The cup was set aside, and the old Ebigail Kiradin – the one whose stare could level mountains – returned. “I know what I saw. And I want to know why I saw them. This was no ordinary brigand, was it?”

The stare won out. Rosa stared down at her tea as her resistance crumbled. “Kas called him a kernclaw. An assassin for the Crowmarket.”

Ebigail loosed a wretched sigh. “So it’s true. I’d hoped he was wrong. Why didn’t I believe him?”

Rosa glanced up. “Didn’t believe him about what?”

“It’s better you don’t know.”

“I can’t accept that.”

A wintery smile. “No, that was foolish of me, wasn’t it?”

Rosa knew better than that. Grieving or not, the thought of Ebigail speaking out of turn – much less letting something slip by mistake – was the stuff of fancy. Everything she did and said was to a purpose, even now. But that didn’t mean that purpose was to be distrusted. Kas linked them in death. “Tell me. Please.”

“On one condition: that my words do not leave this room. They do not reach the ears of your friends, and most certainly not Sevaka’s. I will not have them endangered.”

“You have my word as a Knight of Essamere.”

For a long moment, Rosa wasn’t certain the pledge would be enough. Then the older woman nodded.

“Last week, before he died, Kasamor came to me with . . . suspicions . . . They concerned a senior member of the Grand Council. Someone in whom the Republic has invested much of its trust. Allegations of bribery and blackmail. Of influence squandered and sold in the name of the Crowmarket. Of constructs stolen from the foundry to who knows what purpose.” She shook her head. “Even now, with everything that has happened, I find it so difficult to believe.”

“Who? Who did Kasamor name?”

“Are you certain you wish to know?”

Know the name of the traitor who’d wanted her beloved dead? “More than anything.”

“Viktor. It was Viktor Akadra.”

Rosa swallowed to clear a sudden tightness in her throat. “No! That’s impossible. You must be mistaken.”

“These are not my words, child. They are Kasamor’s. Viktor approached him several months ago. He wanted to know if Kasamor retained any of his father’s contacts within the Crowmarket. Of course, Kasamor didn’t. He told Viktor as much, and warned him off getting involved with those scum.” She sighed. “Viktor prevailed upon their friendship, and begged he reveal nothing. It was only when Kasamor discovered the extent of Viktor’s corruption that he broke his confidence. If only he’d done so sooner!”

“Kasamor would have told me!”