His door was not quite shut. He gave it the gentlest of pushes and it creaked open, soft lamplight spilling out into the corridor, a glowing stripe over the dusty floorboards, over the foot of Glokta's cane and the muddy toe of one boot. I left no door unlocked, and certainly no lamps burning. His tongue slithered nervously over his empty gums. A visitor, then. An uninvited one. Do I go in, and welcome them to my rooms? His eyes slid sideways into the shadows of the corridor. Or do I make a run for it? He was almost smiling as he shuffled over the threshold, cane first, then the right foot, then the left, dragging painfully behind him.

Glokta's guest sat by the window in the light of a single lamp, brightness splashed across the hard planes of his face, cold darkness gathered in the deep hollows. The squares board was set before him, just as Glokta left it, the pieces casting long shadows across the chequered wood.

'Why, Superior Glokta. I have been waiting for you.'

And I for you. Glokta limped over to the table, his cane scraping against the bare boards. As reluctantly as a man limping to the gallows. Ah, well. No one tricks the hangman forever. Perhaps we'll have some answers, at least, before the end. I always dreamed of dying well-informed. Slowly, ever so slowly, he lowered himself grunting into the free chair.

'Do I have the pleasure of addressing Master Valint, or Master Balk?'

Bayaz smiled. 'Both, of course.'

Glokta wrapped his tongue round one of his few remaining teeth and dragged it away with a faint sucking sound. 'And to what do I owe the overpowering honour?'

'I said, did I not, that day we visited the Maker's House, that we should have a talk at some point? A talk about what I want, and about what you want? That point has come.'

'Oh joyous day.'

The First of the Magi watched him, the same look in his bright eyes that a man might have while watching an interesting beetle. 'I must admit that you fascinate me, Superior. Your life would seem to be entirely unbearable. And yet you fight so very, very hard to stay alive. With every weapon and stratagem. You simply refuse to die.'

'I am ready to die.' Glokta returned his gaze, like for like. 'But I refuse to lose.'

'Whatever the cost, eh? We are two of a kind, you and I, and we are a rare kind indeed. We understand what must be done, and we do not flinch from doing it, regardless of sentiment. You remember Lord Chancellor Feekt, of course.'