This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2021 by Bryn Neuenschwander and Alyc Helms
Excerpt from Rook & Rose: Book Three copyright © 2021 by Bryn Neuenschwander and Alyc Helms
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Carrick, M. A., author.
Title: The liar’s knot / M.A. Carrick.
Description: First edition. | New York, NY : Orbit, 2021. | Series: Rook & rose ; book 2
Identifiers: LCCN 2021016583 | ISBN 9780316539715 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9780316539708 (ebook) | ISBN 9780316539722
Subjects: GSAFD: Fantasy fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3603.A77443 L53 2021 | DDC 813/.6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021016583
ISBNs: 9780316539715 (trade paperback), 9780316539708 (ebook)
E3-20211020-JV-NF-ORI
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Map
Dramatis Personae
A Note on Pronunciation
The Story So Far
Prologue
PART I Chapter 1: The Face of Gold
Chapter 2: Lark Aloft
Chapter 3: The Friendly Fist
Chapter 4: The Face of Weaving
Chapter 5: The Peacock’s Web
PART II Chapter 6: The Mask of Night
Chapter 7: Sleeping Waters
Chapter 8: The Mask of Ravens
Chapter 9: The Face of Balance
Chapter 10: The Mask of Chaos
PART III Chapter 11: Labyrinth’s Heart
Chapter 12: A Spiraling Fire
Chapter 13: Saffron and Salt
Chapter 14: The Mask of Mirrors
Chapter 15: The Liar’s Knot
PART IV Chapter 16: The Constant Spirit
Chapter 17: One Poppy Weeps
Chapter 18: Aža’s Call
Chapter 19: The Ember Adamant
Chapter 20: Coffer and Key
PART V Chapter 21: The Mask of Nothing
Chapter 22: Three Hands Join
Chapter 23: Two Roads Cross
Chapter 24: The Mask of Bones
Chapter 25: The Mask of Worms
Acknowledgments
Discover More
Glossary
Extras Meet the Author
A Preview of Book Three of the Rook & Rose Trilogy
Also by M. A. Carrick
For Kyle and Adrienne, who let us take over the den
Explore book giveaways, sneak peeks, deals, and more.
Tap here to learn more.
Dramatis Personae
Ren—aka Renata Viraudax, aka Arenza Lenskaya, a con artist
NOBILITY
House Acrenix
Eret Ghiscolo Acrenix—head of House Acrenix, Caerulet in the Cinquerat
Carinci Acrenix—his stepmother
Sibiliat Acrenix—his daughter and heir
Fadrin Acrenix—a cousin
House Coscanum
Faella Coscanum—sister of the head of house
Marvisal Coscanum—her grandniece
Bondiro Coscanum—her grandnephew
House Destaelio
Era Cibrial Destaelio—head of House Destaelio, Prasinet in the Cinquerat
Eutracce Destaelio—one of her many daughters
House Extaquium
Eret Sureggio Extaquium—head of House Extaquium
Parma Extaquium—a cousin
House Fintenus
Egliadas Fintenus—a cousin
Nencoral Fintenus—a cousin
House Indestor (disbanded)
Eret Mettore Indestor—former head of House Indestor, former Caerulet in the Cinquerat (deceased)
Mezzan Indestor—his son and heir
Breccone Simendis Indestris—married in from House Simendis (deceased)
Meppe Indestor—a cousin
House Novrus
Era Sostira Novrus—head of House Novrus, Argentet in the Cinquerat
Benvanna Ecchino Novri—her latest wife
Iascat Novrus—her adopted heir
House Quientis
Eret Scaperto Quientis—head of House Quientis, Fulvet in the Cinquerat
House Simendis
Eret Utrinzi Simendis—head of House Simendis, Iridet in the Cinquerat
House Traementis
Era Donaia Traementis—head of House Traementis
Leato Traementis—her son (deceased)
Giuna Traementis—her daughter
Letilia Traementis—her former sister-in-law, originally called Lecilla
Colbrin—a servant
Suilis Felsi—a servant
House Vargo
Eret Derossi Vargo—crime lord and upstart nobleman
Master Peabody—an unusual spider
DELTA GENTRY
Tanaquis Fienola—an astrologer and inscriptor working for Iridet
Agniet Cercel—a commander in the Vigil
Ludoghi Kaineto—a lieutenant in the Vigil
Facosse Dimiterro—high commander of the Vigil
Rimbon Beldipassi—a rising success
Quaniet Scurezza—head of her house
Idaglio Minzialli—a wealthy gentleman
Orrucio Amananto—a ubiquitous gentleman
THE STADNEM ANDUSKE
Koszar Yureski Andrejek—former leader of the Stadnem Anduske
Ustimir Hraleski Branek—his rival and new leader
Idusza Nadjulskaya Polojny—loyal to Andrejek
Ardaš Orsolski Ljunan—loyal to Andrejek
Šidjin Drumaskaya Gulavka—loyal to Branek
Dmatsos Krasnoski Očelen—loyal to Branek
Tserdev Krasnoskaya Očelen—his sister, head of the Crimson Eyes knot
VRASZENIANS
Grey Serrado—a captain in the Vigil
Kolya (Jakoslav) Serrado—Grey’s brother (deceased)
Alinka Serrado—Kolya’s widow, an herbalist
Yvieny and Jagyi—their children
Dalisva Mladoskaya Korzetsu—granddaughter of the Kiraly clan leader
Mevieny Plemaskaya Straveši�
��a blinded szorsa of the Dvornik
Ivrina Lenskaya—Ren’s mother, an outcast (deceased)
THE STREET
Nikory—one of Vargo’s lieutenants
Pavlin Ranieri—a constable in the Vigil
Arkady Bones—boss of the biggest knot in the Shambles
Dvaran—keeper of the Gawping Carp
Fontimi—an actor known for playing the Rook
Tess—Ren’s sister
Sedge—Ren’s brother
Ondrakja—former leader of the Fingers, also called Gammer Lindworm (deceased)
FOREIGNERS
Diomen—a Seterin inscriptor
Kaius Sifigno—aka Kaius Rex, aka the Tyrant, conqueror of Nadežra (deceased)
Varuni—sent to safeguard an investment in Vargo
The Rook—an outlaw
A Note on Pronunciation
Vraszenian uses a few special characters in its spelling: č is pronounced like ch in “chair,” š like sh in “ship,” and ž like the z in “azure.” The combination sz is pronounced like the s in “soft,” and j has the sound of y.
Liganti names and terms have the vowels of Italian or Spanish: a = ah, e = eh, i = ee, o = oh, u = oo. The letters c and g change before e and i, so Cercel = cher-CHELL and Giuna = JOO-nah; ch and gh are used to keep them unchanged, so Ghiscolo = gee-SCO-loh.
Seterin names share the same vowels as Liganti, but c and g are always hard, and the ae vowel combination sounds like the English word “eye.”
The Story So Far
(Or, this is their past, the good and the ill of it, and that which is neither… )
Five years after poisoning her gang leader, Ondrakja, and fleeing Nadežra, the half-Vraszenian con artist Ren returned with her adopted sister, Tess, in tow. Their plan was simple: Ren would masquerade as a relative of the noble but declining House Traementis. Once adopted and inscribed into their register, she and Tess could skim enough wealth to set themselves up for life.
But none of it went as planned. Ren found herself caught between the Traementis leader, Donaia; the Vraszenian Vigil captain Grey Serrado; the crime lord turned respectable businessman Derossi Vargo; and the Rook, a vigilante who opposes the nobility. To win acceptance with the Traementis, she had to gain them a new charter to replace the broken numinat responsible for cleansing the West Channel of the River Dežera—a magical structure destroyed through Traementis corruption some years before.
Polluted water was only one of Nadežra’s problems, though. A sudden rash of street children dying from an inability to sleep led Grey to stories of “Gammer Lindworm,” a monster from Vraszenian folklore, while Vargo uncovered evidence of a new drug called ash, which gave its users nightmarish visions with the power to kill. On an evening later dubbed the Night of Hells, someone poisoned the city’s leadership and visiting Vraszenian dignitaries with ash—and Ren along with them. But instead of giving horrible visions, it pulled them all into the shifting realm called Ažerais’s Dream. Together with Donaia’s son, Leato, Ren attempted to escape… but they encountered Vraszenian creatures called zlyzen, and a twisted hag Ren recognized as Ondrakja. Although the Rook pulled Ren from the dream into safety, ending the nightmare, the zlyzen tore Leato apart.
In the aftermath, Ren found herself incapable of sleep. With her con threatening to unravel around her, an unlikely set of allies came together to save her life. Vargo ultimately journeyed into Ažerais’s Dream to bring back the missing part of Ren’s spirit, restoring her ability to sleep. Because the Rook had discovered her con during her sleeplessness, Ren speculated that Vargo might be the vigilante and had saved her to protect her secret. She also learned that Leato’s death was no accident: The decline of House Traementis was due to a long-standing curse—one that had somehow managed to strike Ren as well. Although the astrologer Tanaquis Fienola was able to remove the curse, its source remained unknown.
Ren, Grey, and Vargo realized that Ondrakja had survived the poisoning and become Gammer Lindworm, and that she was creating ash by letting the zlyzen feed on children’s dreams. Before they could capture her, an agent of Mettore Indestor, Nadežra’s military leader, sparked a riot among the restless Vraszenians of the Lower Bank. Quelling it caused a schism among the Stadnem Anduske, a group of Vraszenian radicals, which left their leader, Andrejek, near death.
But even the riot was only a cover for Mettore’s true plan. Working in partnership with Gammer Lindworm, he planned to use ash to destroy the Wellspring of Ažerais, the holy site of the Vraszenian people, and then to blame it on the Anduske. While Vargo dismantled the magical numinat around the wellspring and the Rook fought Mettore, Ažerais’s Dream transformed Ren into a masked heroine, the Black Rose, and she confronted Gammer Lindworm. Betraying Ondrakja a second time, Ren turned the zlyzen against their mistress.
For Mettore’s crimes, House Indestor was disbanded. For his assistance in saving the city, Vargo was elevated to nobility. The events at the wellspring had proved to Ren that he was not the Rook… and worse, she discovered he had betrayed her. Vargo was secretly working with another nobleman, Ghiscolo Acrenix, and he’d sold her out to Mettore on the Night of Hells. Realizing that Vargo had also killed Grey’s brother, Kolya, Ren vowed revenge.
As did the Rook. For the man who wears the hood… is Grey Serrado.
Prologue
Three kinds of business ran out of the Attravi dyeworks in Froghole. There was the legitimate kind that stank of urine and starch, overseen by workers with faces steamed red and rough from the dye vats. There was the illegal kind that took advantage of the stench and proximity to the fouled West Channel to smuggle aža, saltpeter, papaver, and other illicit goods into Nadežra.
Then there was the business that came with no questions asked.
Vargo learned about the third sort the afternoon a foreign-sounding cuff came to the dyeworks.
His head was shaved bald like a plague victim, but he dressed as fine as any man from the Pearls, in a velvet coat dyed a plum so dark it could have been mistaken for black. The gaze that fell on Vargo when he darted forward at the foreman’s snap was like a fen vulture’s: dark and void of emotion. “This isn’t your usual boy.”
“Jaršin came down with the shivers. En’t getting back up again,” the foreman said, scowling at the rudeness of Vargo’s predecessor, dying like that. “This one’s solid, though. Running three months and he en’t filched or scarpered yet.”
Not that the foreman knew, anyway. Vargo stood straight and did his best to look trustworthy.
“I see.” That black gaze narrowed at him. “How old are you?”
“Near eleven,” Vargo said. It wasn’t quite a lie; for many rookery kids, guessing took the place of knowing.
“Good enough.” The man handed Vargo a tightly wrapped bundle, the strings webbing it sealed with wax, and a letter tucked under the bindings. “Eastbridge, along the Pomcaro Canal, number seventy-one. It’s from Balmana and Schiamori. You’re not to leave until he’s tried it on, understand?”
No, but who could suss out the strange demands of cuffs? Easier to just nod. So Vargo did, and the cuff left, and the foreman sent Vargo off to the Upper Bank.
And if Vargo made a stop on the way, wasn’t anyone going to be the wiser.
Even before he’d started running contraband for the dyeworks, Vargo knew the uses of steam—one of many secrets shared among the runners of Nadežra. Like reading. If delivering a message could only hook you a mill, knowing its contents might earn you a decira. Someday, someone at the top of the heap was going to realize the untapped potential of the runner network, and there wouldn’t be a secret in Nadežra that was safe.
But for now, Vargo only cared about the secret of the day. Hunched in his squat on the roof of a dumpling shop, he held the letter next to a vent and waited for the steam to soften the sealing wax enough to peel it open.
“Who do you think that was, Peabody?” he asked the bottle tucked away in an inner pocket
of his coat. He’d lifted it from a merchant last month, hoping for some zrel to warm him against the spring rains. Instead he got a baby king peacock spider no bigger than a pea, living in a little glass world of twigs and moss. Better than zrel in the long run, even if Vargo was the one doing the warming.
The spider couldn’t answer, of course, and the letter didn’t explain much more: thus-and-such merchant wanted some cuff’s custom, and please accept this token blah blah. Vargo sealed it back up and went to work on the strings of the package.
A bit of wiggling got him a corner of midnight velvet, with onyx and smoke-dark topaz worked into the embroidery. Before he’d slipped into Jaršin’s old job at the dyeworks, Vargo had run packages for a laundry in the Shambles. Before that, it was a tailor in Westbridge. If they had anything in common, it was that customers rarely noticed a few loose gems… and if they did, it wasn’t the messenger who took the blame.
“You’ll be dining on the finest grubs in Nadežra tonight,” Vargo told Peabody. Drawing his thumb knife, he carefully snipped the edge of the embroidery, taking his cut of Nadežra’s wealth.
“Where did you say this comes from?”
The townhouse Vargo stood in was like nothing he’d ever seen. Books lining every wall, a desk messy with scribbled-on papers, and spiraling around the slate floor, enough prismatium to keep Vargo in porridge and dumplings until the day he died.
The cuff seemed surprised to be receiving anything, and baffled at Vargo’s insistence on waiting for a response. “Balmana and Schiamori,” Vargo repeated.
“And you’re an… apprentice there?”
At the cuff’s skeptical look, Vargo stood taller. His trousers were well-darned, his coat shapeless and oversized. Nobody with sense would mistake him for a tailor’s apprentice. “Hope to be, altan,” he said, doing his best to scrub the rookery stain from his accent.