Melo reached the cell and banged roughly on the bars. “What the fuck is this? I’ll have the queen down here. I’ll?—”
“Melo!” Sarwin stood, reaching for her, only to be caught by the steel shackles that secured him to the table. A flurry of teal scales fluttered over his face, and for the first time, he appeared truly distressed.
Luka stood slowly, noting the way they looked at each other.
The missing lover,his beast noted acidly.
“Let me in!” Melo shook the barred door, rattling the metal loudly. “I won’t stand for this!” she snarled at Luka. “The queen will strip you of your commission when she hears of this!”
The guard who had tried to hold her bowed to Luka with a quick apology and then moved to pull Melo away, but Luka stopped him. “If the physik general wants to come in, let her.” He waved for a lieutenant to open the door and drag in another rickety wooden chair to set beside Sarwin.
Melo tugged her arm away with a rough jerk and stomped through to stand beside Sarwin, not quite touching.
This is cozy.
Indeed. Luka glanced back at Aiden, who met his silent question with a sharp, angry nod. He’d found it. Gods.
Luka sat back down, watching Sarwin and Melo as he smiled coldly. “Sarwin was just about to tell us why he hated Rayan enough to kill him.”
“Killed?” Melo repeated roughly. “What?”
Sarwin turned toward Melo, another flurry of teal scales flickering over his cheekbones. “I hated him, you know I did, but I didn’t kill him. I swear to you?—”
Luka cut him off. “Let’s consider this for a moment. You’re working your way up through the healer ranks, but it’s slow, and the wages are low. Living in the city is expensive, and the apothecary shop is failing. So, you and your uncle come up with a way to make some extra cash, a little side business for you both. But then your uncle dies, leaving the shop in arrears.” Luka leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “Maybe Benja got a bit sloppy before he died. Maybe you were a little rattled and made a mistake. Maybe Rayan went to check on the shop he was buying with his sister—right from under you—and realized the truth. Either way, someone got suspicious, and suddenly there was a guard among the healers. A guard who didn’t trust you at all.”
Melo bristled, bronze scales flickering along her arms, but Luka ignored her. “Did Rayan find something?” he pushed. “Did he challenge you? Or was it colder than that? Did you see him at the clinic and decide to get rid of him quickly, while you could?”
Sarwin shook his head. “Benja’s shopshouldhave been mine. But the rest… no. Just no.”
“Of course you’d say that. But we already know you’re a fantastic liar.” Luka smiled coldly as he waved a hand between Sarwin and Melo. “Not one single person knew you were lovers, after all.”
“That’s completely different,” Melo spat. “We were discreet. We didn’t want anyone to assume?—”
Luka laughed viciously, full of rage at these people who called themselves healers. These hypocrites who had always treated Izzy badly for her family connections. These murderers who had killed his best friend. “What would we assume?” he demanded. “That Sarwin got special treatment from his superior? Or that you were working together to run Firebreather into our city and using our troops as a caravan to spread it into our neighboring kingdoms.”
“Firebreather! Gods of Chaos. I wouldnever. I’ve seen what it does.” Sarwin’s scales stood out in stark relief against his pale face. “That’s what I told Lady Narya when we met. I told her not to even think about it.”
“Then why did you meet her the night of the ball?”
“I didn’t!” Sarwin shouted, and then he sighed, his shoulders slumping. “I did plan to meet her, though. We’d become friendly over the weeks the delegation was here. She wanted to see the city at night without her guards, and I was going to make sure she took a squad.” He looked at Melo. “You know this already. I waited for hours in the hall, but she never came.”
“That all sounds very convenient… but it doesn’t explain this.” Luka waved at Aiden, who stepped forward and plonkeda wooden box onto the table. The box was blackwood with iron bands and reinforcements at the corners. An expensive-looking shackle lock had been smashed and hung loose from the latch.
“Is this yours?” Luka asked.
Sarwin frowned. “Where did you get that? What have you done to it?”
“I took it from your room,” Aiden growled.
“You can’t just go into my room! That’s….” Sarwin’s words trailed away as Luka flicked the box open.
Inside, there was a removable tray, its compartments lined with linen and holding two dozen tiny glass vials. Aiden lifted out the tray to reveal another layer of linen and vials. Each of the vials—made from clear Kwanam glass—held a strange gray powder that clung to the glass with an unnatural viscosity. And each of the vials was sealed with a wax-dipped stopper, pressed with a clear image of a flame.
“Firebreather,” Melo whispered in a horrified voice.
“No! No! I don’t…. I wouldn’t!” Sarwin shook his head desperately. “Benjadiedfrom taking Firebreather. He crashed so low. One minute he was vomiting and ranting about being watched, the next he was staring at a wall, lying in his own filth.Icleaned him.Iheld his hand as he faded into nothing. I would never.” He turned to Melo, grasped her hand, and beseeched. “You believe me. Don’t you?”
I believe him.
