The Tyrant's Pet novel · Chapter 9 of 32

Chapter 9: Moon Salt

"Close the gates," the Emperor said. "Search every room."

"And tell whoever did it that we know?" Agatha set the keys down on the table. "They'll burn whatever's left and smile at you over breakfast."

"Then what do you want?"

"Three days," Agatha said. "And her."

She pointed at me.

The Emperor looked at my bandaged arm and then at Agatha.

"She can barely stand."

"She can stand on day three," Agatha said. "Can't you?"

"Yes," I said, and I did.

On the third morning I put on a laundress's brown dress and wrapped my hair in a scarf.

Agatha dressed the same, with her braid hidden and soot on her freckles.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Shopping."

The river market ran along the docks below the Coil, a mile of stalls under patched awnings.

Fish, rope, onions, pots, birds in cages.

Nobody looked at two washerwomen twice.

"One of my girls heard a thing," Agatha said as we walked. "A cure for the Blight. Sold under the counter. Only to people who can pay in gold."

"A cure?"

"So they say."

The stall was near the end, behind a seller of cheap ribbons.

A narrow counter, a curtain behind it, and a man in a good coat that didn't fit the place.

Jars of dried herbs lined the front.

Agatha leaned on the counter and dropped her voice.

"My sister's boy drank from the river at Saltgate. We heard you've got something."

The man looked us up and down.

"It's not cheap."

"We've got a lady's ring to sell."

He reached under the counter and brought up a small glass jar with a cork in it.

Inside were crystals the color of rust.

"Moon salt," he said. "Best cure on the river. One pinch in a cup of water, drink it twice a day."

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