Sicarius stood behind them, not bothering to hide his face as the breeze rifled through his short blond hair. He hadn’t drawn a weapon yet, and Amaranthe hurried to catch up, to keep him from doing so.
First one security man glanced over his shoulder and jumped, then the second emulated the move.
Sespian lifted a hand. “Don’t hurt-”
One of the men pointed to the side of Sicarius, cried, “Look, enforcers!” and hurled himself past Sespian and into the river. The second man squeaked, scuttled backward until his shoulders rammed against the railing, then grabbed it and also propelled himself into the water. His lantern caught and dropped to the deck instead of falling overboard. It clanked and highlighted a dubious puddle before tipping over and winking out. Amaranthe had forgotten how much Sicarius’s reputation affected the average person.
By the time she reached his side, there was little left to worry about, except Sespian’s reaction. Not everybody appreciated protective looming the way Amaranthe did. The two men stared at each other, their profiles like mirror images, each unreadable.
“ Hello,” she said cheerfully. “Everything all right, here?”
“ It is unwise to stand with your back to the deck,” Sicarius told Sespian.
Oh, good. Lecturing. That’d be sure to warm Sespian’s heart.
Sespian lifted the flap of his cloak to reveal a small crossbow in his hand. Amaranthe recognized it as an enforcer-issue weapon, one that often had poison on the tip, making it ideal for subduing dangerous criminals during undercover missions. Had he already tangled with an enforcer to acquire it? Sespian kept it pointed at the deck, but he held it out for a long moment, as if to make sure Sicarius saw it, before dropping the flap. Letting his father know he could take care of himself?
Sicarius did not amend his statement.
“ We’re searching for contraband,” Amaranthe said. “Do you want to join us? We checked your cabin earlier, but you weren’t there.”
“ Is that what Akstyr’s doing?” Sespian asked. “He went by a moment ago. He was peering into every vent and grate he passed.”
Amaranthe nodded, pleased that, whatever thoughts had been going through Sespian’s head, he’d remained observant. Sicarius would notice that too, she knew.
“ Yes, we suspect magical weapons or something of the sort are being smuggled to the capital by the circus troupe.”
“ For Ravido?” Sespian asked.
“ Forge, we imagine, but Ravido will surely benefit.”
“ So it’d behoove us to find them and destroy them.” Sespian took a deep breath and blew it out, like a man bracing himself. Or perhaps acknowledging that whatever he’d been thinking about was less important than this new mission.
“ Or acquire them for ourselves.” Amaranthe smiled.
For the first time since identifying Sespian, Sicarius looked at her. A rather sharp look that implied the thought lacked prudence.
“ Let’s find them before worrying about what to do with them.” Amaranthe waved toward the nearby engineering room hatch. Faint light escaped from a porthole beside it. “Think you can find those schematics without being seen by the night shift?” she asked Sicarius.
“ Yes.”
A long moment passed, with Sicarius eyeing Sespian and Amaranthe in turn, before he walked away. He disappeared into the shadows long before he reached the hatch. She waited, expecting to see it open, but it didn’t. Perhaps he intended to go in another way.
“ Are you all right?” Amaranthe asked.
“ I’m fine,” Sespian said.
“ You’re sure? I didn’t share that particular tidbit in the most judicious manner this evening.” Maybe she shouldn’t be bothering him. She’d aligned herself with the enemy, more so than ever, as far as he was concerned. Maybe she was the last person he wanted to confide in or even talk to. If not for the limitations of the boat, he might have walked much farther away to think. “I apologize for that. And for continuing to bug you. I’m not good at simply letting sleeping grimbals stay in their dens. Just ask…” She was going to say ask Sicarius, but bringing him up might not be wise. “Ask anyone who’s known me for more than a month.”
“ A month?” Sespian smiled faintly. “It didn’t take me that long to realize you have a nosy streak.”
“ Well, you’re more perceptive than most people.”
She’d meant it as a joke, but Sespian’s smile faded and his eyes grew sad. “When you and your team barged into the train for me, and I learned how much you’d done in the last year, in the name of helping the emperor, I thought… Well, that’s what made me think you might also have… feelings for me.” Amaranthe opened her mouth to say that she did care for him, but he lifted a hand to stop her. “I thought you wouldn’t have done all that, risked your life and those of your men if you weren’t guided by more than indoctrinated imperial loyalty to the throne. But it was for him, wasn’t it?”
Amaranthe didn’t know what to say. She wanted to deny the accusation, but couldn’t, not when Sespian seemed to finally understand that Sicarius cared for him. That mattered more than what Sespian thought of her. Still, she couldn’t bring herself to simply nod, because it wasn’t the full truth. “Partially for you, partially for the good of the empire-I’ve always thought you were a better option than Ravido or any of those old-fashioned war-war-war men-and partially, no, a lot, for him, yes.”
Sespian exhaled slowly and nodded to himself. “I’ll survive my dashed dreams. Don’t feel bad. I just need some time. All of this-you, Forge, my shattered identity-is difficult, but the hard part is that it’s him. A brutal murderer who I’ve seen…” He shook his head. “It would have been more palatable if it’d been someone else. Any one else.”
“ Come now, you wouldn’t want Maldynado for a father, would you?”
Sespian lowered his head and chuckled softly. “Perhaps not. His advice on winning women wasn’t particularly apt.”
Amaranthe didn’t want to bring the conversation back around to that topic again, so all she said was, “That’s one subject I’m fairly certain you’ll never have to worry about Sicarius advising you on. He thinks it’s appropriate to wear a dozen knives while leading a girl into the Imperial Gardens for a, uhm, chat.”
“ I don’t doubt it.”
Sicarius reappeared at Amaranthe’s side. For once, she didn’t twitch with surprise, but she did grimace, fearing he’d heard her comment.
“ Did you get the schematics?” she asked. Best to stick to business.
The hatch to engineering remained shut, the light glowing within. That didn’t mean much-Sicarius could have left a pile of dead bodies without her and Sespian ever having heard a thing.
“ They were on the wall,” Sicarius said. “I memorized them. To retrieve them would have involved revealing myself.”
“ Is there a secret cargo area?”
“ Inside and below the deck, yes.”
“ Lead the way then.” Amaranthe extended a hand toward engineering, though she had no idea where one might find an entrance to the storage area. “Let’s see if we can collect Akstyr on the way.”
They jogged around the deck to the opposite side of the steamboat, pausing only when they spotted Akstyr. He lay on his belly, face pressed to a grate near the boiler room.
“ This way,” Amaranthe told him.
They caught up with Sicarius at the door to the dining hall.
“ We already looked all around in there,” Akstyr whispered.
Sicarius didn’t respond. He found the door unlocked and disappeared into the dark interior. Amaranthe groped about until she found an unlit lantern mounted on the inside wall.
“ He’s heading for the stage,” Akstyr whispered.
“ How can you tell?” Sespian stood near the door, holding it open to allow in the faint lamplight from outside. It didn’t penetrate far.