I bowed. The whispering grew louder. I backed out of the room and closed the heavy door behind me. My hands shook.

“What was all that about?” asked the Acolyte.

“I’m not authorised to say.” Although, given her position, she would no doubt find out shortly. One of the perks of her job, I imagined. I could hear the murmur of Reverend Somme’s voice as she read Cyde’s report to the Conclave, too low to understand. The Acolyte frowned at me.

“Enjoy your evening,” I said.

The truth would leak to the rest of the Order soon enough anyway. I doubted that the Reverends could keep the Haunt a secret, not after so many Sisters were involved in its capture and disposal. I hurried back down the corridor. The news would be all over the dormitories by tomorrow.

By the time I reached the entrance to the building, evening had fallen. An Oblate was lighting the votive candles at the base of the Star Eater’s statue, murmuring a devotional as she moved from one taper to the next. Tiny white moths fluttered around the open flames. The tiles below were already dotted with the singed wings of the dead.

CHAPTER

FOUR

During the night, a bank of thick cloud rose from below Aytrium and shrouded the city in white. Outside my window, the dark streets glistened with moisture. It was early. The lanterns had not yet been extinguished, and their coloured lights floated like phantoms in the mist.

I rolled out of bed and dressed in civilian clothes. The cool floorboards squeaked under my bare feet; in the neighbouring room, an Acolyte grumbled in her sleep. My quarters were on the third floor of the dormitories—a small bedroom and a private bathroom, filled with second-hand furniture and a few keepsakes I had saved from my mother’s house.

I scraped my wild hair back into a bun. The crack which bisected my bathroom mirror split my reflection in two. I had reported the problem to maintenance soon after moving in, but no one had acknowledged my request for a replacement.

The air outside was cold. I breathed in, clearing my head, and set off toward Pearl Boulevard.

The mist dampened the sounds of the city. In the distance, I could hear the ringing of the second bell. The Acolyte dormitories were situated at the end of Reverence Street, in the Minor East Quadrant. Although I had only been a full Sister for a year, I already knew all the shortcuts to reach the Martyrium. I sidled down a narrow alley between a butchery and a chemist’s shop. Refuse had been left out the previous day, and the air was thick with the smell of spoiling offal. The refuse collectors would arrive before the fourth bell, pick up the scraps and transport them to the worm farms or the swineries outside the city.

A black smear near the base of the butchery wall caught my eye. Someone had scrawled let Aytrium fall across the bricks in charcoal. I paused, then hurried on.