When Lapis and Brander returned downstairs, Dachs hailed her.
“You know Ciaran?” he asked, slapping the man on the shoulder, hard enough he staggered.
“Yeah,” she said. “My entire life.”
“Really?” Phialla asked, perking up.
“Literally. He was there when I was born. About dropped me on my head when he held me.”
“You were heavy,” Ciaran said with fake disgust, though his cobalt eyes twinkled at the reminder. He flipped his blond bangs from them with a shake of his head. “And I was four.” Dachs’s eyes widened at the proclamation.
“His mother scared him enough that, when his sister was born, he refused to touch her because he didn’t want to drop her.”
“She was fatter than you were.”
“Babies are supposed to be chubby.”
Dachs laughed, which echoed in the strangely sparse room. Normally multiple people rushed in to get out of the rain and ended up spending more than intended on warmer drinks. Perhaps it was still too early in the day for it. Just because Lapis felt as if years had passed in only a few hours, that did not make it so.
“I sent the rats to Fished Out,” she said. “You and Dani and Dalia can have some.”
“They better get me some of that white fish,” Dalia called from the kitchen.
“You can chew out Rin if he doesn’t,” Lapis told her before sitting next to Phialla while Brander joined Tearlach. She turned her soberest gaze onto Dachs. “The suite?”
His gales of laughter indicated he very much enjoyed putting the Dentherion in their place. “Ah, Lady, you shoulda seen it. Rin’s sharp, when it comes to bargainin’.”
“He should be.” Street rats had to be, to weasel the most out of their bits.
“I admit, the Dentherion irritated me no end. Couldn’t keep her nose to her own business. We didn’t ask her to participate. She just decided she should. Rik cleaned her out. Used that windfall from those guttershank stakes to bet on Rin. Her eyes popped when she realized all she’d lost. No one let her renege on it, either.”
“How much was the stake?”
Dachs shook his head in wonder. “Together, three silver.”
Her eyebrows shot into her hair. “Three silver? How does a druggie guttershank get that kind of stake?” True, the ‘keepers would have divided up the pay, which meant all the help that ringed the grubby shank, as well as those who chased the second one, received a share, so no single person collected three silver, but they all would have come out of it a couple hundred bits richer. For rats like Rin, it meant an unexpected boon—and hopefully it did not foreshadow a lean time to come.
“Rik said they’d been part of that crowd that ripped up the Jank Temple and sold all those gold plaques. Wonder where that money went, ‘cause the grubby one sure didn’t get any of it.” He sighed. “Rin added it to his pile. So weren’t all your bits he bartered with.”
“Good.”
“The woman pissed Rin off,” Lyet said. She rolled her head over to look at Lapis. “He was going to bargain for the room across from yours, but you know how he gets when he’s angry.”
“He gets suites,” she grumbled. She did not appreciate all the smiles that accompanied her half-jesting resentment. She really did want a bath attached to her room. The washstand did not make up for having a tub; a paltry hand towel scrub did not equal sinking up to her neck in warm water and breathing in the damp air.
“There’s so many Dentherion tourists right now,” Ness piped up. “We sold a lot of stuff to them earlier.”
“That’s because you and Phialla do good work,” Lapis told him. He grinned, his earlier, desperate crying behind him.
“Mairin showed us what to buy to make clay steppingstones,” Phialla told her, holding up the plaque. Shards of pottery, fine glitter, and a twirl of bright yarn decorated the surface, held to the ceramic with a clear coat. “And she said we should play up the folk art aspect! Use buttons and everyday items in unique ways. Ness has a painting style, even if he doesn’t practice it like he should—”
“Hey!” Ness protested.
“—and we can incorporate our own stamp on our stuff.”
“Good idea. Tourists eat that kind of thing up.” She smoothed her damp hair back from her face. “Is there a festival or something going on? I mean, Jiy isn’t that popular of a vacation destination.” She recalled nothing that might attract monied people from Dentheria, but she normally ignored such celebrations. She did not have the funds to participate in holidays, and even if she did, reveling without the rats would only emphasize their low status. She would never purposefully let them believe themselves less than the rich kids whose parents showered them with clothing and knick-knacks in an attempt to buy luke-warm affection. She did purchase sweets for everyone on significant holidays, but the majority of those were religious, and since the religious ones always pushed the ‘if one is holy, they will be wealthy and hale’ crap, she refused to honor them in any meaningful way.
“The prince visited Dentheria recently,” Ciaran said quietly. His voice, however soft, reverberated through the room. “Apparently its citizens are curious about Jilvayna now, and the affluent want to vacation here. Coriy’s gotten their fair share of tourists who want to walk around the ‘Rebel City’.”
She rolled her eyes. Wonderful.
“How privileged we are,” Caitria said. She leaned on the table, arms crossed, her chin settled on them, as she watched Phialla. Mairin rubbed circles on her back, an attempt to comfort her. The Pit had that effect on people.
“Aye,” Dachs said heavily. “They do spend a lot, though.”
“Of course,” Lapis said. “Reminds us about the rewards for the abdication of morality and justice.”
Brander smiled at that, though she could tell the Blue Council members were a bit surprised at her sarcasm.
“I’ve made more than usual selling necklaces, too,” Jandra said, leaning away from the wall to look over at the back table. “There’s been a slow increase in tourists, but these last few days at the Lells have been strangely busy. Lykas says there’s a lot of rich people wandering about without much care to their purse. Do they really have so much money, they can lose silvers to pickpockets?”
“They don’t realize it’s a threat,” Tearlach told her. “Dentheria is very different from us vassal states. She doesn’t have the overt and rampant poverty, which means there aren’t as many street thieves in the large cities. She has far more services that help the disadvantaged, and even the poorest make silvers more than some of the richer commoners here. That’s not to say incredibly poor people don’t live there, but in general, they get far more help than the needy here in Jilvayna.”
“The rich also sequester themselves,” Brander said. “They have no idea what’s going on in the poorer streets of Dentherion cities, let alone Jiy.” He half-smiled. “They want some folk art pieces they can hang on a wall and brag to their acquaintances about, and a few shocking stories about walking about scary streets that mortify their fellows. I suppose getting cleaned out will provide the shock factor.”
Stomping broke through the general hum before the bedraggled, enraged man loomed in the doorway. All talk ceased as he stormed into the tavern, fists clenched at his side, teeth clenched behind snarling lips. The dribbling of his thinning hair and the dripping of his finely tailored suit mitigated much of the furious impression he wished to make. Why not retrieve an umbrella before marching to the Eaves?
“Why hello, Orinder,” she said, as two bodyguards followed him inside. One was the man tasked with protecting Dandi, and he looked as happy as a crying clown about being dragged to this confrontation. Perhaps he would decide to sell his services to another merchant after this. The other guard simply appeared embarrassed; red spread across his cheeks and nose and did not fade away. “What a pleasant surprise. How’s Dandi? I’ve been told, I kick hard. I hope he wasn’t still in the dirt when it began to rain.”
His breath whistled through his teeth. “How dare you touch my grandson?” he snarled.
“How dare your grandson destroy Phialla and Ness’s work,” Lapis said coolly. “If Dandi doesn’t sell enough during a shift, he still gets fed. Phialla and Ness don’t. It’s pathetic and cruel, to consign them to days without food because he wasn’t charming enough to attract custom.”
“They’ve been told to keep away from my stall,” he growled, pointing to the two urchins. Phialla’s lip trembled, and a tear slid down Ness’s cheek.
That ass, coming to the Eaves to scare them away from selling at the Lells, one of a handful of safe spaces in Jiy the less fortunate could hawk their wares. He thought her rats easy to intimidate? He might scream and shout loud enough non-circle urchins avoided him and his precious stall, but her group had her to speak for them. And speak she would.
“They have every right to set up where they want to, just as you do,” Lapis reminded him. “The Lells doesn’t designate space for the blanket traders and you know it. As long as they’ve paid their selling fee, Maydie and Movique don’t care where they sit.” She lounged back and folded her arms across her chest. “If you’re so infuriated by their presence, I’m certain Candycakes will welcome such an upstanding merchant as yourself.”
He shook, hard. Lapis tried to put as much condescension into her smile as she could; Candycakes, the second-largest market in Jiy, a place a tad more expensive than the Lells but with a far better reputation, had rejected Orinder’s applications to sell there. He begged for admittance so often, it became a joke in the Grey Streets. His assumed association with the underground did not impress the Candycakes Collective, and the merchants refused to vote in his favor. Unless he started selling far more product, the shopping center had no incentive to let him set up shop there.
Maybe that explained his reaction to the rats peddling pottery.
“They wouldn’t even be there without you,” he snarled.
“Hmm. I think you underestimate the drive in the rats,” Lapis told him. “There are several who sell at the Lells, who have no association with the reading circle.”
“Do they really take that much business away from you?” Caitria asked, sitting up and planting her cheek firmly in her palm as she regarded the older man with narrowed eyes.
“They have a wheel and paint,” Mairin said, setting her knee against the table and rocking her chair back. “Just the two of them make product, and they said they take their wares to a kiln and pay to have them fired, which limits what they can produce. I doubt very much they sell more than you.”
“And just who are you?” Orinder demanded, glaring at the two women.
“Friends,” Caitria said.
“Friends with the rats?” he asked, then laughed, ugly and dark. “You’re friends with the rats.”
“Why not?” Tearlach asked quietly.
Lapis almost groaned; Rin and his timing. He and a mischief of rats swarmed the Eaves, carrying a variety of bags. The group, in unison, glared at the merchant, who returned the favor, and dumped their burdens on the table. The fresh smell of cooked food wafted from them, and she hoped her stomach did not rumble loud enough for anyone to hear. She planned, as she normally did, to allow others to eat their fill, and if enough remained, she would partake. The rats deserved a nice meal every so often, even the ones who did not participate in her reading circle. She noted several of them eagerly eyeing the bags, ready to indulge. Good. A warm dinner went a long way on a rainy day.
Dalia bustled out of the kitchen, plate in hand, and looked expectantly at Rin. The rat raised an eyebrow, and she sternly glared back, one eye narrowed, her lips pursed. When it came to food, she was nothing if not serious. Sighing mightily, he made a production of reluctantly opening one of the bags, and took out what Lapis thought an excessive amount of skewered food—and all of it was white fish threaded between thick slices of spicy peppers, onions, and buttered bread pieces. Dalia’s delight brightened the storm-darkened interior, and she hummed as she settled herself behind the bar to eat.
Dachs eyed her, and she squinted at him. “What?” she asked. “There’s no one here to cook for.” She set her hand above her eyes and scanned the crowd, as a sailor scanned the ocean for land.
He made a face as Ciaran chuckled.
Most of the rats grabbed what they could and carted themselves after Scand and Brone, up the stairs to Rin’s new abode—and she smiled as she heard the muffled exclamations of surprise and delight, with a bit of jealousy thrown in, when they beheld his prize. Even Dachs grinned. Had he anticipated how Rin planned to use the room, and letting him win became tacit approval for an urchin safe space? Lapis appreciated his kindness, for the Grey Streets did not have so many with a similar heart.
It all swirled around Orinder and his bodyguards, who stood like dead tree stumps in the middle of everything, as much in the way and stubbornly rooted. She wanted him to leave—the rats hardly deserved his presence—but she had no idea how to force him without eliciting revenge against the kids.
Ness crawled under the table and stuffed himself between her and Phialla, unsuccessfully quelling tears while he ate as many skewers as his tummy could handle. Lapis hugged him close; sometimes the rats needed comfort and she was their chosen pillow to cry on. She wished upon Orinder the pain he had brought to every urchin he harmed because they hardly deserved his animosity and bullishness.
Caitria pulled a bag open and looked inside. “What kinds of skewers are there?” she asked.
“We cleaned ‘m out,” Lykas said as he popped open another bag. “So there’s ones with white fish, shrimp, those funny little lobsters, freshwater fish, bread. There’s a few that are just spicy peppers and bacon.” He smiled at that. “Some are just vegetables.”
Jesi and the Wings scrambled into the Eaves, dripping but laughing. Their humor died as they skidded around Orinder, but returned as they slid a very large, soggy teal box onto the table. They went to Traus’s?
“Oooohhh,” Lyet and Jandra said together.
“You have guests, Lady,” Jesi said. “So we thought we should have dessert, too.”
She popped the lid. The cake remained pristine, with white and blue frosting, dozens of candy flowers, and sugary decoration. The sweet and chocolaty scent made Lapis almost forget about the skewers. The kids would love it.
Gabby shoved her face into the box and breathed in with pure glee, and Jesi pulled it right back out. “You have to eat your dinner, first,” she scolded. Gabby made a face but retrieved a few skewers while her Blue Council guests looked through the bags and found enough food to stuff themselves, even before the cake.
Gabby remained near Lyet and Jandra, watching the unfamiliar people with a hint of suspicion. “Don’t you want to see the suite?” Lapis asked.
She raised one eyebrow nearly to her hairline. “I’ve already seen it,” she said, pushing out her chest. “Me and Scand and Brone were the first ones in there! Even before Rin, ‘cause he had to open the door.” She waved her hand like a fish swimming. “And we all snuck around him!” She flung her arm wide, nearly decking one of the Wings in the face. “It’s huge!”
Compared to her cubby, that was an understatement.
“These are really good,” Caitria said, studying the skewer and covering her mouth as she spoke.
“Spicy,” Mairin choked as she coughed on peppers. Brander smiled and ate far too many of the spicy skewers. He did not look at all adversely affected, by the heat or a tender tummy. He and Patch definitely shared an iron stomach.
“Are you still here?” Ciaran asked Orinder as he, Dachs and Dani wandered over to look through the bags.
“You . . . this is what you bought with that money you stole from me?”
Lapis glared at the burgundy-red man, who trembled with something other than cold. “Stole? I staked your stall, Orinder. There was no theft involved. I watched the rats take your best pieces to the guardhouse without breaking one. I watched Jesi give your lockbox to Fyor, so I KNOW you still have the money Dandi made today. And since I bought all this, not the rats, not a bit from you purchased it.”
“Really. And where’d you get the money for all this?”
“I am a chaser,” she replied coolly.
“And what stake pays this well?” he asked, swinging his arm towards the table, his mouth pulled down into an ugly frown.
“A high stake,” she told him. “And I’m entertaining guests, so I’m splurging. That’s the Jiy way, isn’t it? Drive yourself into the Stone Streets to show visitors a good time?”
Rin plopped down next to her on the bench, eyeing the older man with undisguised hate. She had no illusions about his resentment and hoped he proceeded with care the next time he picked the man. Orinder and kindness did not hold hands. “What’s you doin’ here?” he asked. “Don’t you gots someone else t’ bother?”
“You filthy rat.”
“Say what you like, I’s not gonna stop you,” Rin muttered. “But this here’s a celebration fer us ‘n the Lady’s guests. Don’t recall YOU bein’ invited.”
“That mouth of yours is going to be your end one day,” Orinder promised.
“And yers won’t?” Rin shot back. “Braggin’ up n’ down the streets, ‘bout this here illegal thing and that there showin’ up the guard. You ain’t no sweet yerself. You trapped yerself, and it ain’t gonna end pretty.”
Lapis cast Rin a warning look, and he subsided, unhappy, but willing to play nice. She doubted he would have held his tongue if guests did not sit with them; she would thank his goodwill later. He grabbed several skewers, then set them before her. She glared, and he smiled before shoving an entire stick’s worth into his face.
“It would be very embarrassing, for you to choke to death the day after you so impressively bargained for the suite,” she told him. He bent over and cupped his hands over his mouth as Lyet, Jandra and Dani laughed. Lykas grinned widely and made a show of eating one bite-sized morsel after another. Gabby daintily ate two pepper bits, then followed Rin’s example.
“That goes for you, too, Gabby,” Lyet told her. The girl made a face, the chunks of food poking oddly against her cheeks.
“You’ll regret provoking me,” Orinder snarled, awkwardly drawing attention back to him.
Ciaran looked at him. All three men stepped back, uncomfortable. He certainly intimidated when irritated. She and Neola had experienced it far too often, being young girls and knowing what buttons to push to annoy older brothers. He usually felt bad enough about snapping at them he became ‘preoccupied’ while they snuck sweets from his plate without him noticing. She thought of him as gentle and kind, but he had a darker side few transgressed, including his mother.
“And what, exactly, do you plan?” Ciaran asked calmly. No one spoke as Orinder glanced around, as if he just recognized that the man who confronted him might prove a far deadlier opponent than he expected at the Eaves. The few others lounging at tables were regulars who thought the rats deserved a nice meal, too. Each one turned back to their drink, uninterested in his silent pleas for help.
She would offer them some of the skewers, once Orinder vacated.
“Well, um . . .”
“Are you such a coward as to target a street urchin for your grandson’s behavior? He was the one waving the knife around.”
“Dandi doesn’t own a knife like you described,” Orinder seethed, pointing at Lapis.
“Fyor said thieves hit an acting troop last night. Looks like Dandi thought that one of their prop daggers was the real deal. Thought he’d look cool, waving it about. Nothing cool, about ending up in the dirt.”
“And you put him there.”
“Yep. And if he attacks Lyet, Ness or Phialla again, he’ll be eating even more dirt. They’re in good standing at the Lells. They haven’t cheated a customer, they haven’t sold shoddy material, and they haven’t destroyed another merchant’s merchandise because they don’t think they can make money otherwise.”
“You’re not going to be hovering over them every moment,” he snapped.
Lapis felt Rin tense at the threat. She nudged his leg with her foot and lounged back, pondering how to proceed and feeling low. She had told the rats that Dandi acted without Orinder’s approval, but he just proved her assumption false. They trusted so few, and she did not want to lose their faith because she stupidly thought a greedy adult had a conscience. Dachs solved the problem by grabbing the worthless ass by the collar and hauling him about, while his guards remained rooted and watched. The barkeep threw him into the rain; he did not keep his feet and landed in a puddle spreading out from the door.
“You threaten people in my place?” he bellowed. “Don’t come back.” He pivoted on his heel and jerked his thumb; the guards hastened outside and helped the struggling man to his feet. Lapis assumed he glared imaginary daggers at them all, but she hardly cared. If he attempted a petty revenge stake against the rats, few would take it seriously; chasers refused to harm the poorest of the poor because their reputation would fall, headfirst, into the toilet, and the guard would not pay out to them. Sir Armarandos was very insistent on that, and while he could not prevent the revengeful and malicious from staking a rat or a Stone Streets beggar, he could make life miserable for the chaser who took those stakes. It was surprisingly effective. Chasers needed to pay rent and eat, too, and once the guard denied them a stake because they targeted the paupers, they had a terrible time rebuilding their status to the point they received fair pay again. Most just quit and found other work.
That did not mean Orinder had no other options in seeking revenge.
Three money pouches landed in the center of the table. Two, made of typical brown leather, sagged over. The third, a colorful affair of bright stitching and stiff cloth, held so many bits it stood straight.
Lapis stared, blinked, then looked at Brander, who serenely returned to his meal. She had not even realized he moved from his seat! Yes, he had a typical Grey Streets look of black hair and tanned skin, so he blended well in crowds, but the Eaves was not the Lells! Rin’s mouth dropped open as he beheld them, and Lykas looked faint.
She reached for the heaviest one and upended the contents onto the table; bits poured everywhere, far more than what Orinder needed to prance about the Grey Streets, and of the deep, shimmery colors some merchants collected. A small, square, dull red item with a curved silver button tumbled out and thunked softly on the tabletop.
The kids had no idea, but every rebel stopped, shocked and appalled—and so did Dachs. How would he know what a trigger looked like?
“What’s that?” Rin asked, reaching for it.
Of course, Rin would reach for it. Caitria snagged it before he touched it.
“It’s something known as a trigger,” she told him. She held the square between her thumb and her index finger. “The Dentherion army used them a hundred years or so ago to remotely trigger explosive devices. They didn’t work as expected, either not detonating their target, or doing so too late. The Dentherions gave up on the tech when an army unit in Ramira blew themselves up after the devices didn’t detonate on time and they charged their enemy. They started researching other ways to trigger remote explosions, and the underworld lapped up what they could of the discarded tech.” She shook her head. “Orinder must deal with the underground here in Jiy, to possess one.”
“He has no business, havin’ somethin’ like that,” Dachs said darkly. “Who’s he plannin’ to blow up?”
Not the rats. Explosive tech cost metgals, and if he purchased one device, he would never waste it on so petty a reason.
Lapis glanced at a troubled Tearlach, then at the barkeep. “Fyor said Sir Armarandos is looking for any information about tech in the streets. Something’s going on, and he’s concerned. I mean, that guttershank last night having a tech weapon, and now this?”
“If Sir Armarandos is worried, we best be keepin’ our eyes open,” Dachs declared, his large fingers drumming against his waist. “He isn’t one to lead others astray, especially us here in the Grey and Stone Streets.”
“If Orinder is a pottery merchant, how did he get the metgal to buy explosives?” Tearlach asked.
“He sells in the undermarket,” Rin said. “Always braggin’ ‘bout it, too. He’s richer ‘n he says, we all knows it. That’s why it’s petty n’ cruel, him raggin’ on Phialla n’ Ness n’ Lyet.”
“Are you going to turn him in?” Caitria asked, cocking her head at Lapis.
“Yep. But after I pay a visit to his storage.” She did plan on telling Fyor about the trigger—but if Orinder had access to explosives, she knew an organization that would benefit more from them than the little man.
Brander just smiled, his golden eyes twinkling.
Several people came scurrying in from the rain, and from their fearful expressions, they did not seek shelter in the bar and a warm drink. The locals quieted and looked out the door, then expectantly at the new arrivals.
“Mama’s up and about,” one of them said, his voice squeaking high.
“Mama?” Mairin asked.
“One of them carrion lizards,” Dachs said. “She’s old. Mothered most of the other ones. My grand-da talked about her being around when he was a kid, and he said HIS grand-da told tales about her from when he was a kid. When it rains, she gets antsy. If the Pit floods a little, she goes for a walk. She’s too big, and the guards just let her go. She wanders around a bit and noses about here and there. Unless you decide to attack her, she lets you be, and when she decides she’s ready, she goes back to the Pit.” He observed the rain. “Kids musta been too loud, and we missed the warnin’ bell.”
“Yeah. Jus’ stay inside,” Rin advised. “She don’t care ‘bout humans, but you annoys ‘er, she runs faster n’ you think. She bowls you over, kills you, ‘n eats you in the street. If she just scratches you, you can die pretty quick after.”
“Some call her Mama Poison,” Brander told them. “But most just refer to her as Mama. The bacteria she carries on her claws proves deadly in a few hours if left untreated.”
“We’ve heard about large lizards roaming the streets in Jiy, but it seemed fantastical,” Mairin said. “Like an urban fairy tale. I mean, a house-sized animal stalking and eating people?”
“No, Mama’s real, but not the oversized menace some want her to be.” Lapis sank into the seating. “Make yourselves comfortable; it’s best, just to wait her out. She’s normally placid, but no one wants to encounter her if something upsets her, and she gets more aggressive.”
A few more people scurried inside just before the acrid smell of carrion lizard filtered through the air.
The animal slowly waddled past the tavern, giving the Blue Council members a good look at the largest carrion lizard who lived in Jiy. Mama was squat, like the other lizards, but her shoulders topped a farm wagon’s side. From the tip of her dull green nose to the end of her muddy brown tail, she took up half a block. Her finger-length claws sank into the mud, leaving behind large enough footprints to create puddles. She paused and slowly turned her flat head to stare inside the bar, flicking her long, forked blue tongue; Dachs huffed over and slammed it shut. No doubt she smelled the food, and hopefully she did not decide she needed to eat it. The Grey Streets swam with tales of her breaking walls down to get to food, but they all were second-hand accounts that turned too gory too quickly for Lapis to take seriously.
Brander looked at her. She raised an eyebrow; she did not think Orinder had made it home before he realized Mama walked about, and she could not picture him bravely storming past her to reach it. He likely hid in some eatery or tavern—which gave them a chance to visit his abode and nose about without him being present. They nodded slightly at each other, in agreement.
“Scand says he’s Raban,” Rin said under his breath, and she heard the resentment in his voice.
“Yes. One of Chinder’s first apprentices.”
Rin squinted at her. “You knows him.”
“I do. And he isn’t exactly forthcoming with his identity,” she told him. “It’s an honor for him to have told Scand.”
Rin did not like the thought, but he did not pursue it, either. It made her suspicious, but she still wrestled with how to explain Brander to the kids without revealing his—and her—association with the rebels.
The rats assumed she hated the rebellion. They formed their own conclusions based upon her negative assessments when one of them pondered joining for a little too long. In truth, she did not want them involved with an organization under Baldur’s control, because his concern began and ended with bits and silvers, not people. Brander and Sherridan could only mitigate so much damage, and considering an urchin’s origins, the headman would never find them of enough interest to care whether they lived or died in rebel service. If they thought that hate, fine. It kept them focused on a future, rather than becoming a carrion lizard’s snack.
Fear permeated the air, spreading from the new arrivals to the regulars, which annoyed Lapis. While the Grey and Stone Streets needed to show caution around Mama, those who lived there knew very well she was not a monster hunting her next meal. She was an old woman who enjoyed going for walks because she disliked wading about in knee-deep water during rainstorms. To quell unease and get their attention on something else, Lapis swung her arm at the bags.
“Whoever’s hungry can have some skewers.”
The new arrivals glanced at one another as the regulars grinned and accepted. Hesitant, a few joined, and when the rest realized her sincerity, they also indulged in skewers. The majority then ordered warm drinks from Dachs, a way to comfort themselves while they washed down the food. Dani hurried into the kitchen to complete the orders while Dalia remained at the bar, chatting gaily at whoever wanted to talk. Her upbeat take on the night soothed the fright in many.
The mischief returned downstairs for cake, shocking more than a couple of customers, and Jesi busily supplied them with the sweet on a square napkin. She made certain Lapis’s guests had pieces, then slid a small slice and an enormous candy flower to her. “Lady, I don’t think there’s going to be any cake left.”
“That’s all right.” She jerked her chin at the rats. “Mama’s up and about,” she told them. “Keep in Rin’s room for a while, at least until it stops raining, and she heads back to the Pit.”
“Thanks fer invitin’ ‘em in,” Rin grumbled. She bumped his shoulder with her own, grinning at his exasperation.
“Like you’re going to be there,” she reminded him. “You’re going to snuggle up in my bed because my blanket’s warm, and no amount of rolling you onto the floor is going to make you let go of it.”
Rin blushed at the teasing while the rats grinned widely. Gabby licked her fingers clean before running into the pottery room and returning with a large book. The knight book. Ciaran took one look and laughed.
“What?” she asked defensively, clenching it to her chest.
“That’s probably Lanth’s favorite story of all time,” he told her.
Gabby’s eyes bulged. “Really?”
“Her older brother read it to her for three years straight. He . . . lost it, unfortunately.”
“You lost it, too,” Lapis reminded him.
“Yeah, I was smarter than he was and lost it before I started having dreams about reading it to Neola.”
Everyone laughed at her expression before Gabby scooted past Lyet and plopped herself next to Rin, grinning widely.
“I ain’t yer older brother,” he told her grumpily.
“Nope, but you’re the closest person we have,” she told him. Lyet and Jandra almost choked laughing, as she opened the book and nearly smooshed his cake with the cover. Rin rescued it with exaggerated care as she stuck her finger under the first word of the chapter and began to read.
