I took the sole chair in the room, unfolded a bit of discarded newspaper onto the stained seat, and gingerly sat down on it. ‘‘I think I’ll pass, thank you.’’

‘‘Ah? The dragon’s gone?’’

I nodded.

‘‘Well, then.’’ He moved across the room and closed the door, giving me a come-hither look that was almost as good as Magoth’s. ‘‘Perhaps you’d like me to show you how I can make you forget your precious wyvern?’’

‘‘I’ll pass on that, too. Why don’t you spend the few minutes it’ll take Gabriel to get here telling me how it is you were lurking around outside the room of a murdered colleague?’’

He leaned against the wall next to the window. ‘‘Oddly enough, I was curious about how you ended up here as well. Shall we exchange stories? I can give you fourteen minutes.’’

‘‘And I can give you . . .’’ I pursed my lips as I thought. ‘‘I’d say you have about eight minutes before a very angry dragon is going to break down the door, so why don’t you go first, just in case Gabriel gets here before you have a chance to talk.’’

I have to give Savian credit—he didn’t appear to be too worried about having to face Gabriel, although a couple of faint lines appeared around his mouth.

‘‘Although it isn’t the gentlemanly thing to do, I will go first since you so obviously desire it. I am here because I was pursuing a line of investigation, and it led me to this room.’’

‘‘A line of investigation concerning one of your colleagues?’’ I asked.

He shrugged. ‘‘Porter wasn’t so much a colleague as a rival. Thief takers . . . well, we tend to be a solitary lot, minding our own business and not mingling with one another too much. And Porter was . . . different.’’

‘‘I’ll say he was. Do you know that he was blackmailing my twin?’’

‘‘No, but it wouldn’t surprise me,’’ Savian said. He rubbed his chin for a moment. ‘‘That might explain some things.’’

‘‘What things? Were you investigating Porter himself?’’

His smile was as cheeky as ever. ‘‘Let’s just say that I was following up a sense of Porter being involved in something he shouldn’t have been.’’

‘‘Would you happen to know whom he was working for?’’

‘‘Alas, I hadn’t uncovered that,’’ he answered, his smile fading. ‘‘To be perfectly honest—something I normally try to avoid, but I’ll make an exception since I like you—I hadn’t found out much about what Porter was up to. He had something going on, and it was something big, but that’s all I could tell. Perhaps you have more information?’’

‘‘Perhaps, but like you, I prefer to play things close to the vest.’’

‘‘Now, now, I showed you my hand—the least you can do is show me yours,’’ he said with a cock of his eyebrow.