woman, Amoli -‘
‘Amoli? You’re the mistress of a … of the Slippery Lily?’
‘No, the Lily Garden. The other place is in the Maze, a good place for pox and
slatterns.’
One-Thumb continued. ‘After he sold it to her, it disappeared. He brought it to
me last night. This evening, it disappeared from my own strongbox.’
‘Marype couldn’t do that,’ Mizraith said.
The conjuring part, I know he couldn’t – which is why I say that you must have
been behind it. Why? A joke?’
Mizraith sipped. ‘Would you like tea?’
‘No. Why?’
He handed the half-empty cup to the girl. ‘More tea.’ He watched her go to the
samovar. ‘I bought her for the walk. Isn’t that fine? From behind, she could be
a boy.’
‘Please, Mizraith. This is financial ruin for Amoli and a gross insult to me.’
‘A joke, eh? You think I make stupid jokes?’
‘I know that you do things for reasons I cannot comprehend,’ he said tactfully.
‘But this is serious -‘
‘I know that!’ He took the tea and fished a flower petal from it; rubbed it away.
‘More serious than you think, if my son is involved. Did it all disappear? Is
there any tiny bit of it left?’
‘The pinch you gave to my eunuch,’ Amoli said. ‘He may still have it.’
‘Fetch it,’ Mizraith said. He stared slack-jawed into his tea for a minute. ‘I
didn’t do it, Lastel. Some other did.’
‘With Marype’s help.’
‘Perhaps unwilling. We shall see … Marype is adept enough to have sensed the
worth of the cheese, and I think he is worldly enough to recognize a block of
rare krrf, and know where to sell it. By himself, he would not be able to charm