“Me either. But who were we to talk back to the Twilight Order? My parents were just going to let him take her, but I didn’t want to. So when Va’aht wasn’t looking, I jammed my knife in his leg. I thought I might be able to grab Maya and run, I guess.”

“I take it it didn’t work.”

“Of course not. My parents were screaming, but Va’aht wouldn’t listen. He took my eye as punishment.” The scar gave a dull throb. “Then he took my sister, too. I never saw her again.”

There was another pause.

“You hate them, don’t you?” Kit asked after a while.

“I hate them,” Gyre said. His voice was surprisingly calm.

“So that’s why you work with Yora? To hurt the Order?”

“It’s … more than that.” Gyre drew his knees against his chest. “I hurt them, but it’s not enough. It’s not just about me. The Order is …” He shook his head in the darkness. This was the part that he had a hard time expressing. “They’re the past. The Chosen ruled over humanity for who knows how many centuries, and then when they were dying they built this thing to keep us on the path they wanted.”

“The Order defends the Republic against plaguespawn and dhakim,” Kit said mildly.

“Because they’re the ones with the power,” Gyre said. “They decide what’s sanctioned arcana and what’s dhak. They tell us what power we’re allowed to have. And just coincidentally, anything that might be able to challenge them, to do without them, isn’t allowed.” He swallowed. “Maybe we needed them once, after the war and the Plague. But now …”

“So you want to go to the Tomb,” Kit said.

“The ghouls challenged the Chosen,” Gyre said. “If there’s anything left in the world that can stand up to the Order, that’s where it’ll be.”

He shifted awkwardly. He hadn’t meant to be so honest, to tip his hand. But he felt like, of all the people he’d talked to, Kit might truly understand. Something drove her there, didn’t it?

“I worry,” Kit said, “that you’re going to be disappointed.”

“I don’t care,” Gyre said. “I have to get there. I have to try.”

“So you can rescue your sister?”

“I’m not stupid,” Gyre muttered. “If the Order saved her, then she’s been living with them since she was five years old. They’ve had plenty of time to get their hooks into her. By now I’m sure she’s as bad as Va’aht.” He took a deep breath. “Nothing’s going to fix my family. I just don’t want them to break anyone else’s.”

There was another long pause, then a shuffling of cloth. After a moment, Gyre felt Kit’s hand, her fingers twining through his. She gave him a comforting squeeze.