Si glyph [https://i.imgur.com/mHhTdaF.png]

Simon sat and inspected the table he had built. On balance, he was pleased with his morning’s work. The benches were sturdy and not uncomfortable. The table was large enough for four, and the top was level, flat, and smooth.

Considering it was made of stone extruded from the floor, it was a pretty good table. Unfortunately, his other problems couldn’t be so easily solved.

He tapped his steel fingers on the tabletop. ‘Lorie.’

She looked up from the Second Grammar.

‘Do you have ink and paper? And could you help me write a letter?’ He raised his hand. ‘Can’t hold a pen.’

Lorie collected the writing materials and sat opposite him at the table. She dipped her pen in the ink. ‘Dad, can I talk to you about something?’

‘Mm. Of course. But letter first. Start with “Dear Grace.”’ That seemed appropriate. She was a relative and a friend, so informal address was correct.

Now what?

He ought to ask after his mother. He’d last visited her before setting out for Sark. He couldn’t risk going to see her now. Eranon might well have set a watch on House Numisma, expecting him to go there.

The difficulty of visiting his mother also applied to delivering the letter. He couldn’t carry it himself. A hired messenger could be stopped and questioned. He could ask Vikki or Danta, but they might also be watched, and he didn’t want to draw attention to them.

A repetitive noise broke his train of thought. Sam had acquired a small ball from somewhere, one of those made of gutta percha, and was bouncing it off the wall. Engrossed in his game, he paid no attention to Simon’s glare.

ptah — ptah — ptah went the ball. Lorie waited patiently.

Dear Grace… He should ask about his mother, certainly. And then — he needed to tell Numisma what he knew, and find out what they knew — but the letter could easily fall into the wrong hands. Maybe it would be better to meet with Grace?

ptah — ptah — ptah.

‘Sam,’ he snapped. ‘Can you please stop that infernal racket? I’m trying to think.’

Sam snatched the ball out of the air. ‘Can I go out? I won’t disturb you in the corridor.’

‘No. Just be quiet for a bit.’

Sam glared sullenly and slouched to the other end of the storeroom. Simon scowled. He’d lost track of what he meant to say again.

Someone hammered at the storeroom door. The only people likely to visit were Danta, Vikki, and Jonas. Whoever it was, it sounded like they were in a hurry.

Simon went to the door. He’d barely opened it before Vikki barged past him. She was pale, with dark shadows under her eyes. ‘Have you seen Jonas?’ she asked. ‘Has he been here?’

‘I haven’t seen him since last night.’

She stared at the room as if Jonas might be lurking behind a gas tank. ‘We agreed to meet today, and he didn’t show.’

‘Well, he’s probably just delayed. He couldn’t have gone to the Arcanum until daylight, anyhow. There might have been a hold up there. And he was hurt. Maybe he’s resting. ’

‘No, you don’t understand. Something’s happened to him. He wouldn’t have—‘ She broke off, biting her lip.

‘Sit down,’ Simon said.

She blinked at the stone table and benches. ‘You made that?’

‘I didn’t think Danta would mind, but I can easily remove it, if it’s a problem. Actually, I’ve been meaning to speak to her. I’d like to enlarge this place, create some new rooms.’ He’d thought about it, in his few quiet moments. A few simple changes would make them more comfortable. Ideally, he’d want running water and cooking facilities, though that might be more difficult. ‘Nothing too drastic, but if we’re going to live here for a while...’ He trailed off, realising Vikki wasn’t listening.

‘I only came to ask if you’d seen him,’ she said. ‘I should go. You’re right. Maybe I’m worrying over nothing. He might be at the workshop, looking for me.’ She turned to go.

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Simon stopped her with a hand on her arm. ‘Vikki, sit down and talk to me. What is it I don’t understand?’

Her eyes shone with tears. ‘Jonas loves me. He said we’d be together.’

Ah, he thought, so that’s the problem. He gestured to Lorie, who picked up the paper and pen and made herself scarce. He pushed Vikki gently onto the bench and sat facing her. ‘Jonas is a nice young man. I’m sure he does love you. But you must realise he’s vai Oryche. He’s a noble, you’re a commoner. Whatever he’s told you, he’s not going to marry you, Vikki.’

She stared at her hands. ‘That’s what mother said. But you’re wrong. You don’t know him like I do. Jonas is different.’

Simon sighed. It was strange how children invariably rejected the hard-won wisdom of their parents. Like countless young women before her, Vikki would have to learn the hard way. ‘All right. So he’s devoted to you, he wouldn’t let you down. Why do you think something’s happened to him?’

‘We were going to meet. I waited over an hour.’

‘Where?’

Vikki fiddled with a loose thread in her sleeve. ‘The docks.’

An odd choice of meeting place. ‘Why the docks?’ One obvious reason sprang to mind. ‘He meant to leave the city?’

She nodded.

‘He didn’t tell me that.’ Unease stirred in Simon’s gut. ‘How long had you been planning this?’

‘Since we met. He said we’d start a new life, far from here. He told me all the beautiful places we would see, and how we’d be together, and no one would care I was a commoner.’

‘And how did you plan to live in these faraway places? On sunshine and love?’

She shrugged. ‘We’d get by. I could work.’

Simon kneaded the back of his neck. He needed sleep, sleep and a little peace and quiet to grapple with his own problems. Instead of which, he had Vikki’s problem landing on his doorstep.

He had thought Jonas a typical young noble, good-hearted enough, but privileged and feckless, his relationship with Vikki a harmless fling. Clearly, she’d taken it more seriously, but that was a story old as time. Young nobles always dallied with pretty common girls, and always promised them marriage, and equally predictably, left them in the lurch. It wasn’t fair, but that was how the world worked. Only the young and foolish ever expected anything different.

But why would Jonas spin a line about running away overseas? Or did he actually intend to go abroad?

That might make sense if he was afraid of Eranon, which he had good reason to be, if Riga survived and talked. But he’d planned this before the theft of the codex, even before Sark, if he could believe Vikki.

Something here didn’t add up.

He frowned, struck by dark suspicion. He had trusted Jonas. They had much in common: he was a noble, an Adept, a vai Oryche, raised in the same House as himself with the same education, the same values. In Sark, they’d faced danger together, and Jonas had saved his life. He had assumed he understood the young man, but had he? ‘You need to tell me everything, and I mean everything, right now. I must know what Jonas is doing. He may be in grave danger.’ From me, if no one else.

Vikki stared at him in silence. She swallowed. ‘I don’t know anything.’

‘If Jonas is in trouble, I may be the only one who can help him. And I will learn the truth. Or do I have to talk to Danta? Did you tell her you and Jonas meant to run away?’

Vikki flinched. ‘Please don’t. I never wanted to hurt her.’

‘But you were going to, all the same.’

Tears shone in her eyes. ‘He wasn’t going to the Arcanum.’

‘What?’

‘He was going to sell the codex,’ Vikki said, her voice very small.

‘But—’ Simon opened and closed his mouth, lost for words. ‘But—’

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t like lying to you. He made me promise not to tell, and— He said bad things were going to happen in the city. He wanted us to get away, to be safe. We needed the money.’

Simon stared at her in disbelief. Jonas had lied to him, lied so well Simon hadn’t doubted him in the slightest. He’d really believed Jonas would risk everything to keep the codex out of dangerous hands. Instead, Jonas had all along intended to sell it to the highest bidder.

He didn’t know what shocked him most, that Jonas had lied to him, or that he’d so casually endanger the city he had sworn to defend with his life. What sort of man broke every bond of honour, discarded every principle a noble should hold dear, merely for money?

‘Where was he taking the codex?’

‘I don’t know.’

Simon stood and leaned across the table. ‘Think. Where did he go? He must have said something.’ The city contained plenty of people who might buy the codex, but Jonas would only be interested in the few who had serious money. That meant the Arcanum and the four noble Houses.

Of these, he could rule out House Oryche, obviously, and the Arcanum, since that’s where Jonas had said he would take it.

Or — if Jonas had intended to travel, perhaps he meant to sell the codex abroad, to the Sothron Empire, for example.

Simon’s stomach turned over. Surely, however low Jonas had sunk, he wouldn’t sell the codex to Athanor’s enemies? Just considering it made Simon’s skin crawl. Yet logically, it was a possibility, and not one he could rule out. Jonas clearly wasn’t hampered with many morals. He’d already betrayed his House; maybe he wouldn’t balk at betraying his city too.

‘He wouldn’t tell me,’ Vikki said. ‘He just said trust me, and I did. Oh Simon, he wouldn’t have lied to me. Something’s happened to him, I know it.’

Simon suppressed the urge to smile. She honestly believed Jonas wouldn’t deceive her, despite his having lied to Simon, stolen from his own House, and all but killed his own cousin. Well, her delusion would cure itself quickly enough. ‘He has relatives in Phylaxes. He might have gone there, if he needed to lay low. But really, he could be anywhere in the city by now. I don’t know where to start looking for him. It would take a bloodhound to find him…’ He trailed off, staring at the bare rock wall of the storeroom.

‘Simon?’

‘I have an idea. Sam, come here, I need to talk to you.’

Sam sidled over. ‘What is it?’

‘Do you know where to find Andra?’

‘I haven’t seen her. You told me not to, remember?’

‘Sam, this is important. How do I find her?’

‘She’ll still be watching the Chained Serpent. Or she has a place over in the slums where she sleeps sometimes, up on a roof. I’d have to show you the way. But she won’t talk to you, anyhow. ’

‘We’ll see.’ Simon sat back down. He had to try to recover the codex before Jonas sold it, and Andra might, just possibly, be able to follow Jonas’s trail. He’d have to offer her something in return for her help — but that should be all right. Andra's motivations were straightforward. He knew what she wanted.

Though what he’d do with Jonas if he caught him, he didn’t know. One problem at a time.