“Peaches, I didn’t understand. We have something like it, for saving face we call it, and one thing my people have learned, it’s that you can’t price a human’s life. You can help when that one is gone—help the family especially—but never does it equal the loss of a friend. You are my friend, and if you must pay this price to feel right about that, then let’s set a price, a fair one, and then—”
“But Louis said he has paid it, or will pay it, or—”
Jade suddenly remembered that the sun wasn’t quite up, and she felt very cold. “Tell me all about it, slowly, and in order.”
“Last night, Rosebud sent for me. Louis was there, and Crispin, and the Empress, and the Dowager Empress, and Greenbird. They told me what you’d learned about the murders.
“They told me that the assassin had been for me.
