I should have shut the gate before Kayto slid through. I ran my hand through my silver hair, tugging at the locks. It was already too long, and the professors would have forced me to twist it up into a chignon to obey the uniform code if Master Leveque hadn’t made an exception for me.

Letting anyone — never mind a foreign stranger who was crazy enough to swim in the canal — was definitely against the rules, no exceptions. But I’d given my promise in order to get Kayto to let me go. Perhaps, if Master Leveque discovered my transgression, I could plead that I’d been a hostage under duress. Or I could say that I had to protect Kayto from entering Cain’s realm too soon. The canal water was vile, and any normal person would catch their death from ague. Both had the advantage of being true, although I couldn’t say much about their persuasiveness.

I stalked over to the water pump, grabbing a bucket on the way. Kayto trailed after me, padding softly on his toes, turning as he gaped at the courtyard. Not that there was much to see. Arches and columns formed a colonnade, and the glass windows on the floors above glinted when a break in the clouds released the moonlight. Why couldn’t Kayto have appeared on a cloudless night?

Why couldn’t I have been asleep in my bed?

I pumped the lever, gushes of water releasing into the bucket. Noisy, yes, but it couldn’t be helped. When the bucket was full, I picked it up, carried it to where Kayto had turned his back to me as he swivelled his head to the side, and dumped the water over his head.

Kayto released an unearthly screech, whirling upon me and jumping away onto all fours as they hissed — actually hissed, with spittle flying.

“Quiet!” I shushed him. “Before you wake everyone in the academy.”

Their head cocked. “Academy?” They shook their head. “You poured water on me!”

“Shh! And anyway, you swam in the canal. How is that any different?”

“That wasn’t on purpose!” they insisted. “I fell in when I was scaling the wall.”

“Quiet,” I repeated. “If they find out you’re here, Master Leveque will have you thrown back in.”

Kayto straightened, clearly alarmed at the prospect. They shivered and sneezed, with that same overly adorable achoo.

I made myself scowl. I would not think this madperson was cute, I would not. After returning the bucket to the pump, I crossed my arms. “Look, this is necessary. The canal water will kill you. At least this way you have a chance.”

Kayto wrapped their arms around themselves. “If I don’t die from this chill — what are you doing?”

I pumped the handle again, water heaving into the bucket. “You still stink.”

“What’s wrong with a little body odour?” Kayto snapped their head left to right as if looking for escape before backing up into a squat.

“When it means you’re still covered in canal water.” I hoisted up the bucket. “Now, hold still!”

Their entire body tensed, and their mouth opened as if to make that unearthly screech again. Just pour it over their head and be done with it!

I lowered the bucket. “Shh! Please. I can’t take you inside unless you wash off. I’ll get in trouble if they can smell you halfway across the academy.”

Kayto pulled their lips back to bare their teeth. “Fine.” They rocked back on their heels and sat cross-legged on the stones, fingers digging into their ankles. Even in the dark, their tendons stood out from their strain, as if it took every bit of will Kayto possessed to remain there.

“Thank you.”

“Just get it over with!” Their shoulders hugged their ears.

I raised the bucket to dump it over them again, but thought better of it. Kayto trusted me with this. Instead, I tipped the bucket so that the water streamed down Kayto’s head and over his body. Kayto blew bubbles through their lips.

When the bucket emptied, I said, “See? That wasn’t so bad—”

Kayto shook his head, soaked hair whipping around him and water droplets flying everywhere. The shaking moved down their body, as if they were a dog.

“Hey!” I jumped back, holding the bucket up as a shield.

“Well, it didn’t kill me.” Kayto glared at the stones. “That’s more than I expected.”

It was just a bit of water! Even the street urchins washed with the piazza water pumps. I let myself roll my eyes since Kayto wouldn’t see it in the dark, and pulled off my banyan. “Here. Use this to dry off.”

I draped the banyan over their shoulder, but Kayto flung it away. When the banyan refused to fight back, they edged closer to it, then swivelled to stare at me.

“Come on,” I said. “Let’s go. It’s freezing. Unless you don’t want to come inside anymore—”

“I didn’t say that!” Kayto grabbed the banyan and, rather than slip it on like a sensible person, rubbed it over their bare skin like a towel. “I just thought you might be naked.”

“N-na—” Could my cheeks grow any hotter? “Don’t be absurd. Now come along.” Without waiting to see if they’d even finished drying off, I strode to the servant’s entrance.

“Wait, if the canal water is so deadly,” Kayto asked as they followed me, “why aren’t you washing off?”

Because it didn’t matter when I died. Everything would go ahead as planned. Nothing would change but a few less years of my own. But that was an answer Kayto didn’t need to know. “I can always change clothes,” I said. “That’s the beauty of, you know, wearing them.”

“Being strangled is more like,” Kayto muttered.

“I didn’t think you were so fond of the canal.” I hesitated to open the door. The stairs might be insulated, but the sound could carry. How long did we even have before the scullery servants roused from their sleep?

Kayto shuddered. “I’ll be quiet.”

“Good.”