Adamat, in turn, trailed Fell. He saw her weaving in and out of foot traffic as they headed farther into the city. The streets were crowded just after lunch — that would make it harder for Vetas’s men to spot Adamat, but just as hard for Adamat to keep track of them.
It was a little over thirty minutes before Fell stopped and waved Adamat forward. They stood at a busy intersection, just around the corner from a flower market. Fell had her back against the wall, her shoulders slumped as if she didn’t have a care in the world. Adamat came up beside her and mimicked her body language.
“His tail is over there,” she said, slowly tilting her chin upward in one direction.
Adamat saw the man right away. He was eating a meat pie and scanning the crowd with a mistrusting leer. Not subtle, but an effective lookout. Not far behind him, Adamat spotted the eunuch.
“Vetas is inside the flower stall around the corner,” Fell said. “Leave him to me. Have your soldiers take his goons.”
“I want him alive.”
“So do I,” Fell said.
Adamat needed him alive so Vetas could tell him where Josep was. He wondered why Fell would want him breathing.
“I’m going,” Fell said. She disappeared around the corner, casual and graceful as a cat.
Adamat gave the signal to Oldrich, then tilted his hat forward to hide his face and followed Fell.
He made his way to the middle of the street and was soon joined by Oldrich and six of his men. They each examined bouquets or pretended to talk, but he couldn’t help but think they looked far too obvious.
Vetas’s two goons were standing outside of the Parkside Flower Boutique, watching the crowd, their arms crossed, not the least bit subtle. Adamat glanced toward the tail. The man was gone. Adamat hoped that meant the eunuch had taken care of him.
Adamat could feel every muscle tighten as he watched the flower shop entrance out of the corner of his eye. Maybe Vetas had already spotted them and disappeared out the side. What if his goons warned him, or Vetas was able to slip into the crowd?
His hands were beginning to shake from nervousness when Lord Vetas finally emerged from the flower shop with the woman in the red dress. She carried a bouquet of flowers. He handed a package to one of his goons and scanned the flower market.
His eyes locked onto Adamat’s. Adamat felt a cold sweat break at the corner of his brow. He tensed, ready to chase Vetas through the streets.
Fell emerged from the flower shop, strolling out like a paying customer. A stiletto dropped from her sleeve and she gracefully swung it around over Vetas’s shoulder and pressed it to his throat.
The two goons stepped back, shouting. Both drew pistols. The crowd split apart.
Adamat felt like he was in a dream. He watched himself draw his own pistol and fire it. One of the goons went down. The other took a cudgel to the back of the head from one of Oldrich’s soldiers, and the rest of the soldiers quickly fell in around Vetas, obscuring him from the crowd.
Adamat shouldered his way through the soldiers until he reached Vetas.
Lord Vetas was on his knees in front of Fell, a stiletto still to his throat. She’d relieved him of two very similar-looking daggers and a small pistol, both of which were lying on the ground behind her.
Adamat took great pleasure in the mild look of surprise on Vetas’s face. It died quickly when Vetas saw Adamat.
Vetas smiled. “Adamat! I suspected you might still be alive.”
“Is she still alive?” Adamat pressed the hot barrel of his pistol against Vetas’s face.
“Every pain you do to me,” Vetas said, not flinching at the heat of the pistol barrel, “I will return to you and your wife tenfold. I want you to remember that, Adamat.”
“So she is alive?”
“Quite,” Vetas said. “Though she won’t be in an hour and forty-two minutes if I haven’t returned.” He paused, looking around at the soldiers. “I suspect you know where my headquarters is. You’ve probably been watching me very closely. Bravo. But do you have enough men to get in there?”
“You mean past your Privileged?” Adamat asked. “Yes. Yes, I think I do. Where is my boy?”
Vetas gave a sickeningly self-satisfied smile. “An hour and forty-one minutes. Are you sure you have time for this?”
Adamat looked at the woman in the red dress. Oldrich held her tightly by the arm. She glared at him through narrowed eyes, but he could see that her hands trembled. “Who are you?” he demanded.
“Nila,” she said.
“What do you do for him?” He pointed at Vetas.
“Nothing! I… nothing. I don’t work for him. I’m just there to watch Jakob. He’s only a boy!”
“What was Vetas buying in there?”
“Flowers!”
“For who?”
“Lady Windeldwas, or something like that.” Nila brushed the hair out of her face.
“Lady Winceslav?”
“Yes, that was it.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.” For all her fright, she was remarkably calm beneath the torrent of questions.
Adamat turned back to Vetas. “Why?”
“An hour and forty minutes, Adamat,” he said.
