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wasn’t what I was . Too much of me was still gutterboy; too many of my ideas were too dangerous for the other wizards to understand; too many people didn’t trust me, for a lot of reasons, and Nevery was right that I wasn’t really his apprentice anymore. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was—what my role in Wellmet was supposed to be. But ducal magister was not it.
    Pip had crawled up the wall to hang upside down on the ceiling, where it puffed out smoke like a little teakettle. “Come on,” I called to the little dragon, and turned away.
    â€œConn!” Rowan called after me.
    I didn’t answer, but I slammed the office door behind me.
    No , it meant. No.

C HAPTER
    3

    A fter Kerrn followed me to the front doors of the Dawn Palace, her eyes drilling little eye-shaped holes in my back, I headed out into the wide, puddled streets of the Sunrise. Pip didn’t mind the rain, so it hopped off my shoulder and flew ahead, perching on a step or a sign over a shop doorway, watching me, then flying ahead again.
    I went along to the Night Bridge, then to the wizards’ tunnels, going down the slippery-steepery steps to the first gate. In the chilly darkness, I leaned against the tunnel wall with my hands in my pockets, waiting for Pip. All around, I could hear the faint rush-rush of the river, and the sound of water dripping. After a while, Pip came crawling along the tunnel ceiling. “ Lothfalas ,” I said, the light spell, and the little dragon started to glow. It dropped from the ceiling and landed with a splat in a puddle.
    â€œTired?” I asked, picking Pip up and holding it up to the gate. I said the opening spell. Giving me a cross-eyed look, Pip put its snout against the lock, which clicked open. We went through all the gates until we got to the last gate that led to Heartsease. Pip opened the lock, then flopped out of my hands to the stone floor of the tunnel.
    I grinned down at Pip. “It’s your own fault, if you really did spend the afternoon thieving,” I said to it.
    Pip burped out another swirl of sparks. The lothfalas spell wore off, and the tunnel went dark.
    Shaking my head, I climbed the stairs. At the top, I stopped. Way across the cobbled courtyard, Heartsease was waiting. Home.
    When I’d settled the two magics in the city, Heartsease—the house I lived in with Nevery and his bodyguard, Benet—had had its roof blown off. Not for the first time, either. So now the top floor was being rebuilt. Most of it was done, but the cobblestoned courtyard in front of the house was scattered with piles of bricks and barrels of nails, and a huge pile of roofing slates.
    It was a narrow building, five stories tall. Each story had three windows across, and the ones on the first floor—the kitchen—were bright with lights, and so were the ones on the next floor up—Nevery’s study. His workroom and bedroom were on the third floor, the ground floor was the storeroom and Benet’s room, and the top floor, the one without the finished roof, was mine. I started toward it. Maybe Benet was making pot pie for dinner. Mmm, the kind with gravy and a biscuit crust.
    From behind me came the faintest skff-skff of footsteps sliding over cobblestones. I felt a prickle on the back of my neck, like I was being watched. I stopped. Rain pattered down. A sooty mist crept along the ground. I glanced over my shoulder. Nothing, just the dark river and the faint lights of the Twilight beyond it.
    When I turned back, a man-shaped shadow stood between me and the safe, warm windows of Heartsease.
    â€œThis him?” a deep voice asked.
    â€œIt is,” a deeper voice said from behind me.
    I opened my mouth to shout for Pip, when a fist crashed into my face. “Pip!” I gasped out. I staggered back and the man behind me caught me, spun me around, and punched me hard in the ribs.
    Then he grabbed me by the front of my sweater. “You’re coming