‘Baudin wasn’t just a dockside thug, was he?’

She frowned at him through a haze of smoke.

Beneth set the dagger down and gave it a spin. They both watched the blade’s flashing turns. When it ceased, the point faced Beneth. He scowled, spun it a second time. As the point slowed to face him again he picked up the dagger and slid it back into the sheath at his belt, then reached for the pewter mug.

The flies scattered as he raised the mug to his lips.

‘I don’t know anything about Baudin,’ Felisin said.

His deep-set eyes studied her for a long moment. ‘You haven’t figured anything out about anything, have you? Which makes you either thick ... or wilfully ignorant.’

She said nothing. A numbness was spreading through her.

‘Was it me, lass? Was it so much of a surrender becoming mine? I wanted you, Felisin. You were beautiful. Sharp – I could see that in your eyes. Am I to blame for you, now?’

He saw her glance down at the pouch on the table and offered up a wry smile. ‘Orders are orders. Besides, you could have said no.’

‘At any time,’ she said, looking away.

‘Ah, not my fault, then.’

‘No,’ she replied, ‘the faults are all mine, Beneth.’

Abruptly he rose. ‘There’s nothing pleasant in the air tonight. The She’gai’s begun – the hot wind – all your suffering until now has just been a prelude, lass. Summer begins with the She’gai. But tonight...’ He stared down at her but did not finish the sentence, simply taking her by the arm and pulling her upright. ‘Walk with me.’

Beneth had been granted the right to form a militia, consisting of his chosen slaves, each now armed with a clout. Throughout the night they patrolled the makeshift streets of Skullcup. The curfew’s restriction would now be punctuated with beating followed by execution for anyone caught out in the open after nightfall. The guards would handle the execution – Beneth’s militia took their pleasure in the beating.

Beneth and Felisin joined the patrol squad, half a dozen men she knew well, as Beneth had bought their loyalty with her body. ‘If it’s a quiet night,’ he promised them, ‘we’ll take time for some relaxation come the dawn.’ The men grinned at that.

They walked the littered aisles of sand, watchful but seeing no-one else. Coming opposite a gambling establishment called Suruk’s, they saw a crowd of Dosii guardsmen. The Dosii captain, Gunnip, was with them. Their night-hooded gazes followed the patrol as it continued on.

Beneth hesitated, as if of a mind to speak with Gunnip, then, with a loud sigh through his nostrils, resumed walking. One hand reached up to rest on the pommel of his knife.