Chapter 7: Wet Ink

Dravan did not tell her what the letter meant until the bells rang for court.

He folded it very small and put it inside his shirt, over the place where her hand had been.

"After court," he said. "I'll take you to the Ninth Stair after court."

"It's the same hand as page forty," said Nanami.

"I know."

"She paid for me."

"Maybe," he said. "Come and be brave in front of the Collector first."

The great hall had been swept and the benches filled.

The whole household stood along the walls, from the stable boys to the old cook, and the Collector's guards stood across the doors.

The king sat in his father's high stone chair, and he was wearing the patched black coat again.

Nanami stood at his right hand with her pencil behind her ear.

Seleth strode in with the clerk at his heels, carrying a single loose sheet.

"By the Open Ledger Law," he said, "I lay before the court a page lost from the vault book."

He did not look at Nanami.

"Page forty-one. Signed by the king himself, for nine thousand crowns drawn on his father's seal, for a private summoning to serve his own pleasure."

A murmur ran along the walls.

The old cook put both hands over her mouth.

"It was hidden in his private desk," said Seleth. "The king robbed his own vault."

"Show it to the auditor," said Dravan quietly.

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