Sebastian stepped in. “Hello, Bennet,” he said calmly.

Bennet looked up and froze, his eyes wide, his mouth open.

“I’m not here to hurt you,” said Sebastian. “I’m here to talk. We have something in common, actually. If it’d be OK with you, I was hoping we could sit and have a chat. What do you say?”

Bennet blinked. His eyes were glassy, his face red. On the table before him was a half-empty bottle of wine.

“Bennet?”

Bennet got to his feet and immediately stumbled, clicking his fingers, throwing sparks and sudden flames, but was too drunk to cultivate them into anything useful.

Sebastian walked forward quickly, hands out. “I won’t hurt you, I’m just here to talk, I swear.”

Bennet lashed out, a punch that missed without Sebastian even having to duck. “Away from me!” he roared. “Get away!”

Sebastian backed off. “OK, Bennet, OK, whatever you want.”

“What I want?” Bennet raged. “What I want? I want my wife back!”

“I’m sorry?”

Bennet charged and Sebastian sidestepped, his coat flapping like a bullfighter’s cape, and Bennet hit the wall and spun.

“I think we need to calm down,” Sebastian said.

“You kidnapped her! Bring her back!”

“I didn’t kidnap anyone.”

“I’ll kill you, you hear me?”

“If your wife is missing, you should alert the City Guard.”

Bennet sneered. “They’d never help me. They laugh at me. They hate me.”

“Does Kase know?”

“Didn’t tell him,” Bennet said, emotion crumpling his face. “Don’t want to worry the boy. But you … you’re going to tell me where she is.”

“I don’t know where she is, but if I help you find her, you’ve got to help me, all right? Do we have a deal?”

“Yes. Yes, anything.”

“OK then. Do you know who would want to kidnap her? Do you have any enemies?”

And then it was like all of Bennet’s fury abandoned him, and he staggered to the sofa and collapsed on to it. “Too many,” he said, tears in his eyes. “Everyone knows. They know about …”

“They know you worship Darquesse?” Sebastian asked gently.

Bennet nodded. “I get rocks through my window. I … I lost my job. People around here, they hate me. My poor Odetta, she doesn’t even see Darquesse the way I do, but they still … they still went after her.”

Sebastian hesitated, then took a step closer. “What happened?”

Bennet looked up. “Who are you?”

“You can call me the Plague Doctor,” said Sebastian. “Like you, I see Darquesse differently from other people.”

There was a knock on the front door.

Bennet’s eyes widened. “Odetta!” he said, and lunged out of the room. Sebastian watched from cover as Bennet pulled the door open to reveal a pimply-faced boy.

“You Bennet Troth?” the boy asked.

Bennet’s shoulders fell. “Yes,” he said.