls Concerned and confused, she went there rather than hori to Evvy Asa was giving birth to kittens under the girl’s watchful eye Even the door slairl She shushed the world i around, intent on the latest arrival
Rosethorn glared at her, then at Briar "Why in the name of the Green Man and scrub pines are you here?" she deone the house is probably being looted…"
"No, because it’s all here," Briar said calmly He patted cushions next to hi the h the Aliput Gate
Rosethorn sat in a puff of dust and accepted the cup "Everything?" she de," he replied, voice and eyes firm
"But rent for this place costs a fortune We’re already paid at the Street of Hares until the full ratefully It was her own blend, apick-me-up tea that could help the dead to cast off weariness
"Actually, the a the bill," Briar said "The least he could do, since they kicked us out of town"
Rosethorn sipped her tea and fixed her eyes on hi it brief She had a second cup of tea while she listened When he finished, Rosethorn put down her cup and lurched to her feet "This I have to see," she remarked, and walked out
It was dark when she returned At some point she had visited a has From the way she settled on the cushions, Briar knew she ranate juice, bread, olive oil in which herbs and garlic had been steeped, and cheese set out for her Rosethorn tore a piece off the bread and dipped it in the oil, then put it in her htfully, her eyes on Evvy Asa had finished producing four kittens, a first litter She and her newcomers were asleep in the basket bed Evvy had made for them, while Evvy herself curled up beside it, as soundly asleep as they
"Well," Rosethorn said quietly, after sing and drinking sorounds, you realize You put too much of your power into it The Watch pahan says for every braht the people who try to cut them back It looks like the Watch actually tried to burn it all, but the plants won’t catch fire"
"Maybe next tinore a murderess" Briar knew he sounded cold He felt cold when it came to Lady Zenadia "The rich folk here sure don’t care about what’s right Just like Jooba-hooba saying how far away Lightsbridge and Winding Circle are They think they’re in the s civilized folk can’t Now they know different"