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I don’t think he’d push me away. But his compassion isn’t for me, not really.
I have to remember that.
Would I even want to be like that man ogling him last night? The thought makes me cringe inwardly.
I force a smile onto my own lips and keep my tone light. “I seem to have pissed some people off without meaning to. But whatever they stuck in my food, it only hit me about as hard as a few rounds of ale. Not as hard as the daimon that ran through the third-floor hallway hit those statues.”
Alek winces. “I’ve gathered that the palace has insisted on a full inquiry after that display. But—”
With a shift in the air behind me, Stavros’s smooth voice rolls through the room. “But no one has any solid explanations to offer them. Becausewestill don’t have anything remotely resembling proof.”
Benedikt glances over at the new arrival. “I had a chat with a couple of the advisor of commerce’s lackeys this morning. It seems a supply of solm sap went ‘missing’ from the harbor a couple of days ago, and no one’s been able to determine who took it.”
Alek’s head jerks around. “That’s one of the other substances I saw reference to in relation to the old scourge sorcerers.”
The bastard’s bastard nods. “Exactly. The schemers must have snatched it up.”
Julita shivers.What are those villains planning now?
Benedikt turns back to Stavros. “We could try telling the Crown’s Watch what Julita’s observed and all the other things we’ve found that add up. The fact that she was murdered says a lot.”
Casimir’s mouth twists pensively. “Would they listen when she isn’t here to tell them directly?” He shoots me an apologetic glance that it’s clear is more for my ghostly passenger. “No one else knew her well enough to confirm that Ivy really is hosting her soul. From us, it’s only hearsay.”
“And with her body vanished, we have no way to prove the murder either,” Stavros puts in with a growl. He isn’t looking at me at all, but after our discussion upstairs, I’m all right with that.
Now does seem like a good idea to mention that I may have made a slight bit of progress. “There’s something new I want to look into. Or someone new.”
Alek catches my gaze with a glint of curiosity in his bright brown eyes. The same ridiculous part of me that wobbles over Casimir’s smile twinges with the yearning to share a knowing moment with him.
But what I’m going to talk about isn’t what he and I discussed the other day anyway.
Benedikt lifts his chin toward me encouragingly. “What’ve you got, Knives?”
Julita stirs in my head with anticipation. I drag in a breath and decide to get right to it. “One of the law professors is bringing in outer-warder kids dressed up as nobles and taking them around campus. Ster. Torstem. I saw him with one yesterday.”
All four of the men stare at me for a few seconds. Stavros ambles toward the desk, his head cocked to one side. “And you know this because of your magical urchin-detecting gift?”
His tone isn’t quite as sharp as when he snapped at me in his quarters, but it’s still got an edge under the teasing lilt.
I meet his gaze steadily. “Most people around here never seem to look past appearances. You certainly don’t know the subtleties of street-rat behavior. Whereas, as you’ve liked to point out to me, I’m one of them.”
“If Ivy says she’s sure of what she saw, I think we should believe her,” Cas says quietly.
Benedikt twirls a quill he’s picked up between his fingers. “What do urchins have to do with scourge sorcery? Maybe Torstem simply likes watching them play dress-up.”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “I just thought it was strange and that we should look into it.”
Alek’s mouth tightens with a hint of queasiness. “The accounts I’ve read of the original scourge sorcerers… Children were some of their favorite targets for increasing their power. Get them sacrificing on the sorcerer’s behalf at their dedication ceremony.”
My own stomach flips over. “You think Torstem could be murdering these kids for power?”
Alek holds up his hands. “We can’t assume that. The records say that they needed to use supplicants who were close to them—usually family members and friends. People whocouldhonestly dedicate the sacrifice of their life to someone else’s use honestly, because they were devoted to the sorcerer. I read that there were some who had child after child simply to indoctrinate them all before offering them up…”
He trails off, looking even sicker than before.
I can’t restrain a shudder. “This kid definitely wasn’t raised by any part of a professor’s family.”
“He has one daughter, grown and an advisor for one of the provinces near the capital,” Stavros puts in. “No one’s mentioned her missing an exorbitant number of body parts that would indicate even a significant living sacrifice. I don’t know about nieces or nephews.”
