My cheeks heat. “What are you…”
He meets my eyes over his shoulder, and I quickly look away. “I need to dry my clothes again,” he says.
Right. That’s rational. Of course he does. He’s been outside for hours and has probably gathered icicles in his clothing. He returns to the fire and sits on the other side. I note he kept his trousers on. His chest is bare, and I let myself look at it only to assess the state of the bandage I wrapped around his wound. There’s no sign of blood, so at least he hasn’t torn his stitches. I lift my gaze, taking in the moisture dripping from the ends of his dark hair, which he’s pushed away from his forehead. The light of the fire dances across his face, over the bridge of his gorgeously crooked nose, that sharp jaw, that short dark beard.
I shut my eyes and remind myself to stop staring. This is no time to admire the Shadowbane. It’s time to interrogate the bastard.
“What did Henderson mean about me?” I say in a rush.
Dominic meets my eyes but says nothing.
“He said I was a murderer. That I destroyed my village. What did he mean?”
His shoulders tense, and for a moment I wonder if I’ll have to strangle the answers out of him. The thought of my hands around his throat is strangely intoxicating, so it’s a relief when he says, “You truly don’t know?”
“Which part? That I supposedly murdered someone, or that my village was destroyed? I know nothing about either.”
“Two years ago,” Dominic says, speaking slowly, carefully, “Dunway fell to a frenzy of Shades. Most died. The few survivors relocated to other towns.”
Most died. Does that include…my parents? My neighbors? The people I grew up with? I may not have been anyone’s favorite in my hometown, not even my parents’, but I would never wish death upon them.
My heart thuds like a leaden weight in my chest. “How did it fall to a frenzy? The village should have been protected. The duke…Henry…” Gods, was Dunway attackedbecauseI escaped? Because Henry didn’t claim another victim and light the brazier in time? But whythen? Dunway saw its share of Shades and even had to call in the help of a Shadowbane on occasion, but there was never a threat big enough to potentially erase our entire village. Did my escape itself draw the Shades? Did my sin in defying a Sinless stir a frenzy?
“Henry Berkham is dead.” Dominic’s words stall my thoughts. “Every survivor of the attack insists he never arrived in Dunway. Records state he was killed in a Shade attack on his way to the village. Before his Absolution ritual could happen.”
I shake my head. “That…that’s impossible. I saw him. He was Sinless—”
“I believe you, Inana. I believe you were the last person who saw Henry Berkham alive, and that he was already Sinless.”
“Then what the hell does this all mean?”
“Think it through.” His tone is gentle. Calming. “Henry Berkham is dead, that’s a fact. Records state he was never given the Absolutionritual and died while he was still mortal. Yet you saw him alive and very much Sinless. Sometime after you escaped imprisonment, Dunway was attacked by Shades, leaving very few survivors. The only ones left alive confirmed they never saw their promised duke arrive. What do you think the truth is?”
I bite my bottom lip as I consider what he said. If the records contradict what I know to be factual—that Henry was without a doubt turned Sinless—then the records are lying. As are the survivors, unless they somehow missed the celebratory procession like I did and truly don’t know Henry arrived in Dunway. But he did arrive, and he was already Sinless. And now he’s…dead?
I shake my head. “How can a Sinless immortal be dead? The Sinless can’t be killed…”
My voice trails off as understanding dawns cold and sharp.
“A Sinless…canbe killed. Is that what this is all about?”
“If it’s true that Sinless can be killed,” Dominic says, “imagine what lengths to which the church and crown might go to keep that a secret.”
A chill runs down my spine at what he’s suggesting. “Are you saying Dunway was destroyed by Shades on purpose? Because if anyone discovered the truth—that Henry did arrive in Dunway, fully Sinless, and died right after—they’d know Sinlesscandie. And that…”
“That would make the Sinless vulnerable,” he says.
“But…how? How can a Sinless be killed? How did Henry meet his end?”
“I thought if anyone knew,” Dominic says, “it would be you.”
I pull my head back. “Do you think I killed him?”
“Did you?” There’s no accusation in his tone, but I bristle nonetheless.
I open my mouth to deny it, but my words don’t come. The truth is, I don’t remember what happened after I freed my wrist from my bindings and sliced Henry’s neck with my needle. Could I have killed him? I don’t think so. I’m sure if I did something so extreme, I’d remember. Right?
“It doesn’t matter what you did or didn’t do,” Dominic says. “Even if you killed him, I wouldn’t blame you.”
