Eventually, Asan sighed. She stuck her hand into the pocket of her uniform and took out a vial.

“This is for you,” she said. “Osan told me that you were out of lace.”

The sacrament glistened dark red.

“Who does that belong to?” I asked warily.

“Which martyr? My mother.”

“I can’t accept it.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” She pushed herself off the top of the cabinet and held the vial out to me. “Do you want to face another attack without the means to defend yourself? No? Then take some basic precautions.”

“But it’s yours.”

“I doubt this will make you feel better, but I recently consumed a huge amount of lace that ‘belonged’ to Jiana Morwin’s daughter.”

I swallowed.

“Consider it recompense for failing to reach you before last night’s attack,” she said.

I took the vial unhappily. “Thank you.”

“It’s nothing. Hopefully you won’t even need it.”

“Commander?”

“Yes?”

I felt apprehensive about broaching the topic, but she had alluded to it herself.

“Rhyanon told me that she realised I was the Renewer at Geise’s Crown.” I quickly pressed on, my words coming out in a tangled rush. “I just—what did she mean? How did she know?”

Asan grimaced. “Ah.”

“I understand that you probably don’t want to talk about that night.”

She made a dismissive gesture. “It’s fine, this is just a very ugly affair all round. We knew it was you because of the way the Haunt behaved in the basement. They always target whoever has the most lace. That one never took its eyes off you. I’m sure you noticed.”

“I did.” I shifted on the couch. “So that was it?”

“Seems too easy, doesn’t it?”

I didn’t know if I would have described anything about that night as “easy.” “Which meant that Morwin would have realised too. That I was the Renewer.”

“Yes.” Asan smiled without a trace of humour. “Joining the dots, Raughn?”

I thought of the book I had read in Celane’s library. Thought about her reading it. All the marked pages.

“A Haunt, that mature?” Asan took another drink. “It planned. It knew to wait until its friend showed up so that our forces would be divided. It knew to use Hayder as a lure. It anticipated us, and we waltzed right into its trap. That’s not typical Haunt behaviour; they aren’t supposed to strategise.”

“A new intelligence emerges in the absence of the old,” I murmured. Pieces slid into place. “The Order should have found that Haunt sooner. If it was so far gone, it would have attacked someone long before the symposium.”

“Exactly.”

“Unless it could be contained.” My voice dropped. “Locked away and kept secret. Somewhere out of the way, somewhere private and secure, where it could develop unnoticed.” I clenched my fists. “Like Verje’s barn.”

Asan spread her hands in acknowledgement. “Like Verje’s barn.”

My mouth twisted. I had missed it. All along, I had missed that Verje was concealing a monster, even though it had been right in front of my face.