‘Your divine grace, we are aware that this is an unusual, perhaps even a bizarre message to bring to you out of the blue,’ said Romilla after Eleanora had fallen silent. ‘I myself questioned it at first, believed that it might be some machination of the Dark Gods sent to twist our purpose or trick us from our path. But now, seeing all this, feeling the pall of disquiet that hangs over this city, my conviction is absolute. The God-King sent us to deliver this warning to you, that you might act before it is too late.’

Hendrick felt a swell of gratitude towards Romilla, who had ­earnestly and clearly explained something he would never have been able to vocalise.

The regent militant took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

‘Before it is too late for what, precisely, my dear?’

Romilla blinked, wrong-footed. ‘Well, your divine grace, to prevent whatever dreadful danger approaches.’

Selvador nodded slowly to himself, as though at some confirmed suspicion. ‘And what would you have me do, all of you? What is it you believe that I am not doing that I should?’

‘My lord, the prophecy says to watch not outwards but downwards,’ said Captain Morthan. ‘I have told you of the incidents that have been–’

Selvador cut her off with a raised hand, closing his eyes as though her words somehow pained him. ‘Helena, my dear, we have spoken of this. You have sufficient watchmen for your duties, you have sewer patrolmen to watch over the pipes and waste tunnels, and we all have our faith. My child, you may doubt yourself, but I do not. You and yours will prevail whether a time of testing lies ahead or no. And when did this warning become a prophecy?’

Selvador’s voice was so gentle, so reasonable, thought Hendrick, as though he were reassuring worried children. Before he could stop it, part of him felt foolish for even troubling the regent militant with such nebulous concerns. The rest of him felt a vertiginous sense of the conversation sliding away from his control, and in very much the wrong direction.

‘My lord, my brother’s words made the danger sound dire,’ he said, trying to drag things back on course.