Her grandmother bustled in, attired in full formal dress and obviously on her way to some event. “Well, you look halfway human again,” was the acerbic greeting. “Do you think you might be getting up someday? The servants would like to clean your room.”

Kit sat up in bed and noticed that she did not feel dizzy. “Yes, I was just thinking that I’d like a change of scenery,” she said, her own voice cool and light. “What in the world have you been dosing me with? It’s some kind of miracle drug, I think.”

Her grandmother laughed shortly. “Miraleaf. Grows wild in Inrhio. It’s a cure for exhaustion and all sorts of ills. When I was a young girl, my mother and grandmother spent one month every summer harvesting it and boiling it down for medicine. None of those fancy drugs they’ve come up with at Cerisa Daylen’s Biolab have ever worked half so well.”

“Well, it certainly worked for me. I’m glad you thought of it.”

“I’m glad you’re better.”

“You look nice,” Kit said. “Are you going off to a party or something?”

Her grandmother snorted. “Hardly. A funeral.”

Kit’s eyebrows rose. “Who died?”

“A woman in Ariana Bayless’s office.” Her grandmother was watching her with those clear eyes, gauging her reactions, what she knew, what she felt. Automatically, Kit felt her face grow impassive. “She was with a delegation down at the Carbonnier Extension yesterday when a bomb went off.”

But this was too terrible to withstand the neutral expression. “A bomb—a gulden bomb?” Kit stammered.

“So it would appear,” her grandmother said dryly. “Since a guldman was killed in the fracas that followed.”

“Oh, how dreadful,” Kit murmured, feeling all of a sudden as nauseated as she had two days ago. “This is terrible.”

“Couldn’t agree more,” her grandmother said briskly. “I’ll tell you all about it when I get back. Now get up and have some breakfast, and I’ll see you in a little while.”

But as soon as the door closed behind her grandmother, Kit lay back down again, sick and shaking. She knew now why Jex had wanted to see Hecht and Shate, and everything was even worse than she had realized.

CHAPTER SIX