Clariel slid her small dagger home into the sheath along her left wrist, under her sleeve, and also sat. Yaneem, Denima and Belatiel sat down as well. There was complete silence for a moment, then Denima suddenly laughed.

‘That was more interesting than most tea service lessons!’

‘It’s not supposed to be like this,’ muttered Yaneem. Whether she was talking about the lesson or her relationship with Aronzo was unclear, thought Clariel, though the spiteful glance she then received suggested it was the latter. An enemy found without wanting one, with little chance of repairing the situation. Yet another reason to be away from the city as soon as possible.

They sat in silence for a minute, until Dyrell came in, holding a great sheaf of papers and appearing quite flustered. He looked at the table, saw the broken cup in front of Clariel, dropped the papers and flapped his hands around in what in other circumstances might have been the beginning of some kind of dance but here was an expression of great upset.

‘You broke a cup!’

‘It was an accident,’ said Denima as Clariel said, ‘I didn’t mean to break it!’

‘It’s only a cup,’ said Aronzo. He carelessly reached into the purse at his belt and withdrew two gold bezants, throwing them on the table. They rang true as they hit and one rolled on its edge over to Belatiel’s saucer, clanging again as it struck.

‘It is not the cost of the cup, Lord Aronzo,’ said Dyrell. He took a deep breath and bent down to pick up his papers, continuing to speak as he crouched on the floor. ‘It is the principle. The opportunity for such a breakage should not have occurred. You must aim for greater delicacy when handling a teacup, Lady Clariel. Really you must try harder.’

Clariel bit back an extremely rude response as she saw Denima smile and shake her head, just a little bit. It was a warning and a friendly gesture and as soon as she saw it Clariel realised that entering into any kind of discussion with Dyrell would only prolong the awfulness of this tea service lesson.

‘I will try my best,’ she said primly.

‘Thank you,’ said Dyrell. He put half his papers on the table and bent down to pick up more, but continued to speak, so that his voice appeared to be emanating from the floor. ‘Now, you may go to your next lesson. Please do not dawdle or delay.’

Everyone pushed back their chairs. Clariel waited a moment, letting Aronzo stalk out first as he clearly expected to do. Yaneem was close in his wake, trying to catch up with him, one hand almost plucking at his elbow, but not quite landing there, as if she didn’t dare to make that touch. Both Belatiel and Denima stayed back, and followed Clariel close as she went out into the corridor.