“Stop!” Domenico roared. “Stop! Cease fire!”
My head pounded. I smelled a strange, sharp scent and thought that this must be what Droit’s battlefields had smelled like: gunsmoke and blood and balewind. Droit’s chest was pressed against my back. One of his hands clutched my arm. The other cupped the back of my head, holding my cheek pressed against the floor. I saw blood, Far’s misshapen boots, and furniture legs. My eyes burned. I told myself it was from the gunsmoke.
“Soldiers, out. All of you.”
“Your excellency —“
“Out! Military sentinels, too. All of you. Lieutenant?”
I felt Droit shift, his weight rising. He steadied me as I pulled my knees under me, straightening. By now the pain in my leg was such a constant that I could almost ignore it.
“Your excellency?” Shrike asked.
“Go to the Vigilance. Secure Magister Carel’s chambers and search them for any evidence that she was tied to the Banishat, these kidnappings, or the production or sale of nix. If there’s nothing there, search her house.”
Lt. Shrike saluted and left with the confused soldiers.
“Do you want me —” Director Jaspin hesitated.
“Stay. You’re implicated in this as much as anybody else.”
I stood, meeting Droit’s eyes a moment and then looking away. Too much. I was having trouble making the pieces match. I rubbed my face and looked at my hand. Nothing. No blood at all this time.
Far strode through smoke and blood and stopped in front of Milka.
“Thank you, Far,” she said, gravely. The transient cocked its head, considering her a moment, then walked toward the gap in the Line.
“You’re just letting it go?” Reverend Pyke gasped, looking at the cardinal.
“Pray for Carel’s soul, Reverend,” Croix replied. “That’s the most useful thing you can do right now.”
“But —“
Far stepped through the Line and the gap sealed behind it.
“But it’s a murderer!” Pyke sounded baffled and angry.
“Is Carel dead?” Domenico asked. Captain Lorencz looked up from her body, her expression bleak.
“Yes, sir. Sire.”
“Very well. She was killed by a transient, which is beyond our jurisdiction,” Domenico said. Director Jaspin started to say something, but he settled back into his chair when my half-brother gave him a sharp look. I frowned, trying to fit the pieces together.
Why was my half-brother taking this so calmly? He hadn’t said a thing to stop Far. It was almost as if he’d wanted Carel dead. And now he was dismissing the death as mishap, rather than as the murder it clearly was. I thought of the two rings on the bale-twisted corpse in the warehouse — one Banishat, the other his personal guard — and wondered what I’d gotten myself into now.
Croix gently urged Pyke toward the corpse. Still looking confused, the Inquisitor Militant knelt next to Lorencz and began to pray.
“If I may, sire,” Croix said, turning back to Domenico, “I can explain to you some of what has happened here.”
I found myself edging closer to Droit as the cardinal explained to Domenico and Director Jaspin how Far had called us across the Line to save him from the prison in which Yzyrchye had trapped him. He didn’t mention the children’s participation, or our meeting Kyrchye, or anything about his new ideas about the gods.
“Then, to the best of your knowledge, Cardinal,” Domenico said, “Mister … Payne? … was not fleeing justice when he crossed the Line?”
The children began to protest.
“Not at all,” Croix said over their voices. Aronson quieted them. “Nor could he have prevented Far from pulling him across the Line, any more than we could have prevented Far from killing Magister Carel.”
I see.” Domenico gestured to Reverend Pyke. “Reverend, please show the cardinal out. Your eminence, I hope you will honor me with an audience soon. We’ve had questions about your absence these last two months.”
“I look forward to speaking with you again.” Croix bowed and headed out. Pyke made a hurried sign of the sword and sun over Carel’s body and hurried after him, followed by the other communicants and inquisitors.
Domenico turned. The respect he’d accorded Croix fell away to reveal the cold, hard man I remembered from my childhood.
“General Droit, escort these children outside and keep them there. Captain Lorencz, go assist Lieutenant Shrike. You’ll be the Watch liaison to her investigation.”
Lorencz and Droit both saluted. The five young sentinels hesitated, then made awkward bows and curtseys and trailed out with many backward glances at me. Milka made no courtesy, simply stalking off with chilling self-possession for a child of twelve.
Domenico looked at Nobilis Aronson.
“Can you secure this chamber against any further intrusions?”
“Anything normal, yes, sire,” Aronson said with care. “I don’t think I could stop Far if it decided to return.”
“Do what you can.”
I looked around. Not many of us were left. Domenico. Ban Jaspin. Nobilis Aronson. Carel’s corpse. And me. I wiped my damp palms on my torn trousers.
When the door closed again, Domenico sat and lowered his hands to the table.
“Everything said in this chamber from now until this meeting is adjourned is a matter of state security. Is that understood?”
We nodded.
“Good. I’ll keep this brief.” He leaned back in his chair, a line drawn between his brows. “Aronson, by rights I should have you convicted for murder. You knew what that creature would do when you told it about Magister Carel, didn’t you?”
As always, my liege’s thoughts were written across his face for all to see.
“Far saved you the cost of an execution.” The hard edge to his voice surprised me. I’d never heard it before, but it sounded familiar. It sounded like his cousin’s. “She was Banishat, a kidnapper, a —”
“I’ve already heard the litany. Several times.” Domenico’s voice was sharp and Aronson closed his mouth and bowed. I was about to say something in his defense when the king’s next words silenced me. “If you ever try something like this again, I’ll have you executed. Do you understand?”
Aronson nodded. I looked down, clasping my hands until my knuckles were white. He had wanted to be brought to the king’s attention. This wasn’t how it should have happened. Even though I was still trying to comprehend how the man who had always been so kind and generous to me could send Magister Carel to her death with such chilling ruthlessness. He must have thought she’d do something else — ah. Of course. I unclasped my hands and pinched the arch of my nose, sighing. Aronson would do anything to protect the people he loved, even commit murder. And in that, he was much like my mother.
I wasn’t sure I was happy to have figured that out. It explained a great deal about him, but I feared it also revealed a little too much about me.
At last Director Jaspin gestured to the books and papers on the table. Three topaz rings gleamed in the pile.
“Your excellency, what about the charges against Axton?” he asked. “Given this new information….”
Domenico looked at me. There was no welcome or affection in his gaze. I moved closer and reached over the books to pick up one of the rings.
“This ring belonged to my mother, Domenico.”
Aronson gasped at my impertinence. Domenico’s expression grew even harder.
“My father had one just like it,” I continued. “As a rule, I don’t talk about my parents. But that could change.”
“You should be careful,” Domenico countered, his gray eyes narrowing. “Belonging to the Banishat is still a crime in Cislunar.”
“Your excellency!” Aronson exclaimed. “You can’t hold Axton guilty of his parents’ crimes! He —”
“Silence!” Domenico snapped. Aronson looked at me, a protest on his lips, and I shook my head quickly, as if I had any power to tell him what to do. But I didn’t want him hurt any more on my account.
“Director Jaspin, your thoughts?” Domenico asked.
Jaspin looked down at Carel’s bloody corpse, his scarred face troubled.
“Your excellency, it does seem that Arch-sentinel Carel was highly placed in a group calling itself the Banishat. As you said, that’s a crime. Although Axton broke the law, he broke it to help the Watch in its ongoing investigations into Banishat activities. In order to be just, we must consider both the letter of the law and its intent. The books found in Axton’s chambers were forbidden in order to discourage sentinels from attempting dangerous feats of magic. Since Axton isn’t a sentinel and didn’t let any sentinels read the books, he didn’t break the intent of the law. And as far as the rings go, they are linked to the Banishat, but that does not make them illegal in themselves.” The Ministry of Justice’s chief investigator rubbed his chin with his gloved, crippled hand. “I wouldn’t recommend any sentence greater than a fine and reprimand. The books should be burned, of course.”
“They belong to a librarian in Candor,” I said, alarmed. “He’ll want them back.”
Jaspin gave me a strange look.
“Thank you, Inspector,” Domenico said. “Please escort Aronson out.”
“What about —“ Jaspin nodded toward the corpse. Domenico glanced at it with distaste.
“After we’re through. Aronson, you may take the children home, but I will hold you personally responsible for their actions from now on — especially that little girl’s. We will have no more murders by monster in Cislunar.”
“Sire.” Aronson bowed. The two left. When the door shut, my half-brother and I were alone together for the first time in our lives.
“So, was Father right?” Domenico asked, looking at me. “Did you ever become a sentinel?”
I hadn’t expected that question, and it stung.
“No.” I hoped my voice wouldn’t betray how much the answer hurt. All that trying to discern the Line had ever gotten me had been a splitting headache and an overwhelming sense of failure.
“Then I’ll dismiss the charges.” His voice was impassive. “Not because you threatened me, but because Jaspin’s correct: the crime doesn’t merit the punishment.”
I loosened my fist. My mother’s ring had bruised my palm.
“Thank you.”
He gazed at me from beneath hooded eyes.
“I should have brought you to the palace,” he said. “We could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble that way.”
“Abandoning me was your decision.”
“Yes.” His face didn’t change “At the time, I didn’t think you were capable of controlling yourself.”
“Why would I, after you’d killed my mother?”
“You understand why I did it.”
I flushed, my temper rising.
“You could have told Arlin to knock her out. She didn’t have to die!”
“I wasn’t going to waste time trying to knock a woman unconscious in the middle of an inferno with a transient on the loose. Every second meant more lives lost.”
“You don’t expect me to forgive you, do you?”
“I’m not asking for your forgiveness. I did what I had to do.” His blunt honesty shocked me, and I recoiled. He continued, staring at me. “I do regret that you saw it, though. I have children of my own now. They took their mother’s death hard.”
I grit my teeth. Very well. If I ever killed Domenico, I promised myself, I wouldn’t do it front of his family.
“You seem to have some kind of relationship with that transient,” he said, changing the subject.
“I know how to talk to it, but that doesn’t mean I control it. If I could ….” I gave him a dark look. “I would have preferred Carel receive a just trial. Unlike my own.”
“I gave you a chance to live an honest and productive life. I had nothing to do with the crime that got you thrown into prison.”
“My crime didn’t deserve ten years in Hellsgate.”
“The Vigilance and the Reverence both recommended the death penalty. Ten years was lenient. But don’t thank me for it; Arlin’s the one who petitioned the judge and got your sentence reduced. Knowing Arlin as I do, I expect there was an element of blackmail involved.”
I shook my head. I didn’t want to hear what he was saying.
“If Arlin cared about me, he wouldn’t have had me arrested yesterday.”
“Just because someone cares about you doesn’t mean he’ll indulge your crimes. Arlin may be a drunkard, but he’s a patriot and a man of faith. You should respect that, not belittle it.”
I looked away. Domenico was right. I hated to admit it, but he was right. I was reacting like an upset nine-year-old again, assuming I was the center of everybody else’s world. As an alienist, I should know better. Everybody is at the center of their own world, and nobody is at the center of anyone else’s.
“You’re right. I apologize.” I drew a deep breath. “Why don’t you let him retire?”
“I tried to pension him off years ago. He prefers life as the Knave.”
“You ruined him, the same way you ruined me.”
Domenico’s face grew hard.
“Send Jaspin back in when you leave. You can tell your friends that the charges against you have been dismissed, but don’t consider it a sign of favoritism. If you break the law again, you’ll be prosecuted like any other citizen.”
“I’d expect nothing less.” I stood and started to leave, then paused with my hand on the door handle. “One thing, Domenico.”
“What?” His tone was dangerous.
“The dead sentinel in the warehouse was wearing a second ring. It’s not here in evidence, though.”
Silence. I risked a glance over my shoulder and took deep satisfaction in my half-brother’s frozen expression.
“He belonged to the Vigilance of the Snowy Owl. That’s your personal bodyguard, isn’t it? So either the Banishat is closer to you than you suspect … or you know more about it than you’re admitting.”
“You didn’t mention another ring in your report.”
“Not in the copy I gave to Captain Lorencz.” I studied him. “I wonder, Domenico. Have you taken up our father’s bad habits in your old age? Are you as obsessed with adjuration as he was? Do you think it will make you more powerful? Have you tried siring a sentinel of your own?” I looked at Carel’s body. “Did you have a good reason for standing there quietly while Far murdered her?”
His fist clenched.
“You can be returned to Hellsgate, Axton.”
“If anything happens to me now, all hell will break loose, and you know it. I’ve made the kinds of friends who won’t sit still until they get answers.”
“Don’t think you can blackmail me and get away with it.”
“As long as you treat me fairly, you don’t have anything to worry about.” I opened the door. “We’re not done with each other yet, Domenico. I just want you to know that.”
I left without looking back.
Nobilis Aronson had been kind enough to wait for me in the Ministry lobby. I knelt before him and kissed his hand.
“I apologize for all the trouble I’ve caused you.”
He pulled me to my feet, looking distressed.
“Stop doing that! It’s quite all right, Axton; I know you’ve been doing your best.”
“I should have told you the truth about Carel and the children.”
“Yes, that would have been good.” He squeezed my hand, and I wanted cling to him, to anchor myself in his generosity. “I forgive you, but please — don’t hide things from me anymore.”
I dropped my eyes. I couldn’t promise him that.
“Domenico dropped the charges,” I said to change the subject.
“Axton, please! Show a little respect for our sovereign.’” Aronson looked pained as he released my hand. “Especially if he’s let you go free.”
I bit back my response and looked around for Droit.
“He took the children back to the Vigilance,” Aronson said, guessing my thoughts, “but he said he’d meet us for dinner. I think we all want to know what you and Sovereign Lament talked about for so long.”
“I’m sorry, my liege. I’m not permitted to say.”
He sighed.
“I was afraid you’d say that. Very well; I won’t push. I’m just glad that you’re safe.” His words filled me with relief.
“When are we supposed to meet at your house?” I asked.
“You can ride back with me, and I’ll have the servants run a bath. I want to hear everything that happened. I’ve sent a message around to Lorencz, too.”
I hesitated.
“If you don’t mind, my liege, I need to stop back at my flat first.” I looked down at my torn funeral suit.
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” he said, dismissively. “I’m sure I can find you something else. You haven’t quite managed to destroy my entire wardrobe yet.”
“I think I should start wearing my own clothes, my liege.”
“But —“ he stopped himself, chagrined. “I’m sorry. Am I being condescending? I’m not offering you charity, Axton — I really do have plenty of clothing I never wear. But of course, I wasn’t thinking — you shouldn’t have to wear another man’s cast-offs.”
“No! No, that’s not what I meant.” I cursed myself for hurting his feelings. “It’s just that, if I can’t keep your clothes clean, I don’t deserve to wear them. I need to take responsibility for my actions. And — I need a little time to think, if you don’t mind. A lot has happened today, and I’m feeling overwhelmed.”
“You aren’t going to sneak off to do something reckless, are you?”
“No. I’ll be back in time for dinner.”
“Good.” He smiled. “Then I look forward to seeing you soon.”
We parted ways outside the palace grounds. Aronson took his carriage home after arguing with me for a few more minutes about accepting a ride, and I began the long, cold walk back to Southgate. Along the way, I stopped by each of Arlin’s favorite local bars. The bar I found him in wasn’t far from my new flat.
“You shouldn’t be drinking on duty,” I said, taking a seat across from him. He gave me a surprised look and struggled to sit up straight. He’d been drinking hard, but he wasn’t insensible yet.
“You’re free?” he asked, hopefully.
“Domenico dismissed the charges.” I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the table and ignoring the spilled beer. The shirt was ruined, anyway. “I just wanted to tell you that I’m not angry at you for turning me in.”
He licked his lips, meeting my eyes, and then sighed. His shoulders slumped and the lines in his face deepened.
“I didn’t want to send you back to jail, Ax. But —“
“But you couldn’t ignore the evidence.”
“They didn’t do that to you, did they?” He tilted his glass at my torn and blood-splattered clothing, spilling more beer. “The guards?”
“No. No, this was something else entirely.” I gazed at him, remembering my bale-vision of him. He’d seemed old to me then, but he couldn’t have been much past twenty, and just as trapped between loyalties then as he was now. But in my memories he’d been handsome and full of life. Now he looked aged and beaten. “How drunk are you, Arlin?”
“Not drunk enough.” He set the glass down. “Why?”
I ran my thumb through the spilled beer, considering my words.
“I want to make sure you’ll remember what I want to say.”
“Go ahead.” He sounded like he was bracing himself. I examined the pattern I’d drawn, wondering what it revealed about my thoughts. Probably nothing. I wiped it away and looked up.
“I don’t think I’ve ever thanked you for taking care of me all those years. You gave up a lot to keep me alive, and I never appreciated it. I resented the fact that you were always so attentive, watching and judging my every action. But now I realize you were protecting me, trying to keep me from coming to Domenico’s attention. So — thank you.”
He drew in a deep, shuddering breath.
“I couldn’t keep you out of Hellsgate,” he confessed, his voice breaking. “I tried, but I couldn’t do it.”
“Domenico said you pleaded for me. I never knew that.”
“It didn’t do any good.”
“It kept me alive when everyone else wanted to execute me. So that’s twice you’ve saved my life.” I studied his face, wondering how much of his dissipation was ingrained and how much might go away if he found a better job. Could I help him the way Aronson had helped me? Defend him the way Aronson had defended his wards? “When I was a child, you told me you’d be my new father. I haven’t been a very good son. I’d like to change that, if you’ll let me.”
“Kyrchye.” He picked up his drink again and took a long swallow. I looked away, pretending not to see him rub his eyes with his grimy sleeve. My own throat was tight. I’d only embarrass him if I said anything else, so I stood.
“Maybe I’ll see you after work tomorrow.”
“Yeah.” He tried to sound stern. “Stay out of trouble, Ax. And keep away from those damn becks.”
“I’ll try to stay out of trouble,” I promised.