Curse my lack of knowledge about lordly affairs. I knew next to nothing about Lady Themis, not even that she’d been Seraphim’s twin. Women did not inherit the throne. Gossip did not care about them.
“Seraphim believed the only way to stop the Empty was to enter it.” He explained. “Themis was far more pious and forbade her from exploring blasphemy. Behind her family’s back, Seraphim carried on experiments only to arrive at a horrifying truth.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What kind of experiments?”
“How would you learn the means required to enter the Empty?” He shrugged. “You send people in until one comes back alive.”
I bit my lip. The Seraphim I knew wouldn’t do that, would she? “And what was the truth?”
“Thatnobodyreturned alive.” The masked nobleman’s eyes darkened. “Lady Themis caught wind of her sister’s heinous crimes and exposed the truth. Desperate to cover it up, the rest of the family elected to banish her into the Empty. A fitting end.”
But her brother had saved her, helped her escape to Duath Nun instead. I could ask Seraphim about this later—I had no reason to trust this man when I couldn’t read his expressions.
“Interesting,” I said. “I’d rather learn who you are and why you care.”
“Seraphim does not know if the Acheron River will ferry you safely into the heart of the Empty. Are you willing to be her next sacrifice?”
“Yes,” I said, surprising myself with how quickly the answer came. “I’ll die either way. I don’t really care which finds me first.”
He laughed bitterly. “You have no idea what you’re getting into, do you,Elpis?”
I blinked at him. “What did you call me?”
“Perhaps you do not care about your fate.” He shook his head. “But I do.”
“You don’t even know me.”
“But I should.” He paused. The boat drifted by the slums built along the waterline, the buildings erected on the higher level rising into the sky like guarding walls. “Have you ever wondered why Ainwir appeared in the woods that day?”
No. I hadn’t. And I didn’t care now. “How do you know him?” I demanded.
“Come with me and I’ll tell you everything you wish to know. You’ll be safe under my care—both from the Guild and harm.”
I grimaced behind my mask. Ainwir had taught me to always know my enemy. But this man’s voice was not familiar, and I could not see his face, nor judge his age. Plenty of people in the Merchant Isles had shades of red hair. He might not even be noble—gods knew how many times I’d dressed nicely and pretended to be one.
The only clue I had was his eyes. Sage-green. But it was just a color—a color that hundreds, if not thousands, of people shared.
Gods, I knewnothingabout Eleos. Why had I started trusting these people? For all I knew, this could be his brother. His father. A distant cousin.
I lifted my gaze from the boat’s floor, praying this man wasn’t a psyche. He watched me calmly, unreadable behind his mask.
“Tell me your name,” I said. “And I might consider it.”
Waving a hand, the nobleman directed the boatman to stop. The gondola moored on a familiar street, one that Ainwir and I had often walked years ago.
The nobleman stepped out of the gondola and offered me a hand. I begrudgingly accepted, stepping from the boat onto solid ground.
“This isn’t the safest area for you.” He said. “Especially not these days.”
The Guild had countless eyes and ears in this part, and I didn’t want any of them to catch wind of me. Glancing around, I quickly spotted a textiles shop nearby; its back door would lead me onto an alley I could follow back to the library.
“Thank you for the conversation,” I said rigidly. “I would say it was a pleasure to meet you, but you never offered your name.”
Exhaling, he ran a hand through his hair. “I suspected you would try to run. It’s really going to make things more difficult for both of us.”
“You might’ve considered inviting me to dinner first.”
“Did we not discuss what such a course would have yielded? You know better than to trust a man who smiles and offers you aid.” His eyes crinkled. “You really are a great deal like Ainwir. Looking at you feels like looking at him.”
