'My thanks.'

'Thanks?'

'I think you might have loosened my neck up just a fraction.' Glokta smiled, showing her his few bloody teeth. 'For two years I was a captive of the Gurkish. Two years in the darkness of the Emperor's prisons. Two years of cutting, and chiselling, and burning. Do you think the thought of a slap or two scares me?' He chuckled bloody laughter in her face. 'It hurts more when I piss! Do you think I'm scared to die?' He grimaced at the stabbing through his spine as he leaned towards her. 'Every morning… that I wake up alive… is a disappointment! If you want answers you'll have to give me answers. Like for like.'

She stared at him for a long moment, not blinking. 'You were a prisoner of the Gurkish?'

Glokta swept a hand over his twisted body. 'They gave me all this.'

'Huh. We have both lost something to the Gurkish, then.' She slid down onto crossed legs. 'Questions. Like for like. But if you try to lie to me—'

'Questions, then. I would be failing in my duties as a host if I did not allow you to go first.'

She did not smile. But then she does not seem the joking type. 'Why are you watching me?'

I could lie, but for what? I might as well die telling the truth. 'I am watching Bayaz. The two of you seem friendly, and Bayaz is hard to watch these days. So I am watching you.'

She scowled. 'He is no friend of mine. He promised me vengeance, that is all. He has yet to deliver.'

'Life is full of disappointments.'

'Life is made of disappointments. Ask your question, cripple.'

Once she has her answers, will it be bath-time again, and this time my last? Her flat yellow eyes gave nothing away. Empty, like the eyes of an animal. But what are my choices? He licked the blood from his lips, and leaned back against the wall. I might as well die a little wiser. 'What is the Seed?'

Her frown deepened by the smallest fraction. 'Bayaz said it is a weapon. A weapon of very great power. Great enough to turn Shaffa to dust. He thought it was hidden, at the edge of the World, but he was wrong. He was not happy to be wrong.' She frowned at him for a silent moment. 'Why are you watching Bayaz?'

'Because he stole the crown and put it on a spineless worm.'

She snorted. 'There at least we can agree.'

'There are those in my government who worry about the direction in which he might take us. Who worry profoundly.' Glokta licked at one bloody tooth. 'Where is he taking us?'

'He tells me nothing. I do not trust him, and he does not trust me.'

'There too we can agree.'

'He planned to use the Seed as a weapon. He did not find it, so he must find other weapons. My guess is he is taking you to war. A war against Khalul, and his Eaters.'