“It doesn’t matter what he actually knows or doesn’t know,” Pakt said in a slow, hurt voice. “The point is, he’s a city employee. He works for a confidante of the mayor. He could have overheard anything, at any time, that would be valuable information to a terrorist and devastating to the city. Whatever reason he had for trying to meet with Jex Zanlan, innocent or not, cannot in fact be innocent, because he is capable of doing real damage just by what he knows.”

“He’s been fired,” Melina said suddenly.

“Yes.”

“And you agree with Cerisa,” she added.

“Yes,” Pakt said. “I do.”

“Then he won’t—he won’t ever be back here,” Nolan said, still trying to take it in. “He’s gone. We won’t see him again.”

“I will try to see him,” Pakt said. “But I doubt I’ll be successful. I was in the room with Cerisa, and I backed everything she said.”

Melina suddenly looked frightened. “That curse, as he left—that thing about dishonor—was he saying it to you?”

Pakt shook his head. “I don’t believe so. But it’s possible. I will watch my step very carefully in the next few weeks, in any case.”

“Will he—what exactly did it mean?” Melina asked. “Will he try to harm you—or something?”

Pakt shook his head again. He looked even more tired than before. “It was not a challenge to defend my honor—or for Cerisa to defend hers. It was more of a—a statement, a notice to the fates that here walks an unprotected soul.” At their matching looks of confusion, Pakt explained. “A man or woman walks through the world defended by his honor. Whatever ill befalls him, if he still has his honor, he cannot be materially harmed. But once his honor is flawed, he has no shield—nothing can deflect from him the tribulations and disgraces that float freely around us every day, looking for a place to settle. Colt was merely pointing out to the universe at large that Cerisa—and, perhaps, I—can be destroyed by some petty trial. I don’t believe he will make the attempt to destroy us.”

“This is terrible,” Melina said. “This is worse than I thought.”

“What happens now?” Nolan asked.

“We hire a new technician,” Pakt said.

“No, I meant—what happens to Colt? Will he return to his mother’s home?”

“His father’s house,” Pakt corrected. “No, I don’t believe so. He has skills, and there are other labs in the city. There’s a gulden pharmacy near the West Two gate that could use a man with Colt’s ability. I don’t see him going back to Geldricht.”

“What about Cerisa?” Melina asked. “Is she upset?”

“Furious, yes. Upset? I don’t think so. Not about losing Colt. She doesn’t really like guldmen.”

“She doesn’t like any of us,” Melina said.