Eider gave a sharp laugh. 'He had not your commitment to the cause. He wanted what everyone else wanted. Money, and more than I could raise. I told the Gurkish that the plan was finished. I told them why. The next day Davoust was… gone.' She took a deep breath. 'And so there was no going back. We were ready to move, shortly after you arrived. All was arranged. And then…' she paused.

'Then?'

'Then you began to strengthen the defences, and Vurms got greedy. He felt that our position was suddenly improved. He demanded more. He threatened to tell you of my plans. I had to go back to the Gurkish to get more. It all took time. Finally we were ready to move again, but by then, it was too late. The chance had passed.' She looked up. 'All greed. But for my husband's greed, we would never have come to Dagoska. But for the Spicers' greed, we might have succeeded here. But for Vurms' greed, we might have given it away, and not a drop of blood spilled over this worthless rock.' She sniffed, and looked back at the floor, her voice growing faint. 'But greed is everywhere.'

'So you agreed to surrender the city. You agreed to betray us.'

'Betray who? There would have been no losers! The merchants could have stepped away quietly! The natives would have been no worse off under Gurkish tyranny than they had been under ours! The Union would have lost nothing but a fraction of its pride, and what is that worth besides the lives of thousands?' Eider stretched forward across the table, her voice growing rough, her eyes wide and shining wet with tears. 'Now what will happen? Tell me that. It will be a massacre! A slaughter! Even if you can hold the city, what will be the price? And you cannot hold it. The Emperor has sworn, and will not be denied. The lives of every man, woman and child in Dagoska are forfeit! For what? So that Arch Lector Sult and his like can point at a map, and say this dot or that is ours? How much death will satisfy him? What were my reasons? What are yours? Why do you do this? Why?'

Glokta's left eye was twitching, and he pressed his hand against it. He stared at the woman opposite through the other. A tear ran down her pale cheek and dripped onto the table. Why do I do this?

He shrugged. 'What else is there?'

Severard reached down and slid the paper of confession across the table. 'Sign!' he barked.

'Sign,' hissed Vitari, 'sign, bitch!'