The Theft of Sunlight by Intisar Khanani (story reading .TXT) 📕

first log after reopening,” Kirrana says in a voice that clearly suggests she doesn’t believe herselfit.

“It’s also possible they forgot to change the date when they wrote up the log.” I squeeze my eyes shut. “When I first started asking questions, I heard a rumor that nearly two dozen children disappeared over those days.”

“I’ve . . . heard that too.”

I look up at Kirrana. “That would be the sort of cargo that would need to be loaded as soon as possible.”

“Exactly the sort of thing a corrupt warden would come out to approve so no one would ask questions later,” Kirrana agrees softly. “He was probably well paid for his troubles too.”

It’s only a date, one day off from the rest. The cargo itself is all innocuous—sacks of grain, crates of carpets. Kirrana goes back to her wax tablet and makes a note of the log date. There are precious few words on her tablet, just cryptic references to the logs and ledgers that bear each anomaly we’ve identified. Enough for us to find them again, but not enough for anyone else to know what they’re reading.

I look again at the page before me, trace the black stamp at the bottom. It’s the Berenworth seal, used by each captain alongside their initials to prove their relation to the overarching company. Two thin circles frame a center with calligraphic writing decorated with three small star-shaped flowers. A variant of asphodel, I think. The writing says, From the earth, the wealth of man. I suppose it sounds like a perfectly valid motto considering Berenworth’s investment in mines, and that the wealth of the asphodel is in its roots, which have a number of medicinal uses. But it still rubs me the wrong way. Perhaps it’s the implication that one can just take what one wants.

“Do you think it’s enough?” Kirrana asks.

“It might be. Do you think we’ll find anything else?”

“I doubt it,” she admits. “To find out more, you’d need an informant on the inside, or a contingent of guards who can inspect the ships for—well, for children.”

We don’t have any informants, and I wouldn’t know how to go about cultivating one. But the royal family certainly has soldiers, if they’re willing to use them. That will be up to the princess, and Kestrin, and his cousin Garrin, who offered to shield them both from the impact of this investigation. Garrin wanted an angle that wasn’t the Circle, and now I have one.

“I’ll talk to the princess,” I say. “I think we have enough to warrant their attention.”

“I’m glad,” Kirrana says. “I’ll keep my tablets with me for now. Let me know if you need anything from them.”

“I will,” I promise.

Chapter

41

Kirrana sets off directly from the docks to spend the rest of the day with her family. Emboldened by our earlier ride together, I keep an eye out for carts and wagons driven by women, and manage to buy a ride back to the wide plaza before the palace for the price of the spare coin in my pocket. It’s certainly the best way to cross the city without drawing notice or further blistering my foot.

As the cart rolls away, I become aware of a man approaching. I glance sideways to find myself looking at Captain Matsin, wearing an older set of leather-and-velvet armor.

“Kelari,” he says, his expression grim. “May I walk you into the palace?”

I have the distinct feeling he wants to chastise me more than he wants to walk, but I dip my head and start forward.

We pass through the gates in silence. Just when I’m beginning to wonder if he means to speak at all, he says, “I saw you leaving the palace earlier today with another young woman.”

He must have been in the practice fields, then. “Yes,” I say.

“I followed you.”

“What?” I turn toward him, shocked. He’s been following us all afternoon?

He meets my gaze. “It only took me a few minutes to realize there was someone else following you, closer behind you than I was. I continued after you to make sure you remained safe. Were you any more aware of them than you were of me?”

My mind goes blank. I shake myself, try to rattle a few thoughts free.

“I thought not. They followed you back, and I decided it best that I come forward and walk you in.”

“Did you recognize them?”

“No. They weren’t dressed as a soldier, but they moved as if trained.”

I take a shaky breath. Who would be following me? If it were the Scholar’s men, they could have easily apprehended me on my way back, or at least made the attempt.

“You don’t know why you were being followed?” Matsin queries.

There’s definitely more than one possible reason.

“The man was a Menaiyan, so it likely doesn’t have anything to do with the princess’s brother. Are you involved in anything else that might incite interest?”

I eye him warily. He isn’t trying to trick information out of me, is he?

Matsin sighs. “Don’t tell me. Tell the princess. And I suggest you send word to your friend to be careful as well.”

An excellent idea. Since I don’t know where Kirrana lives, Matsin escorts me to the women’s residence, where the elderly caretaker gives me the appropriate directions. Then I return, finally, to the royal wing, my limp distinctly more pronounced.

I write a quick note to Kirrana, advising her that we were followed and counseling her to be careful until we can find out who it was.

Write me back, I say at the end. Just let me know you got home safely.

The note entrusted into the hands of a page for immediate delivery, I go in search of Alyrra. Matsin’s news has disturbed me enough that I know I need to share everything we’ve learned—before anything else might happen.

Thankfully, Alyrra is in, and within half an hour she manages to arrange for Kestrin and Garrin to join us in her new interior sitting room to hear my news. Kestrin wears the same faintly glowing expression as Alyrra; it’s