HAWK & SABLE | FOUR

  THE OUTER WALLS of Fu Jin Palace were red, matching much of the rest of the Palace. Laurence was studying it and being obvious about it, occasionally muttering questions to Dominic, who answered. The top of the wall was gold tiled, with emerald green borders. The dark brown wooden doors of the Palace were shut. Dominic waved his hand, and a gush of strong wind blew them open. Rhys muttered something under her breath. It was probably 'show off'.

The doors led to a big stone courtyard, with corridors at all four sides that led to the back of the Palace. But Dominic led them down the stone steps instead, crossing the courtyard to reach the dark red central building. Pillars held up the roof above a front porch, where a young maid was waiting, head bowed. Dark green windows were on every wall. The maid pushed open the folding doors, murmuring, "The Prince and Princess are inside, my lords and ladies."

Dominic nodded and the maid vanished inside, leading them into the receiving room. Princess Longyu with her silky, long black hair up in the traditional courtly fashion, wrapped around a stick that caused it to extend out on either side, decorated by light blue flowers and jewels that complimented her darker blue robe, sat on a xi. On the other side of the seating area was Prince Ruge, dressed in a yellow robe. His hair hadn't been let long in the traditional way, instead cut short. He raised a brow as the eight dropped into curtsies and bows.

Lady Kuroki, being the oldest, spoke for all of them. "Fu ren can jian tai zi, can jian Huancheng gege." This lady pays her respects to the Crown Prince and Princess Longyu. The courtesy words one must say every time.

Prince Ruge was quick to respond. "Mian li, qing zhan." Ignore the courtesies, please stand. All eight made their way up. Ciri was right to not worry about Laurence. He did perfectly well.

The princess remained quiet for a moment, studying all of them with her shrewd eyes. "Please. Sit." She spoke Arecian, unmarred by any foreign accent. She spoke like a native. "It has been a long journey. Myrina, would you mind asking the maids to serve our guests some tea?"

Myrina, Countess of Li Han, bobbed and murmured something in response. She'd always been a quiet girl of few words, who mostly kept to herself. Ciri considered her a friend, but the two rarely conversed. The princess's senior lady-in-waiting.

"Our guest speaks Saian, cousin. We will be fine in that language." Ruge spoke dryly, inspecting them. He said the next words in Saian, "We are happy to receive you, Viscount Archsham. And it is wonderful to see all of you here. Even our Hua xian sheng." He did not look at the man being held down by two guards, merely motioned at him with his hands. "We seem to have a lot to discuss. Please, as I said, ignore the common courtesies. We're among friends here. Guards, do you mind taking the prisoner away to somewhere else? Perhaps give him a bit of food, but do watch over him."

Asteria was the one who replied. "We're hoping to capture the mole in our government. The Arecian capture of Norman Hightower offers us that chance. However, we'd require assistance."

"I assume you mean the Iron Wolves," Longyu said. "You will have their assistance. We'll have the officials aid you in any way we can."

"We appreciate the assistance, Your Highness." The words were courteous, polite. Among them all, Asteria was the highest ranking, and the easiest around the two. While Danna and Io were both friends to the Prince and Princess, only Asteria could truly be considered a member of Princess Longyu's Court of Herons, her inner group of friends and confidantes.

"How difficult do you expect this to be?"

Lady Kuroki shrugged. "Depends. If we just want to scare the spy off packing? Rather easy. If you wish to capture them, that's another story."

Prince Ruge said, "The latter is preferable, but the former is acceptable as well." He tipped his head towards his cousin, as if awaiting her input.

The princess was deep in thought. "There is no easy way out of the Palace."

"You're suggesting a trap. The Arecians tried that. The mole seemed to have eluded them. Viscount?"

Laurence dipped his head. "As the countess said. We set a similar trap, but our mole either managed to slip through our defences or made no move to escape."

Princess Longyu waved her hand impatiently. "Our highest-ranking officials all live within the Palace. It is not easy to move in and out as with your Arecian officers. If they wish to leave the Scarlet Palace, it'd all be recorded by guards. Even if they escape us, we'd still probably be able to narrow it down to a name."

Io shrugged. "I think we should be subtle with our search first. Just in case the news hasn't travelled to them yet. If that doesn't work, we'll try the scare tactics. Da cao jing she. We'll hit the grass to scare the snake."

Longyu smiled. "You've been reading."

Io knitted her eyebrows together. "You're doing that thing where you indirectly call me stupid again."

If Laurence was surprised by this sudden change in dynamic, he wisely chose not to show an inch of surprise over it. Ciri hadn't attended many meetings, but she'd been to enough to know how quickly mannerisms changed here. They were friends, but everyone still remembered that they were separated by rank.

"I'm not." There was a hint of humour in Longyu's voice. "I'm expressing my pride over you reading."

Danna held up her hand. "At the risk of sounding disrespectful, could we continue this particular branch of whether or not Iolanthe is stupid later? I believe we have more important things to discuss. Like the fate of one former viscount." Danna spoke slowly, as if not fully comfortable with speaking Saian. Well, their dialect of Saian, anyways. Danna had grown up in Xiang Zhou when in Sai, where they spoke their own dialect.

"We'll question him, obviously," Longyu murmured. "We'll be prudent about it. Your reports were already very detailed. If you don't mind me asking, Diao xiaojie, why isn't your sister here...?"

"I believe she's busy getting herself engaged to the Earl of Farnsworth, Your Highness."

Laurence visibly fought back a snort. Longyu's brow raised. "The Earl of Farnsworth... That would be Marquess of Rochesdale's heir?"

"The very one." Ciri's voice was dry, barely suppressed amusement.

Longyu blinked. "That was unexpected. Ruge?"

The Prince tilted his head. "We need allies." Simple words, and the mood in the room changed. Ciri caught a few awkward glances in Laurence's direction. Most likely they'd be calling a meeting later tonight, without Laurence being there. Some things just couldn't be discussed in front of him. Arecia's stance on war on the Meliqueans was still shifting.

Longyu sucked in a breath, taking a sip of tea. "Ah. War. I don't suppose you have much information to surrender, Lord Archsham."

"Not many, Your Highness."

She let out a sigh, a soft, wispy sound. "We shall discuss war and peace later. Let's focus on the mole for now. Briar, Notus, do you mind explaining what you've found so far?"

Dominic spoke. "We tracked down the shipment of the arts. The paintings themselves have vanished. We found the people receiving the shipments, but they know nothing. Since Hightower is gone, we won't have another way to track through that. We're trying to find out who bought the paintings afterwards, but they could be anywhere. Burnt, destroyed..."

"We think Sai is a mere stop. The paintings are used to send messages to the mole here, definitely, but their final destinations are elsewhere. Melique, I'd think. It's meant to be a wild goose chase." Rhys yanked at her ponytail. "If anyone owns Norman Hightower paintings here in court, they're not stepping up. So that path is useless. But we can deduce that it has to be a high-ranking official who's rich enough to buy an abundance of paintings. Someone who likes art. The leaks seem to be coming from the Royal Treasury. They're managing to guess our movements through our money." She always became more talkative when it came to the job.

"Any suspects?" Lady Kuroki asked, pursing her lips.

"Someone with access to all manners of finance. We're looking at someone near the top of the food chain. We have names, but none of them seem very likely. They're mostly old, noble names, who stuck with us through the Revolution, or proved their loyalty to us well afterwards. We're checking their personal finances to see who would be most likely bribed by money."

"It could be someone who believes in the Meliqueans' views," Danna pointed out. The Meliquean philosophy was gaining popularity among youngsters. Ciri couldn't tell if it was because of its genuine points or just because the Meliqueans were good at promoting it. But that was trouble. Most of her recent endeavours had been to curb the spread of their philosophy and goals. They couldn't afford their own countrymen turning against them right now.

"There aren't a lot of young men and women who have access to that great of an amount of information. My bet is on money," Dominic replied. "We're doing background checks. Seeing if there's any major debts, or any problems in the family that would require a lot of money and quick. We're also checking for any sudden increase in income."

"You do that," Asteria said. "We... we can take a more direct approach. Ruge, how do you feel about a few banquets?"

Prince Ruge grinned. "I'm certain a few could be arranged, Countess. I'll have to talk about this with my father, of course, but he'll agree, most likely." The emperor more than trusted his progeny with his work. Prince Ruge and Princess Longyan half-ran the entire country themselves.

Lady Kuroki harrumphed. "Sounds good to me. I'm starving. Aren't you all?"

Ciri shrugged. "We had steamed buns in the carriage."

Ruge clapped his hands, and a servant entered, bowed. "Zuo Nan, bring us some food from the kitchens for our guests. Make sure it's the best." No one pointed out that anything Ruge asked for would be the best anyways, even without him specifying. The servant murmured something meant to convey his understanding and exited, never turning his back to Ruge in the process.

Ciri often wondered if any of them ever tripped and fell because of that courtesy rule. She'd pay good money to see that. She banished the thought from her mind as quickly as it came.

She said, "I committed what I remembered of Hua Jueying's deal onto paper. It's not as detailed as I'd like, but two weeks of captivity does that to you. It might still be of help." She opened her bag and took out the paper inside. Myrina, who had been so quiet that Ciri almost forgot she was there, came forward and collected the scrolls for Longyu and Ruge's inspection.

"That would be useful, thank you. You won't have to worry about Hua Jueying. We'll deal with him appropriately. Lord Archsham, if you require any reassurances, you're more than welcome to inspect our processes." Longyu's eyebrow was slightly arched, silently challenging him to argue. Laurence stayed put, offering a nod. "How long would you all be staying?"

"As long as necessary for Hua Jueying's affairs to be settled, Your Highness," Laurence replied demurely.

Asteria answered, "When we catch the mole, hopefully."

"That's a nice way of saying neither of you have any idea." Longyu released a sigh. "Ah well, the hospitality of the Scarlet Palace is endless. But we have little to discuss now. Perhaps you'd all like to retire? You can pack the food Ruge has ordered with you back to your quarters. Asteria, your father is in residence. He has been alerted of your presence. Danna, would you like to live in your sister's palace or Lady Kuroki's?"

"My sister's, please."

A nod. The Princess directed her attention to Ciri and Laurence. "The two of you would be residing in Zui Hua Gong. Lord Hua is already in residence. I'll arrange for servants to attend you both. No need to worry about them. They're trained to be discreet." That was a reassurance for Ciri, and a silent warning to Laurence to not try anything idiotic. They knew what he was and what he was capable of.

Laurence, ever polite, tipped his head and offered his thanks. Ciri echoed his actions.

Ruge smiled. "Well, then. Notus, Briar, would the two of you mind escorting our guests to their quarters? Come back afterwards. I have a message for Zhang daren. Please. Enjoy yourselves. We'll summon you for dinner later."

They all stood, curtsied and bowed, and quietly left.

✢

DRUNKEN FLOWER PALACE, where they had been placed, was massive, Laurence noted. In the olden days, all of these houses would have been the homes of concubines and queens. Now, high-ranking noblemen were granted the best within the walls of the Scarlet Palace. He counted five sets of apartments, and he and Ciri were led to ones on the side. The one in the centre would be occupied by that Lord Hua they kept talking about. He didn't seem to be there at the moment.

Ciri said little as she was introduced to the two maids who had been instructed to care for her. Laurence was met with two as well. Siblings, they said, a boy and a girl who couldn't be older than eighteen. Meihuan and Shuhua. Polite, soft-spoken, doe-eyed. And apparently trained to be discreet. He'd be a fool to not realise what that meant.

Every servant in this Palace was probably a damned trained spy. This was why the Court of Bones was considered dangerous. The walls had eyes and ears. Anything you said within these walls would pass to the ears of the emperor, empress or those two princes and princesses within moments. Ciri and the Lady Kuroki girls could afford to be comfortable here, but he couldn't. Princess Irina had picked those words to remind him of that.

As if he'd forget. He wasn't an enemy here, but neither was he a trusted ally. He liked to think of himself as on probation, which wasn't exactly the sweetest spot.

His job was to see how well Sai would stand against Melique. His mind snapped back to the two Iron Wolves' display of power. They were rumoured to have at least a hundred of those, each trained to be lethal, a finely sharpened blade. Deadly with a capital 'D'. Sai would do just fine.

Though the rumours of the Meliqueans' own team of wiccais were disturbing. But that would balance them out, wouldn't it? It was obvious the Prince and Princess hadn't revealed half of what they wished to because he was there. Most likely Ciri would be summoned out later tonight after dinner for a proper meeting. He wouldn't risk trying to eavesdrop. If shit hit the fan, Arecia would need Sai's support. He'll play the perfect ambassador for the duration he's here. It's an easy role. He just had to stay out of trouble.

The rooms he had been given were spacious and big. He had dismissed his two servants for a bit of alone time, and they now rustled around the other rooms, being quiet about it. If he wasn't a spy and hadn't been trained to listen for things no one else would, he wouldn't have noticed either. But he did.

He sat down on the oak chair behind the desk, glancing around. A window on the side gave him a perfect view of the quiet stone courtyard, sparsely decorated with a few massive trees. This window was perfectly angled to look between them, offering a glance of the grand door into the courtyard as well. Every once in a while a servant would come hobbling in holding trays or scrolls. Most of them went to Ciri's room. She was already receiving messages, then.

The banquets Lady Asteria had asked for would be a nice chance to glean information. They'd speak more freely there, and he could eavesdrop without complication. He could also meet people of importance. He'd offer his help with finding the mole, pointing out that theirs could lead to Arecia's, and see what he could get from that investigation. They'd be investigating the bureaus, they said. That would be useful.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there, thinking. But after a while, he heard loud footsteps and talking and shifted lower into the chair, preventing whoever it was from gaining a good view of him once they entered the courtyard. The red doors were pushed open a moment later, showing a fashionable dandy in white scrolling in, attended by a group of servants, fanning and providing shade.

That would be Lord Hua. The son of a marquess. And he and Ciri's third housemate, apparently. I hope to god he's not this loud at night. The Kuroki girls had mentioned whoring and drinking. Laurence crossed his fingers and prayed that he conducted those activities elsewhere.

Lord Hua looked every inch like his reputation. Handsome as sin, confidence in his steps but not arrogance, and a charming grin. If he heard right, him and the Briar were lovers. The Notus didn't seem too fond of that. Jealousy or friendly protectiveness, he wasn't sure. He didn't think it was important either. If he was fighting against the Iron Wolves, he'd note things like that. Lovers were each other's weaknesses, easy to exploit. Get one of them and you have the other one down.

Ciri emerged from her doors, offering a quick curtsy to the lord, who bowed in return. They conversed quietly, exchanging a few words before Ciri returned to her house and Lord Hua continued on his own. Laurence noted this with mild interest.

He pushed himself up from his chair once the lord had vanished into his home and the courtyard was empty again, making a great deal of noise over it. Then he crossed the room to the trunk left there. They hadn't bothered searching his luggage, probably because they knew his goal would be to improve not cause deterioration to Saian-Arecian relations. His weapons were hidden in a false bottom. He took one of the knives and stored it under his pillow. He hadn't been given one of those ceramic ones, thank god. He didn't think he'd be able to sleep on those. This one was soft and comfortable. He placed one on the shelf, on display as if it had always been there. One in the desk of a drawer. He wouldn't go around carrying them, probably. Maybe a small penknife. That could be explained. He didn't think the Saians would be able to tolerate him going around carrying a small arsenal. They wouldn't want to kill him here anyways. If they did, they'd do it by one of those Iron Wolves and make it seem like an accident. He wouldn't be able to fight back even if he tried.

Besides, Ciri was here. Ciri was a friend. If they abruptly decided to harm him, Ciri would stop them. He trusted her like that, and he wasn't sure why. Maybe it started when she was eight and him thirteen and he had given her his jacket when she was freezing. Cass had told him how significant that was once.

"When you did that, no one other than family had been kind to Ciri for a long time. You made her feel cared about. She'll remember that forever." Laurence had laughed then, but now he was damned thankful for it. Having Cirinique Diao on your side was like having a small battalion watching your back.

She was at home here. She was one of them. Would Cass fit in as well? When even was the last time Cass had spoken Saian?

Laurence found himself musing over that a little bit, rather pointlessly in his opinion, before snapping out of it. He'd be summoned for dinner soon, probably. They liked to eat their meals earlier in the day. He should probably change, since his clothes were rather wrinkly from the long carriage ride. He did it himself, unsure if the servants he had been given were used to tying cravat knots and the like. They probably were, but he did it himself anyways. He had a valet in Arecia, but he hadn't brought him along. Laurence was more than used to taking care of himself, and the people who mattered here knew what he was. They wouldn't bat an eye.

He grabbed a comb after he had changed into fresh clothes, taming his ink black hair, glancing into the bronze mirror. Once he thought he looked acceptable, he started towards the entrance and exit of the house.

A few steps and he had crossed the courtyard. One of Ciri's maids was waiting there, half-asleep. Laurence requested a meeting. A few minutes later, he was brought to Ciri's receiving room, almost identical to his except in decoration.

Ciri hadn't changed yet, though her hair was now worn down. She raised a brow. "Is something wrong?" She spoke Arecian.

Laurence shook his head. "Just wanted to talk."

Ciri gestured at a seat, and he sat. She took the chair opposite his instead of the xi where she should have. That was a nice sign. "You've seen William— that's Lord Hua. You'd like him, I think. You have a similar reputation."

Similar reputations, but Laurence liked to think he didn't live up to it. He was society's darling, a charming rake who stayed away from the respectable ladies except for basic pleasantries. Mothers considered him an excellent catch, a viscount with no close family, young and handsome and obviously not sickly. There was also a shroud of mystery over his work for the British Service, though they vastly underestimated the amount of work he did.

Ciri seemed to recognise the look in his eyes, because she quickly added, "Though I suppose you're a bit more different in truth. Will you be playing up your veneer here?"

"I'd be reserved about it, but yes." He did not want to accidentally offend some highborn lady. They didn't fight duels over these things like in the west, he thought, but god knew what these Saians would cook up in its stead. Most Saians he knew could probably slit your throat at night and not blink an eye over it. But then again, most of them were spies or leaders who had to play with the lives of others every second they breathed.

It was a burden. He knew what it felt like. Ciri probably did too.

"You should be careful," she said.