Water spewed from Cain’s mouth as from a drain suddenly unclogged. He coughed and hurled up the remaining water in his lungs onto a wooden floor. His mind was still underwater. Was this the boat or the docks? It wasn’t the bottom of the sea, at least. Lying strewn to his left was the chain that had been around him only a few moments ago. His soaked coat was clinging tightly to his body. Even in his delirium Cain wondered if his spectacles were still in it.
“Disgusting.”
The stout man’s fingers were entwined and resting on Cain’s sternum. He wiped his face with his sleeve.
Septima, in her black stola and a lantern on her knees, sat at the side of the boat. Cain was on the same boat he had come in on. Another, empty boat of similar size was bobbing next to theirs. Devadas, soaking wet, was hunched over and searching the bodyof the motionless ex-legionary before him. It was difficult to tell whether she was alive or dead.
“He really lives again,” said Septima, arching an eyebrow.
“We don’t know that yet,” the stout man said with a sideways look at him. “In my sailing days, I’ve seen many a man dragged out of the waters who revive to die anyway or become useless for life.”
The feeling of lightness and peace that Cain had felt in his last moments of consciousness in the sea was gone, and the crushing weight in his chest was back. He took the stout man’s extended hand but his grip failed and he fell back down on his rear. The poison still lingered.
Septima stood up and looked at him closely.
“Devadas fished you out instead of that woman,” said the stout man. “Don’t make us regret that.”
All he could answer with was more coughing.
“What happened?” Septima asked.
Cain just about managed to catch his breath. “How did you get here? How did you save me?”
“We have our ways,” said the stout man.
Devadas, apparently coming up empty on the ex-legionary, looked at them and shook his head, even as he continued his search. As the boat rocked, the woman’s arm beneath him moved lifelessly like a puppet with its strings cut. Her chest on the lower left-hand side had caved in as if hit by a hammer. Devadas, done with his search, wrapped the body in chains and threw it into the ocean, making a loud splash. Foam rose to the surface, and then nothing.
“What happened, I said.” Septima looked impatient.
Before answering her, Cain rifled through his coat and foundhis spectacles. As he put them on, everything came back into focus. With a calmer head, Cain thought carefully before opening his mouth. What could he afford to tell them?
“That man… Safani. He poisoned me with a dart.”
He wanted to show them his thigh but to do so he would need to take off his trousers. Devadas stared at him with wide eyes.
“So you survived that too,” said the stout man. “You almost died twice tonight.”
Septima took the bait. “Tell me about Safani. Where is he now? I thought he’d be here.”
“You were right. He’s working for Gladdis.”
Cain told them everything he knew about Safani. He didn’t need to lie about that at all. He still didn’t know what exactly he did for her, only that he was at Gladdis’s house. This was where the stout man interrupted with a whistle of amusement.
“You went inside her house?”
Septima glared at the stout man, who immediately shut his mouth. Thanks to this, Cain confirmed they hadn’t been following him the whole time. Or perhaps they were trying to make him think so, to see if he would lie? Who knew where this chain of suspicions would end.
“What was Gladdis’s plan?”
Cain had to think for a moment. That Gladdis wanted to destroy the Capital using the Circuit of Destiny under the Senate was not a plan he had heard this evening, but something that Eldred creature had told him, in the room inside Arienne’s mind. Did he believe this was true? If he did, should he tell Septima? But now that Gladdis was dead, he couldn’t see the point.
“I don’t know.”
Septima frowned. “Then what do you know? What have you been doing this whole time?”
“The woman is dead. Doesn’t that mean whatever she was planning is over?”
“Safani is the kind of man who will follow through on a job, whether the one who hired him is dead or alive.”
