The Wonder Engine (Clocktaur War, #2)

by T. Kingfisher

In many cities, there are places where the underworld elements gather together. Business is transacted. Questionable services are offered for sale. In many cities, these places are raided and shut down as soon as they are discovered. In Anuket City, where all things are for sale, the Shadow Market was protected by unwritten truce. The guards did not go there. The Senate was officially unaware of its existence. (It was rumored that the rulers of the Shadow Market paid a great deal for this consideration.) In return, the Shadow Market stayed where it was. Neighborhoods did not become dens of crime, open-air markets did not deal in black-market goods, and criminal acts did not become common on street corners. It was a strange system, but it worked. The result was a vast underground flea market where one could buy drugs, whores, bodyguards, weapons, poisons, slaves, or a hundred other things banned by law. Slate stood on the steps of the Grey Church, looking down, and part of her said, I’m going to die, and a part that she had never suspected said, I’m home.