“I would be delighted,” she said before the professor could speak, “to pay you a visit, Doctor.”

“Niece!” Now the professor attempted to mask his horror.

“Uncle,” she said calmly, “surely it is but a trifle in exchange for this fine horse, and I should like to get to know the people of Mill City better.”

“Dr. Silk is not of Mill City,” the professor replied in a flat voice.

“I am for a time,” Dr. Silk said, his grin one of triumph. “I hail from Gossham, in the Capital,” he told Karigan, “but have lodgings here while I oversee my latest project.”

The professor muttered under his breath.

Dr. Silk once more took Karigan’s hand and bowed over it. “A pleasure to meet you, Miss Goodgrave. I hope Samson does not cause you harm. Do be wary of him.”

“I shall send my man-of-business around with the payment,” the professor said.

“Partial payment, you mean,” Dr. Silk replied with a lingering glance at Karigan, her tiny reflection looking back at her in each lens of his specs.

Polite conduct continued as the two men shook hands, but even this seemed some sort of contest, the professor’s features rigid as he gazed directly into Dr. Silk’s specs.

“Good day to you,” the doctor said, and in a moment released the professor’s hand and walked away. An Inspector parted the traffic for him.

Professor Josston watched after him for some moments brushing his hands off on his coat as if to wipe away any residue of Dr. Silk’s touch, despite the fact both men wore gloves.

“Come,” he told Karigan, taking her arm and glancing over his shoulder. “We must get off the street.”

Karigan tugged on Raven’s lead and the stallion followed obediently behind. They found that during the negotiations, Luke had come around with the carriage.

“Raven needs some attention,” Karigan said, looking at the lash marks on his hide.

“Should’ve let him go to the knackers,” the professor muttered. Raven laid back his ears and snapped at him. “See what I mean? And you have no idea what a hornet’s nest you’ve walked into with—”

“That’s a fine beast,” Luke said, jumping down from the driver’s seat of the carriage. He produced a jar from his coat pocket. “I’ve some salve that might do for those lashes. If you keep him quiet, miss, I’ll put some on.”

Raven watched Luke with ears half down, but Karigan spoke softly to him and he relaxed, tolerating Luke’s touch as he smeared salve on the wounds. Meanwhile, the professor stood there beside her, fuming, his wolfish eyebrows drawn down low over his eyes.

“Would’ve been a shame to see this one turned into meat and glue,” Luke muttered, patting Raven soundly on the neck, “but some see horses as no more than machines, easy to replace when they don’t work right.”

He tied Raven’s lead to the back of the carriage and held the door open for Karigan and the professor to climb into the cab.

“We shall continue our tour,” the professor instructed his driver, and he added to Karigan, “and there will be no more buying of horses.”

Karigan smiled behind her veil. She was tempted to tell him she thought Raven to be of the stock once used to mount Green Riders, very special horses, more intelligent than ordinary ones, but she decided to hold onto that particular thought for now. She wished to get to know the stallion better to ensure she was not mistaken. And she feared the professor would see Raven as just another artifact. She did not know what that would mean for the poor horse who had already been so ill-used.

“Of all the men you could come to the attention of,” the professor said, breaking into her thoughts and still glowering. “Dr. Ezra Stirling Silk. Have you any idea?”

The carriage bumped along the street, and Karigan shook her head. “No. How would I?”

Her response seemed to take the steam out of him, and his features eased. “You are correct. There is no way you could have known.” He reached over and patted her knee. “I’m sorry to have sounded so harsh, my dear, but I worry so.”

“Why does Dr. Silk worry you so much?”

“His father is one of the most important men in the whole of the empire, and Dr. Silk is just as entwined in the upper echelons of imperial authority. My dear, if ever you wanted the attention of the emperor brought down upon you, you just succeeded. The one thing you—we—do not want is the emperor’s attention.”

“I thought Dr. Silk was an archeologist.”

“He is. We trained together at the same school. We’re both of Preferred families and so also engaged socially. We became quite close, actually. But his father, as the Minister of the Interior, is responsible for repressing the truth of the empire and our heritage. You might say that Silk and I had a parting of philosophies, though I never openly expressed my true bent. He continues to pander to the empire, while I am more or less considered outcast for not actively seeking favor for myself. I’m considered odd, and it suits my purposes.”

The carriage rumbled on, taking several turns, the clip clop of Raven’s hooves coming from behind like an echo. Karigan saw another Inspector strolling the street with a mechanical beside him, its legs propelling it in spiderlike fashion. It made Karigan shudder all over again.

“What do they do?” she asked.

“Hmmm?” the professor asked.

“The mechanicals—what do they do?”