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Back A Burning Sea
Chapters (54)
  1. CAST OF CHARACTERS
  2. PART ONE
  3. CHAPTER ONE
  4. CHAPTER TWO
  5. CHAPTER THREE
  6. CHAPTER FOUR
  7. CHAPTER FIVE
  8. CHAPTER SIX
  9. CHAPTER SEVEN
  10. CHAPTER EIGHT
  11. CHAPTER NINE
  12. CHAPTER TEN
  13. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  14. CHAPTER TWELVE
  15. PART TWO
  16. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  17. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  19. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  21. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  22. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  30. PART THREE
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. PART FOUR
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  45. CHAPTER FORTY
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  53. HISTORICAL NOTE
  54. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Later, after they had pulled him bleeding and bruised from the pit, Erlan lay on his back, gazing up at the rain. He sensed, only dimly, someone flop down in the mud beside him. ‘Still with us, lad?’ said Einar, grinning over him.

‘Just about,’ he groaned, his breath coming in painful gasps. ‘Aska. . . Got loose, did he?’

‘You know me.’ Einar winked. ‘I always was a clumsy bugger.’

PART FOUR

FIRE

Illustration

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Illustration

‘Thank you for seeing me,’ said Gerutha.

‘Of course,’ Lord Katāros answered, gesturing to a silk couch in the corner of his chambers. ‘It’s pleasant to speak in the old tongue now and then.’ He went to fill her a glass of wine.

‘No. Thank you.’

He shrugged and filled a cup anyway for himself. She could smell the spicy flavouring of spikenard and cloves as he poured it out.

As parakoimōmenos – High Chamberlain – his apartments were close to the private rooms of the emperor in the Daphne wing of the palace. Gerutha felt intimidated just being there. His rooms were as richly appointed as any in the city – an array of silks and ivory, gilded mosaics and polished stone. Lord Katāros himself seemed no less an ornament to the whole – his eyes kohl-rimmed, his dark hair entwined in an elaborate headdress studded with gold, his body garbed in a shimmering robe of emerald green. He settled himself behind a marble desk. ‘What can I do for you?’

‘You are holding my mistress for something she cannot have done.’

The eunuch gave a pained smile. ‘I understand this must be a difficult time for you. But my hands are tied.’

‘Are you not responsible for uncovering treason against the city?’

‘The emperor honoured me with that task. But that doesn’t mean I am not bound by facts. And those which weigh against your mistress are heavy.’

‘But others have already confessed to a plot against the city.’

‘Yes. But none yet to the murder of the lampros, Nikolaos.’

‘Nor has she confessed.’

‘No,’ he admitted. ‘Not yet.’

Gerutha tried not to imagine what methods his underlings had attempted for extracting Lilla’s confession. ‘That’s just it. She couldn’t have done it.’

‘She has no solid alibi.’

‘Erlan. Erlan was with her all night.’

‘Alas, where is he?’ The eunuch’s painted lips twitched in sympathy. ‘Besides, Nikolaos’s servant testified to a private meeting between your mistress and the fire-maker. That they parted on angry terms.’

‘She couldn’t have done it,’ Gerutha insisted, ‘because someone else did. I know.’

The eunuch leaned back in his seat and sighed. ‘I take it you wouldn’t come here and make such a claim without good reason. Without evidence.’

‘I would not.’

‘Very well –’ he smiled suddenly and leaned forward again – ‘then I am the soul of attentiveness.’