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.Or getting them when he did.“Well,” she said, mystified, “I’ll certainly — What can I do for you?”“I just wondered — would you be — Would you tutor me?”“Tutor you?” She studied his face to see if he might be joking.He looked perfectly serious, but he wouldn’t meet her eyes.“I thought you already had a tutor,” she said.“Right.I do.But there’s things I need to know that he doesn’t cover.”“But — you know I don’t know anything about charmcasting,” she said.“I can’t help you with that.”“That an’t—that isn’t what I want,” he said, fingering his wrist where the cuff had been.Raisa didn’t know what else to say that wouldn’t be insulting.Would a streetlord have much previous education? If not, he’d be struggling in his classes at Oden’s Ford.“Well — what do you need help with? History? Grammar or rhetoric? Languages? Arithmetic?” Raisa named off the subjects she was good at.She hoped he might want help with arithmetic.She was especially good at numbers, having spent so much time in the clan markets.“I’ve got some books that—”Han waved his hand impatiently to stop her recitation.“No, I’m good on that lot.Father Jemson gave me a good start.And I get stuffed full of that in class every day.”“Then what could I possibly—”“Rebecca.” Han leaned forward.His eyes were clear and blue as deepwater ice.“I want you to teach me to pass as a blueblood.”“What?” Raisa stared at him.“I’d pay you,” he rushed on.“I have money.You could name your price.And I wouldn’t take too much time away from your studies.We could meet a couple of times a week, and you could, you know, give me assignments to do on my own.”“Why would you want to pass as a blueblood?” Raisa asked.“I mean, want it enough to pay for tutoring?”The gang lord stood and paced back and forth as if he were too agitated to stand still.“Look, I only have two friends here at the academy—one’s clanborn and the other’s street-raised.Dancer and me, we’re misfits in Mystwerk House.The rest of the newlings—they’re all cake-eaters.Bluebloods, born and raised.But that’s who we’ll have to deal with if we want to get anything done.They’re the ones’ll be running the Wizard Council once we go home.They’ll be the ones calling the shots.”Han stopped pacing and leaned back against the hearth.“I knew how to do business in Ragmarket—I made a living for my family and a dozen Raggers, too.I could outsmart any gang lord in the city.But this is different.Now I got to be able to face off with wizards.So I need to speak the language, dance the dances, pick up the right fork, and know what clothes to wear, or they’ll never take me serious.”Raisa hadn’t really thought about the former Cuffs Alister interacting with wizards.In Ragmarket his violent reputation had protected him.What must it be like for him, sharing a classroom with the magical nobility? They would despise him and make fun of him.They’d remind him every day of his slum origins.The faculty would condescend to him.He’d undermine himself every time he opened his mouth.“Why do you want them to take you seriously?” she asked, thinking they’d never accept him anyway.“What is it you want to get done?”Han gazed into the fire.“I’m tired of people dying because they were born in Ragmarket or Southbridge.I’m sick of people in power picking on the weak.I’m going to help them.” He brushed at his eyes with the heels of his hands and cleared his throat.Was he crying? Raisa took a step toward him, hands extended, but he turned his back to her and poked at the fire with a stick.“You don’t really need tutoring in those things, you know,” Raisa said, touching Han’s shoulder.“The language and manners, I mean.Here at school, you’ll be mixing with all kinds of people.You’re smart.You’ll pick it up naturally in time.”Han shook his head.“That’s too slow.Anyway, to tell the truth, bluebloods an’t that eager to mix with me outside of class.” He looked back at her and rolled his eyes.“I got to take advantage of being here because I don’t know how long I can stay.”Why? Is it the money? she almost said.But thankfully didn’t.One thing hadn’t changed.Han Alister still unbalanced her, making her lose her usual nimble footing.Is it because he’s wicked? she wondered [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]