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Claire frowned some more.
I held up a third finger. “Three. She didn’t stab Aiden.”
The frown deepened. “You know damned well—”
“That trolls have lousy eyesight. And that the room was dark. And that Efridis wasn’t supposed to know the troll kid was in there, because he only arrived that afternoon. And Stinky was snoring up a storm, as usual, so the nonsnoring kid had to be Aiden, right?”
“Yes!”
I ate some more omelet. It was cold, but still good. I swallowed.
“What about smell?”
Claire blinked. “What?”
“Trolls are used to living in darkness. Those caves that some of them call home are pitch-black, much worse than a bedroom with streetlight sifting in. Yet they navigate them just fine.”
Claire crossed her arms at me. “I had doctored him. Bulsi, I mean, or whatever we’re calling him. I wanted to make sure he didn’t get an infection, since he still had open wounds. So the room reeked of medicine. Maybe Ymsi got confused.”
I stuffed down some toast. “Wouldn’t have mattered. Dorina woke up at the consul’s in an unfamiliar room, and she knew exactly who had been in there—going back hours—what they were and how long they’d stayed, as sure as if she’d watched a film of it. And one of them smelled of medicine, too.”
“Dorina is a first-level master. Ymsi is not!”
I shrugged. “So put a bunch of people in the basement and turn off the lights. Then send Ymsi in, and ask him who was there when he comes out. I’ll bet money he can tell you.”
Claire didn’t say anything, so I worked on finishing up the omelet and toast and fresh fruit and coffee she’d brought me. And was still hungry when I had, because my stomach thinks it’s fey. But at least I managed to clean the plate before Claire spoke again.
“Okay, now I’ve got a point.”
I leaned back with the rest of my coffee. “Okay, shoot.”
“Dorina.” Her eyes were bright, not with anger, but with excitement. She thought she had me. “Louis-Cesare said that Dorina attacked Efridis as soon as she saw her. Why would she do that if she didn’t recognize her?”
I shrugged. “Maybe because she’d just seen a powerful vargr attack the consul, and there was a powerful vargr, standing right beside the consul? Or maybe . . .”
“Or maybe what?”
“Or maybe she did recognize her, just not from the attack last night. Maybe she recognized her from the attack here.”
Claire stared at me. “You just finished telling me that wasn’t her!”
“No, I said the attack using Ymsi wasn’t her. But that night, there were two of everything: two boys, two battles, and two very different attack styles. Why not two attackers?”
* * *
—
Claire did not like my theory.
No, that’s not right. Claire hated my theory, and I knew why. I just didn’t know what to do about it.
“Is there a problem?” Olfun asked, backing up abruptly when Claire slammed out of the room.
He had a phone in his hand, and it was ringing. But instead of answering it, he hit TALK and then OFF without so much as a pause in between. And then smiled sadly at me.
“My apologies. Reflex.”
I decided not to ask what that meant.
