She felt empty. Their bickering and complaints and endless chatter didn’t matter when her world had suddenly turned so grey. Even the Unseen Arras, dancing at the edge of her vision, looked devoid of the joy and life she once found in it.
But it didn’t matter. Without her Wyrdtwined, she’d wither and wane and join him soon enough. A small blessing, she realized now.
“Come,” Cael said. “You may have my protection for as long as you remain in Castereina. I shall see to your safe return home just as promised before.”
She looked blankly at him—no, through him. Her mind couldn’t focus. The world had become too dark and lonely.
Tribunal Pajov snorted. “So youhavebeen compromised by the bleakwitch as well, Inquisitor Callum.” Sighing loudly, he shook his head. “This woman has truly poisoned this entire investigation.”
Semras blinked.Poisonedthe entire investigation, he said?
Oh.
Her eyes widened in shock. The entire murder investigationhadbeen poisoned, yes—from the very start, and in the same way the little flask she had analyzed in Estevan’s office had been.
Only poisoned in theirperceptionof it.
“Estevan, the gin,” she called softly, flashing an excited smile at him. “Remember?”
He furrowed his brow at her. Then his eyes lit up, and a grin spread across his lips as he turned to Tribunal Garza. “He wrote to you about my inheriting the legacy of the ‘Hammer of Witches’? Tribunal Torqedan personally wrote you these exact words?”
Raising an eyebrow impressively high, Garza nodded. “It is indeed ridiculous when considering the events here today, but there is no need to doubt my word. Why are you asking about our private correspondence?”
The brothers exchanged a silent glance, and Semras exhaled in relief. Cael had caught on too.
“I do have,” Cael said slowly, “one last line of inquiry before you take my brother away, Your Honours.”
“Go on. One more question will change nothing. Unless His Eminence has a reason to oppose it?” Tribunal Pajov replied. Bitterness dripped from his voice.
Cael turned to her. “You recounted earlier your method of identifying the medicine. You mentioned examining the victim’s body back then.”
“I did,” Semras answered, fighting back her smile.
“You mentioned as well the medicinal properties of prickly comfrey. Please repeat the ones Tribunal Torqedan used the ointment for.”
“It was to soothe his aching joints—specifically his hands.”
“Thank you. Warwitch Leyevna’s letter does indeed confirm she made her ointment for the tribunal’s hands.” Cael looked to Garza. “And you, Your Honour, just mentioned you received a decent amount of private correspondence from your colleague. Do you mean to say he penned them himself?”
Frowning, the tribunal nodded slowly. “He did. I have known Torqedan for long enough to recognize the difference between his handwriting and his secretary’s. Why?”
“That is all.” Cael addressed her once more. “In your professional opinion, would the application of the ointment help regain sufficient function of the hands to write?”
“There are things that neither weaving nor medicine can fix. Stiff joints are a degenerative affliction. We can control the pain they cause and reduce their inflammation, but we cannot restore the full function of the joints. A man suffering in his hands would never write as well as he once did. His handwriting would be severely altered, to the point he would need someone else to write for him.”
“Alas, we all grow old,” Tribunal Whitmore lamented. “Every year, there are fewer of us. And every year, fewer men join our ranks. The youth these days have forgotten the fear of the Tainted. Who will safeguard the world once we are gone?”
Ignoring his peer, Tribunal Garza frowned at Cael. “Where are you going with this, Inquisitor Callum?”
“I am suggesting, Your Honour, that Tribunal Torqedan should not have been able to write his own letters.”
“And yet,” Semras added, smirking, “you just told us he did.”
Chapter 39
Silencefelluponthechamber.
Tribunal Pajov broke it with a sputtered, nervous laugh. “This is based upon the words of a witch whose credibility was dismissed earlier?”
