Read Online Deep Roots by Beth Cato - Free Book Online

liveried servants scurrying about like ants. Like Tatiana, many of the guests wore cream-­colored attire; Tamarans certainly loved their trends.
    Grandmother waited by the door. She remained silent until they were farther down the hall.
    â€œI didn’t have a proper chance to nose around down there. Am I correct that Mr. Cody is in the thick of creating another of his hybrid mechanicals for the Arena?” she murmured.
    â€œYes.” Rivka didn’t feel like talking about it with Grandmother. She’d want to meddle and control.
    â€œHmm. Those white robes are the signature of a woman trained at Miss Percival’s academy. She must have come after my time.” Grandmother had no magic but had taken sanctuary at the academy through her teen years. “A medician doing that kind of insidious work. My goodness. I tell you what, Octavia Leander would be outraged. She has a peculiar fondness for gremlins.”
    Judging by the big chimera’s reaction to Miss Leander’s name, that fondness seemed to be mutual. Rivka pursed her lips in thought.
    â€œTatiana—­Miss Garret—­said she would call on me soon.”
    â€œIt does my heart good to see you make a friend through mischief! Though mind you, that girl’s sharp as a knife with both her wits and tongue. She cuts anyone who gets close. You know what she did to Miss Leander?” Grandmother waited for Rivka’s reaction and nodded as well. “Still, I have to admire the way she handled Mr. Cody. That smile of hers could almost fool me. Almost.”
    â€œI don’t think I’d call her a friend yet.” Rivka scarcely knew what to make of Tatiana Garret, but she was willing to help with the gremlins. That was almost enough.
    â€œWhatever she is, if she’s able to pry you from your gadgets for a time, bless her! Oh, I know you have excuses aplenty. You need to pay your way. You need to prove yourself. But you also need to get out! And do lift your chin when you’re in society. You have nothing of which to be ashamed! Well, on that account. That dress of yours is a totally different matter . . .”

 
    CHAPTER 3
    D ays later, Rivka and Tatiana sat together on a train headed south. Tatiana looked at ease, but Rivka could not relax. Mercia’s trams were nothing like those of Tamarania. Their railcar had full-­glass windows, clean floors, clean ­people . No one tried to sleep under the seats or stank of pox or tried to pickpocket or grope. The foreignness of it was disconcerting.
    â€œThat medician, Miss Arfetta, lives on the south end of the isle,” said Tatiana. “It’s a few more stops away.”
    â€œThat far away from the plaza? What weapon do you have?” Rivka fingered the tiny screwdriver tucked into her sleeve. It’d do no good unless someone was mere inches away, but she wasn’t half-­bad if it came to a brawl. Her formal academics may have stopped at age nine, but Mercia had been quite educational in other ways.
    Tatiana gawked. “A weapon? No one is going to bother us.”
    Rivka cast her a sidelong look. “Really. How often do you wander from the safety of the plaza?”
    Out the window, the sky sagged with gray clouds. Raindrops dappled the glass. Airships passed every which way. Their brightly colored envelopes stood bold against the dreary backdrop. Mercia didn’t have colorful airships—­they were too good a target in Caskentia’s constant war with the Waste.
    â€œThe south isle isn’t that dangerous. It’s not like the tenement district where most Caskentian refugees live. That’s on another island altogether. This one is for . . . lower caste. Magi. Day laborers. Tamarans who get their hands dirty.”
    Tamarans held aether magi in good esteem, from what Rivka understood—­they were necessary to run airships—­but it vexed her that other magic was regarded as quaint, the