Zak winced. “Actually, that wasn’t the Shrouded Killer.”
“What?” I cried before glancing quickly at the door and lowering my voice.
“Are you serious? They caught the wrong person? How could that happen? And how could you possibly know about it, even if it did?!”
“Not the wrong person, exactly. But not the Shrouded Killer.”
“But they sealed him! Are you telling me they sealed an innocent mage by mistake?”
“No, of course not!” he said quickly. “With all the power behind the law enforcement compositions, there’s no chance of a mistake like that. Once they have someone in custody, they have compositions to establish the truth.”
I lowered myself into the closest chair, shaking my head.
“Nothing you’re saying is making sense.”
Zak dropped into the next chair over, leaning forward and speaking quickly. “The man who sealed you is a murderer, but he only killed one person. He was one of those copycats I mentioned. He had a grudge against someone, and he took the opportunity to kill them, making it look like a shrouded killing. He misused his power in the worst possible way and deserved his punishment, you don’t need to worry about that.”
“But…” I stared at him. “But everyone thinks the Shrouded Mage has been caught! If law enforcement knows that isn’t true, why haven’t they told everyone?”
Zak’s lips tightened into a thin line. “Plenty of mages know it. But law enforcement says it’s better for the commonborns to think he’s been caught. That way we won’t have any more copycats.”
“But the copycat was a mage!” I protested. “How does it help if the commonborns are the only ones who don’t know the truth? People were more careful when they knew the Shrouded Mage was roaming the city, and now they’ve let their guard down again. My own brothers are at risk from him!”
I stood, and Zak mirrored me. But after a second, I sat back down, and once again he followed me.
“I agree.” His voice vibrated with feeling. “But some of the influential merchant families were bringing a lot of pressure to bear on both the crown and the law enforcement discipline over their failure to catch the killer. I think law enforcement is more interested in escaping that pressure than anything else.”
“You mean they’ve given up looking for him?” I gaped at Zak, appalled.
He shook his head. “It isn’t as bad as that. They’re still looking. But I’ve always felt they could have assigned more resources to the search, and now they’re expending even less effort.” His expression turned dark. “If he’d been stalking mageborn youth, it would have been a different story.”
“He would have already been caught,” I muttered.
Discontented murmurs to that tune had been filling the city in the weeks leading up to the Shrouded Mage’s apparent capture. The talk had died down since, attention turning to the unexpected sealing ceremony instead. And that fact only lent weight to Zak’s theory.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I can accept all of that, even if I don’t like it. Unfortunately, it sounds all too believable. But none of it explains why you’ve been wandering around the lower city dressed like a commonborn trying to attract the attention of a violent killer!”
“I can’t just sit back and do nothing!” he said. “As mages we have a responsibility to use our power to help all the people of Ardann, not just other mages.”
“An admirable view,” I said tartly. “But I don’t see how getting yourself murdered is using your power to help anyone.”
“I never intended to get murdered.” His smile only made me narrow my eyes further. “You have no idea how many compositions I have in my jacket right now. The Shrouded Killer hunts weak victims, but if I can come to his notice and lure himinto making an attempt on me, he’ll find I’m not in the least weak.”
“Oh really?” I asked, my voice heavy with irony. “Just like in that alley the first day we met, perhaps?”
Zak winced. “With one opponent it would be different. I wasn’t expecting to be jumped by three people at once.”
I slumped back against my seat. “There are so many things that could go wrong! What have you been thinking?”
Zak’s face tightened, and I caught something sharp and painful lurking in his eyes. I straightened.
“What is it? What aren’t you telling me?”
He sighed. “I’m genuinely disgusted by law enforcement’s approach to this. I meant everything I said about that. But it’s also personal for me.”
“Personal?” My brows drew together. “I thought all the victims have been commonborn?”
“They have.” His volume dropped. “Do you really think that means it couldn’t be personal for me?”
