Page 65 of A Trade of Blood

“What did this message tell you to do, Master Ippeas?”

“To come to the Burav estate, just past midnight. The letter came with a small reagents key, so I could get in past the vinegate at the servants’ portal. They told me they would be waiting just within the servants’ door of the mansion. They said all the Buravs would be occupied with…” He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “Well. With Zansay’s funeral rites. They would meet me, tell me what happened, and give me the evidence to clear Castus’s name.”

“Did the young Miss Kol know of this message, or your midnight task?” asked Ana, sighing once more.

“No! I didn’t tell Fotia. I told no one! I did rent a room in town, at our usual tavern, but that wouldn’t be of much note. I didn’t wish to implicate anyone in case this all went awry!”

“Which it did, sir?” said Seriv.

“Somewhat. I mean, I walked up to the house, yes. Or snuck up, like a…a child playing at bandits, I suppose. But when I got close, I saw that all the windows about the servants’ door were shuttered and dark. I couldn’t see anyone waiting for me. Yet many other windows were lit, and I could hear many folk within. The madness of it all became too much. I realized I was being a fool. And that was when I was…startled.”

“By what?”

“By a valet,” sighed Ippeas. “Fellow was lurking at the hedges, in the shadows—and drinking. He wasquitedrunk. He mistook me for someone else, and apologized. Said some queer things to me. Made me lose my nerve. I’d been spotted, after all.”

Ana raised a hand. “What queer things did this man say to you?”

“He…he mistook me for Burilis Burav, actually. I suppose we lookalike in the dark—perhaps it’s the beard. And he was drunker than a boiled owl. I worried he’d keep talking to me, and realize I wasn’t him!”

“Yes, yes,” said Ana. “But what did hesay?”

“Let me think. He said—Off on another forest jaunt, Master Burav? I’ll tell no one. But why’ve you not got your lantern and smokes, sir?I just burbled something then, said good point, and then turned and walked away.”

Ana frowned, thinking, and turned to me. “He thought he wasBurilis Burav? And he expected him to have a lantern and…and some kind of smokes?”

“I’ve no idea, ma’am,” I said honestly.

“Nor I,” said Seriv. “But…he saidforestjaunt, Master Ippeas?”

“He did,” said Ippeas. “What Burilis Burav might be doing in the old forest, or even how he’d enter it, well…I don’t much like imagining it.”

An anxious silence filled the dank little chamber.

“What then?” said Ana.

“Well. Then I turned and ran away, like a damned coward…but as I did, I heard the screaming.”

“The fire?”

“Y-yes. I was close to the wall, and I looked back. Saw the flames in the windows.” He sighed. “So. I came running back.”

“You came runningback?” said Ana, surprised.

“Well, yes. I wasn’t about to let those people burn! The servants’ door was all alight by then, but I was able to get into the kitchens. I saw a girl there, passed out from the smokes, and I hauled her away. Once I’d gotten clear I about near fell to my knees, coughing. When I’d recovered, the whole house was burning. Those who could flee had done so. I could help little more. So I fled. Again.”

We all stared at him, astonished.

“What?” he said slowly. “What is it?”

“The kitchen girl you saved,” I said, “was the very one who gave us testimony against you, and caused us to seek you out!”

“Ohh,” he said. A sheepish look stole across him. “She, ah, saw me, then.”

“She did,” said Ana. “But, sir, comprehend this! She did not see you about to commit a crime—she saw you nearly getmurdered.Because you understand the situation, yes? Someone wished for you to enter the Burav mansion that night. I think they intended for you to die there.”

He took a slow breath in and nodded. “That had occurred to me. And, from what Kol had mentioned the other night…I’ve come to think that maybe the deaths of my cousins have been no accident, either?”

“We strongly suspect not,” said Ana.