Page 21 of A Drop of Corruption

“You’ve been waiting at my door?” I said, surprised.

“You said sunup,” she said, and gestured to the overcast skies. “The sun is almost up. I must say, I was confused to hear no heartbeats within your lodgings, nor the whisper of any breath. But to see you now, and…” She sniffed the air as I approached, and grinned. “…and to catch thescentof you, all is clear.”

I scowled at her. “Do you pry in the affairs of all who walk this street?”

“I do no prying! Would you have me stop up my ears and nose to keep your privacy? But do not feel shame, Kol. If anything, I am amazed.”

“What?”

“Why, you were so serious and frowned so much yesterday, I wondered if you had any blood in you at all. Yet obviously, you have that,and more—if it’s not all spent! How have you already managed to bed another? Have you even been here a fullday?”

I felt heat in my cheeks as I unlocked my door. “I am going to change my clothing, Signum,” I said firmly. “I will be back shortly.”

“You will also want to wash your undercarriage,” she said. “You do not need a warden’s nose to smell all that.” She sniffed again. “But do I find that scentfamiliar? Was it someone I know?”

I shut the door with a snap.

—

Though it washardly morning, a line was already forming at the Imperial Treasury bank, with dozens of merchants, tradesmen, workers, and no shortage of Apoths queuing up to deposit their earnings.

“Don’t know if you ever work with Treasury folk, Kol,” Malo said as we approached it. “But these officers…they are very different.”

“How might you mean?”

She considered it. “They are so fine and clean,” she said, “I am unsure if they have assholes.”

“Ah. Noted.”

I showed the line of people the heralds pinned to my cloak, and they parted for me to enter the bank with Malo following. The front area was a curious space, being composed of stalls with vine mesh walls that prevented the customers from physically touching the Treasury representative on the other side, while money and papers were passed back and forth through a narrow slit in the bottom. I saw that Malo was right, for the Treasury officers were indeed different: most were pale, soft of face, tastefully bejeweled, and dressed in the pale gray or white uniforms of the Imperial Treasury—all immaculate and unstained, of course, for Treasury officers rarely ventured out of their offices. I watched them preening and whispering behind the vine mesh, feeling like I observed a menagerie of dazzling, caged birds.

I began my inquiries, and they brought us the officer who had been on duty when Sujedo had visited: a young, slender Rathras signum named Tufwa, whose long hair poured down his back in a shining cascade.

“Oh!” he said after our introduction. “Special Division, is it? How impressive! The Treasury Special Division merely manages the most inflammatory of bankruptcies. You must feel a great deal prouder to go about putting the world to rights for the Emperor’s justice.”

“Thank you,” I muttered. “Now—Immunis Sujedo?”

“Yes, a terrible business…That was the tenth of the month of Hajnal.” His eyes fluttered as he summoned up the memory: a rather unsightly tic of all engravers, including myself. “Immunis Mineti Sujedo arrived in the late afternoon to store materials with us. Presented his credentials to the front princeps, who delivered him to me. I tested his blood authorities and confirmed his station. Then I took him to the Iyalet vault to access his safe, as he requested. We store all confidential materials there, for imperial business.”

“How did you confirm Sujedo’s blood authorities?” I asked.

“With a balmleaf pad,” said Tufwa simply.

I waited for an explanation. When none came, I said, “And what’s that?”

Tufwa frowned and said, “I take it you have not attended many Treasury banks?”

“People don’t often get murdered in banks. They’re usually rather difficult to escape from.”

Tufwa looked me over like I was now a great deal less impressive. Then he went to his desk and brought back an unsightly specimen: it appeared to be a small clay tray filled with moist earth, yet growing over the earth was a strange, fleshy pad of gray-white fungus. “You simply place your hand to the pad…Go on. It won’t hurt you.”

I did so. The flesh was cold and moist. As I took my hand away, the pad turned a dark, mottled color before slowly turning back to gray-white.

“This response indicates you do not bear the correct blood authorities,” said Tufwa. “If you had been a Treasury officer of deserving rank, it would have changed to a corresponding color.”

“More secure than a reagents key,” explained Malo, “for people lose keys but usually don’t lose their blood.”

“Exactly,” sniffed Tufwa.