Kester Grant - The Court of Miracles

“From this day forth, the Guild of Thieves will be your family, and you will serve them, and never shall you betray them.”

I feel blood beading under the sting of the woman’s quill; smell its metallic tang as she finishes. My neck is aflame with the pain of it.

I know the mark is a diamond, because I have seen Thénardier’s mark when he was passed out on the floor after a drunken rage.

“It is not often, little Cat, that I am honored with so worthy an offering.” Tomasis holds the Talisman in his palm and tilts it so it catches the light. “I will give you a gift, if you desire it. Ask anything of me and it shall be yours.”

Beside me, Femi twitches. I sense his warning and ignore him.

“I wish for you to save my sister,” I say hurriedly. “For you to give her your protection as you have done for me.”

I hold my breath and try not to hope.

“Save her?” Tomasis asks. “From what does she need saving?”

“She has been taken, sold …,” I say, the words heavy in my mouth.

“Sold? That is indeed lamentable. And Thénardier allowed this to happen?”

I bite my lip. My father is Master of Beasts of this Guild; I dare not speak ill of him, not here.

“I see,” Tomasis says, frowning, my silence clearly explaining it all. “Thénardier always has been unnaturally fond of the coin.” He touches his necklace, considering. “Buying her back can be done. But consider this, little Cat: What if the one who bought her does not wish to sell?”

I raise my eyes fiercely to his.

“Then there is someone I wish to see dead,” I say.

Tomasis laughs, and the hall laughs with him. Only Femi shakes his head frantically, trying to get my attention.

“How very bloodthirsty of you.”

The laughter scratches at my skin. I have said the wrong thing, and it amuses them.

“You do not kill people?”

Tomasis smiles widely at me. “Not usually,” he says. “But I know others who are quite good at dealing in death. So tell me: Who is it that has taken her? Say his name and it shall be done.”

Femi makes a strangled noise.

“I heard him called Kaplan.”

The hall itself immediately goes silent. Beside me, Femi is frozen.

Tomasis rises with the dangerous grace of a jungle beast and in two strides is standing before me. The blow comes out of nowhere, sends me crashing to the ground. I try to ignore the sting of my cheek, the cold stone beneath my fingers as I struggle to my knees.

“Please!” Femi is saying, his voice urgent and shrill. “She does not know what Kaplan is.”

The whole hall stays silent.

“You would bring the Tiger’s enemies to my house?” Tomasis asks Femi, his eyes glittering darkly. “You would trick me into taking them as my own?”

“Forgive me, my Lord. She does not know what she is asking!” Femi says again sharply, his words like a blade parrying Tomasis’s rage, holding it back.

“Then why do you bring her to me?” Tomasis roars. “Why would she ask me to kill him ?”

The question echoes off the walls. Everyone is listening.

I will myself not to tremble, sucking in the air around me to steady myself.

“Fath—Thénardier sold my sister to him,” I say, looking at his feet, trying to keep the fear from my voice.

Tomasis sighs and bends, putting a hand beneath my chin. When I look up, his eyes are boring into mine. “Violence is rare here in the Shining Hall. Unlike the other Guilds, we rely on our speed and our wits. It is said we Thieves are good at stealing even the outrage from a brother’s heart.” He steps back, sitting heavily on his chair. “I’ll forgive you your impudence because you’re among the youngest of my children. None would bring me what you have. And none would dare ask of me what you have just asked.”

He nods to Femi, who grabs me by the arm and yanks me to my feet.

“Lord Kaplan, the Tiger, rules the Guild of Flesh,” says Tomasis. “He sits at the high table with the eight other Lords of the Miracle Court.” He shuts his eyes and rubs a hand over his temple as if weary. “We have … agreements with the Guild of Flesh. They don’t interfere with us, and we let them be. I would not defy Lord Kaplan even for one of my own. For to attack a Lord would plunge the Court into war. It is forbidden; thus sayeth the Law.”

“Thus sayeth the Law.” The murmurs echo around me.

“We the Wretched, children of the Miracle Court, are bound by the Law,” Tomasis continues. “It binds us, it keeps us, protects us, constrains us. It is engraved on the scales of our eyes, it is written in ash on the blackened tablets of our hearts.”

“But my sister!” I cry.

“I will give you a hundred new sisters,” Tomasis says with mournful eyes. “But I cannot return to you that which has been taken. Grieve for her, but know that she is gone.”

I fight down the bitter disappointment that rises in me. I thought this man who rules so powerfully over the Guild of Thieves could help me save Azelma.

A trembling starts within me. I try to control it, making fists and holding my limbs taut, but it takes over, my body no longer able to contain everything it feels. Tomasis catches me by the arm and pulls me toward him. His voice softens and lowers so that only Femi and I can catch his words.

“Do not be afraid, little one. You are a child of this Guild; Kaplan will not touch you. And you will be safe here from Thénardier’s wrath—I know his violence when the bottle has him. Look at me now: you are no longer his kin, you are my daughter. If he raises a hand to you, it will be as if he has struck me—and even he has never been drunk enough to try such a thing.”

“I am not afraid for myself,” I say, biting off each word with chattering teeth. I look Tomasis in the eye and see pity swimming in the depths.

If I can find out what the Tiger has planned, or where he has taken my sister, then surely I will be able to do something …

“You said you will give me a gift, so I ask you for the truth,” I say, my voice small. “Is he going to kill her?”

Tomasis shakes his head slowly and looks away. “I will not gift you this truth, for it is one known to all. Death would be a mercy to her,” he says quietly. He smiles at me, a smile wreathed in sadness, and for a moment he looks just like Femi. “But the gift I have promised you will keep. Know that one day you may ask it of me and I will bestow it on you.” A stern look comes over him. “Do not go looking for her, for you will not find her. Do not try to help her, for there is nothing that can break the Tiger’s hold once his claws are in. Do not make Kaplan your enemy; you will not sing the hunting song in his name. Swear to me that it will be so.”

Azelma sacrificed her one chance at escape to send me here, to give me the small bit of safety that even now stings behind my ear. Femi risked the wrath of his brother to save me, and now the Lord of Thieves has pledged to protect me from the Tiger, and from Thénardier. I must heed their words; I must respect their sacrifice. I must forget my sister. I would be a fool to do otherwise.

I nod.

“I swear it, my Lord,” I say.

And the lie tastes bitter on my tongue.