“You’re the one who brought Phelan’s troop through the city, aren’t you? I’m Marshal Tamis.”

“Yes,” Dorrin said. “That was I. You might have heard me spoken of as Captain Dorrin; I commanded one of his cohorts these past tens of years.”

“I saw you,” he said. “’Twas after Gird’s paladin was freed, and we at last began the cleansing of this city. I saw you ride by with his soldiers, wearing his colors then. I never forget a face,” he added, a little smugly.

“I’m sorry,” Dorrin said. “I did not notice you—I was thinking only of catching up with Kieri—”

“What is it you want from me?” he asked.

“The former Duke did evil magery in this house,” Dorrin said. “I found it full of traps, both physical and magical. Only a few rooms are clear, and in some of them are things I do not know how to clear. He and the others followed Liart; Liart’s symbols and evidence of blood magery are in room after room. I need your help, Marshal, to cleanse the place.”

“How did you clear the rooms you’ve cleared so far?”

“The physical traps—the poisoned pins and darts, the contact poisons on window latches and the like—are all things I’d seen as a child, and have disarmed at Verrakai Steading in the days since I’ve been there. The magery—you might as well know, Marshal, that the prince granted me permission to use magery against magery. It was the only way to subdue those of my family I captured and sent here for judgment.”

“Magery …” He looked at her sideways. “You have the real magery, like the old ones?”

“Yes,” Dorrin said. “Though I did not know it until recently. It was freed with the aid of Paks and the Knight-Commander of Falk, and was—they thought—the only way for me to carry out the prince’s command to subdue those under Attainder.”

“Your ruby proclaims you a Knight of Falk.” That in a challenging tone.

“Indeed,” Dorrin said. “And I have prayed more to Falk and the High Lord since I came to Verrakai Steading than in years of combat in Aarenis. Prayed for wisdom, for the right use of my power … and only with it have I been able to save those who suffered so long.”

He huffed out a breath, then said, “The evening turns—you have made your bow at the palace already?”

“No,” Dorrin said. “I was bathing when you came; days on the road left me in no condition to pay courtesies.”

“Then show me the worst you know of here, and I will do what I can. I understand you will not want to leave me here to explore on my own—”

“Indeed not, not until I’ve uncovered every trap I can find.”

Dorrin led him upstairs to what had been the Duke’s study. “This room still has physical traps,” she said. “I have not had time to disarm them all. What I do not know how to disarm is that.” She pointed to the blood smears on the floor, under the horned chain of Liart hung on the wall.