Page 30 of City of Stone and Silence

Why had I given him my name?

I take a breath to calm my beating heart. All he knows is that I work at Grandma’s, and anyone who lives near the hospital could tell him that.

I know that you are no commoner, either. Your breeding shines through, however you might try to hide it. Rest assured I will make no efforts to discover your identity. Hearing about you from the people of the Eleventh Ward, it is evident that you have been doing for years what I have only recently and hesitantly tried to put into practice—helping those who truly need assistance.

I must see you again. I have given you my name, and I am at your mercy. Choose a place and a time, whatever you need to feel safe, and I will be there. Please. You can leave a note for me with the proprietor of Walka’s noodle shop, and I will receive it within a few days.

Your devoted admirer,

Marka Garo

I let the letter fall into my lap as the cab pulls in through the Second Ward gate.

Well. Rot.

“Oh, Blessed above!” Kosura’s voice is a high-pitched squeal, and I frantically motion her to keep quiet.

We’re on the second floor of the hospital, in the back, working at stripping and rolling up some old sleeping mats so the whole area can be cleaned. It’s far enough from any patients or other assistants that I judged I could risk showing her the letter, after swearing her to secrecy on the direst oaths I could think of.

I had to show someone. Kosura seems like the best choice in a field of one—I don’t want to trouble Grandma, and I can’t trust anyone back at the Second Ward house.

“Would you be quiet?” I hiss.

“Sorry.” She looks over the letter again. “It’s just so…”

“I know!” I shake my head.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was playing a prank on you. ‘Your devoted admirer’?”

“Who talks like that? Writes. Whatever.”

“Nobles, I suppose.” She shakes her head.

“So what am I supposed to do?”

“Do?” Kosura looks at me sharply. “You’re going to go meet him, of course.”

“Why ‘of course’? It seems like the dumb move to me.”

“Because he’s obviously madly in love with you. You can’t just ignore someone when they’re madly in love with you.”

“Why not?”

She sniffs. “It’s rude.”

“Anyway.” I feel a flush creeping into my cheeks. “He can’t be madly in love with me. He only met me for a couple of minutes!”

“A couple of minutes where you saved his life.”

“I didn’t—”

“And you took off your shirt.”

“I didn’t take it off.” I snatch the letter back from her, cheeks fully red now, and she dissolves into giggles. “Are you going to help me or not?”

“What did you think of him?”

“I told you, I only met him for a couple of minutes.”