“I’m not sure I understand,” I said.

“I have concerns,” she said gently.

“Concerns?”

“What Commander Asan did, well, it’s unspeakable. Necessary, you said, but even so … I need to hear your account of what occurred that night.”

The eyes drew tighter and started to fuse together, bubbling and melting like metal in a crucible. The sound they made was hideous. I swallowed. Let me not pass out, let me not fall to pieces now.

“Were you there when it happened?” asked Celane.

“The Commander was protecting us,” I said. “She didn’t want to do it. But the Haunt—”

“So you were with her? And the Haunt?” Celane’s voice held a hint of eagerness now. She moved closer, her foot almost touching the twitching mound of the vision. “She shielded you?”

“She … she stopped the Haunt from leaving the basement.” The back of my knee knocked into my mother’s pallet as I tried to keep my distance from Celane. “Reverend, from what I saw, the Commander only acted with the Order’s best interests at heart.”

“Who else was present in the basement?”

“I—I don’t know,” I fumbled. “A Herald was killed, another badly injured. Morwin—”

“Was Herald Olberos with you?” she interrupted.

“Jesane Olberos? Yes, she called for help.”

“You and Olberos, Asan specifically singled the pair of you out to accompany her?”

Someone else has fed her information, I realised. I wasn’t sure what Celane was trying to uncover, but it dawned on me that she had not yet asked a single question about Morwin. As if the death of the Councilwoman was not her concern at all.

“What has been done to me?” asked the vision. With newfound weightlessness, it drifted into the air and slowly revolved, pale and quivering. “I am stretched so thin.”

“Elfreda?”

I strove to keep my gaze on the Reverend. “You know, Commander Asan did say something odd that night. It probably isn’t important, but it confused me.”

“Was this while you were in the basement?”

“No, she was talking to Councilwoman Morwin on the roof of the fort.” My heart thudded. “She asked if Morwin had bought any pigs’ hearts recently. Do you know what that means, Councilwoman?”

It had been a fumbling stab in the dark, but my instincts proved sound. Celane’s mouth hardened, and she grew stiff.

“The question seemed to come out of nowhere,” I continued. “And Reverend Morwin reacted very strongly to it.”

“I have no idea what the Commander might have meant. Did she say anything else?”

“I’m not sure.” I controlled my breathing. Don’t look at the vision, don’t look at the vision. “Maybe. I would have to think about it some more.”

Celane’s expression was inscrutable. “Are you available to visit my house later today? I think we should continue this discussion.”

I nodded. Anything to end this conversation now, anything to get her away from me.

“Tonight, nineteenth bell?” she suggested.