Chapter 23
TAMERANE WAS NO FIGHTER. In fact, the view she had of the struggles in the palace yard from the commander’s balloon on top of one of the surrounding buildings was as close as she ever wanted to get. She was liable to cut herself with knives in the kitchen, let alone in battle, and the sounds and clangs and screams made her want to throw up.
There were even some women in the battle. She counted three, one with the front of her shirt soaked in blood. The ever-growing ball in her stomach that was her womb hardened uncomfortably at the sight of that. She was growing a new life, and down there, people were taking lives.
From her position she noticed, well before any of the people in the palace yard did, how a group of sleek balloons had landed in the Harbour District, and how a sm
