‘As requested,’ said Captain Vereski, straightening.
‘I see no bears.’
‘They were old, Mistress. Bags of bones.’
The woman made an angry hiss. ‘I could say the same of this lot. I thought I made it clear the bears were of particular interest to Boyar Valcar. You know very well the current ones are on their last legs. Literally, after last week’s dog fights.’
I wished I could stop up my ears with wax. It was not only what she said, but how she said it – with as much insouciance as if she were lamenting the cost of grain. I was almost grateful they’d slain Dorsi, if that was the fate that would have awaited him. My heart lifted at the thought of Albu and Kem, free in the forests. Our mother’s beautiful bear would never dance for these people, never be forced into a high walled arena and be set upon by starved dogs.
‘My apologies, Mistress. I am sure we can source some elsewhere.’
‘But it takes time, Captain Vereski. I wanted one ready trained, and Gypsies do that so well.’ She turned her fox face upon us. ‘They have a natural affinity for beasts.’
Kizzy’s hands were balled into fists. The backs of them were weeping. Her once smooth, elegant fingers were red raw with burns. In the forests there would be witch hazel and willow bark, other remedies the trees could give to soothe her sore skin. If knowing the land and all it could offer was bestial, I didn’t want to be human.
Captain Vereski opened his mouth but she held up her hand.
‘I will manage. I always do. Let’s see them.’
She opened the red door and gestured for us to follow her inside. Vereski encouraged us with a hand on his sword, but Mistress Malovski stopped him at the threshold.
‘I can take it from here, Captain.’
‘There are some wild ones, Mistress. I really think it best—’
She shut the door in his face with the same finality with which she had held up her hand.
With the shutters closed, inside was dark as a grave. The candles dotted about the room only served to throw the areas outside their faded circles of light into shadow. I realised much of her wealth was in appearance only: the painted shutters and fine dress hiding these drab interiors.
Mistress Malovski turned to us, the candlelight turning her skin sallow.
‘There is no point trying to escape. Even if you manage to kill me, there is no way out except the way you came in. And my life will be worth every single one of yours. Line up.’
None of us moved. I wondered if Kizzy was thinking the same as I. Whatever Malovski said, she was small and slight, older than us by two decades at least. I scanned the dim room for a weapon. The candlesticks looked like iron. I imagined taking one in my hand, swinging it at the woman’s sharp face, cracking it open like a vase. My knees went weak at the thought.
Coward.
She crossed the room and took up a bowl of water, a rag. She set them down on the table. ‘Clean your faces.’
My whole body felt coated in grime, and the hateful smell of smoke clung to my clothes. I wanted to scratch the skin right off myself, down to my bones, to my soul, and let it fly free. But when I reached the bowl, already grey and opaque with dirt from the others’ faces, I only dipped the rag into the filthy water and wiped it across my brow, and at the back of my neck. My cheek smarted, and I felt a scratch there, a clean slice. I could not remember how I got it.
‘Now here.’ Malovski gestured that we should stand against the wall. I butted up close to a squat wooden dresser. The candlestick was within grasp. I could not reach for it. I dug my nails into my palms until they stung.
I tried to catch Kizzy’s eye, but she didn’t look at me. Malovski walked slowly along the line, as close as Captain Vereski had, but her gaze was almost more disturbing. Vereski’s expression I had at least understood; I had seen that mix of disgust and desire in many Settled men before. But Malovski was appraising, focused, like Old Charani studying a palm.
I thought of the other day we could have had, the day we should have had. In that other day, I was sitting full of mushroom stew under leaf-dappled sunlight, Kem on my lap and Mamă stroking my hair as Old Charani unfurled my hand like a fern and spoke my future into it.
I squeezed my eyes shut, the better to see it. The longing was a crack running from my heart along every limb. It was painful and lovely, and took me away from the room until Malovski’s sharp grip on my wrist wrenched me back.
The woman spread my hands, and I wondered what future she had in store for me. She checked my fingernails, the cool softness of her skin making my own crawl. She peered into my mouth, ran her finger along my teeth, pressing as if to check for looseness. She turned my face this way and that, frowning at the cut on my cheek.
‘That will need stitches, I think. Shame. But twins …’ She looked from Kizzy to me. ‘Perhaps even better than a bear. Sure she’s the beauty, but the likeness is close enough. Did your mother feed you the same? Looks like she got the better breast.’ It was obviously not a question for us to answer. The mention of Mamă made my body shake.
Malovski moved on to Kizzy. ‘They really are striking, your looks. If you like this sort of thing.’ She made a gesture to Kizzy’s hips, exaggerating their curves. ‘Men are simple in their tastes, even boyars.’ She tapped her lip with a thin finger. ‘Are you unspoilt?’
Kizzy frowned.
‘Have you been bedded?’
Kizzy narrowed her eyes. ‘No.’
‘So you’re not dumb. I thought they might have ripped your tongues out,’ said Malovski dryly. ‘They did that once.’
Malovski began her examination of Kizzy, starting, as she had with me, with her hands. She recoiled at the sight of the burns.
‘Bleah! What happened here?’ Kizzy winced as Malovski turned her forearms this way and that, tutting. ‘This is hideous.’
She brought her head down level with Kizzy’s arms, and I could feel something in Kizzy change, tense and coil like a snake. Like she was considering striking her. I felt the urge in my own hands. She could get her in a choke-hold, squeeze until the gleaming eyes dimmed. But she bore it silently as Malovski sniffed at the skin.
‘Good, no rot yet. We will have to sort that too.’ She threw Kizzy’s arm down with a dismissive huff, looking disgustedly from my sister to me. ‘Twins maybe, but damaged. Why is my job never easy?’
She crossed the room and opened the door, daylight flooding in. She gestured the Captain inside. He dithered by the threshold, seemingly unwilling to step closer. What power did this woman have over him, to make him so afraid?
‘Fine. It’s not such a disaster. You to … you.’ Malovski dragged a thin finger from Girtie to Reeni. ‘Dairy. You go with him.’
She jerked her head at them, and they walked uncertainly to the door.
‘These two will do for the castle,’ she said to Captain Vereski, nodding at Kizzy and me. ‘But I need to make them presentable first.’
‘Thirty,’ said Captain Vereski.
‘Done.’
‘For them only,’ he said, pointing at Kizzy and me. ‘Fifty all in.’
‘You have brought me damaged goods,’ said Malovski, pulling Kizzy’s hand up to show him. ‘It will cost me to fix.’
‘I—’