“Oh, Orfeus,” Bright said suddenly as Orfeus made to stride towards the Elder. “Wait.” Orfeus paused, standing as calmly as she could in the room which, without Em’s orderly influence, was too cluttered to really move around in. Bright dived into a pile of things, shuffling through them, then came out again triumphantly.

She passed something to Orfeus, a small needle in a sealed pack, holding a clear solution. “An emergency Blood boost,” Bright said, looking sombre. She paused, then added, “Hopefully it’ll work,” which was not reassuring. Orfeus looked her in the eye and nodded, tucking it into her pocket. It would be churlish to refuse a friend’s worry. “You ought to be able to apply it yourself,” Bright said, then scrunched a look at her. “Only in the worst case scenario, mind. Just stick that in you if you run all out of energy, if someone, uh, does the thing again—”

“Does what thing?” Rivasoa said.

Bright clamped her mouth shut and tipped a broad wink. She was at least willing to keep a secret, if not good at it. Orfeus looked at Rivasoa and decided.

“While we were in Eldergrove, someone took some of my blood,” Orfeus said, politely. She kept her suspicion reined back.

Rivasoa rose to her feet in a whirlwind of startled fabric. “What?” she exclaimed. Her eyes were huge with disbelief. “With—without your consent?”

Orfeus hadn’t heard her stammer before. “Without even my knowledge,” she agreed, “until Bright found the signs.” She waved at her friend, and Bright waggled her fingers impressively. “You remember I was weak on the train back.”

“I’d assumed you stayed up late carousing,” Rivasoa said automatically. Orfeus grinned tight-lipped, and Rivasoa shook her head. “I…have assumed a lot of things.” Her eyes fixed on Orfeus, determined. “This is abominable. We must get to the bottom of it.”

Rivasoa was possibly a very good actor, or possibly sincere. If she was sincere, it was heartening to have an ally whose morals rebelled so strongly against injustice that she was furious for the sake of even Orfeus, just for the wrongness of the act. Orfeus nodded. “Not this very instant, though,” she said wryly. “There’s our current mission first.”

Rivasoa met her gaze, and the light glinted gold off the metallic threads running through her eyes. “But what if the two are connected?” she said.

Orfeus paused.

“I…huh,” she said, after thinking about it. She shook her head. “That seems … Farflung.” Bright snorted.

Rivasoa shook her head, more animated than Orfeus had ever seen her. She gestured with one arm. “If there is one person or group of persons loose in my city and taking people for unknown reasons, and then some other person or group of persons who committed this unspeakably immoral violation of agency on you,” she said, “why would they not be connected?”