Corinn kept her eyes fixed on him as he proceeded. She kept them pinned to his features, focused first on his face as a whole and then on its smaller components: the crook of his nose, the motion of lips, the black hairs of his beard. The focus was necessary, for otherwise she feared she would betray the fact that her heart pounded at twice the rate it had a moment before. She would not even look at Rhrenna, who was hearing the news with her. She knew her face had flushed red, but her expression remained unchanged. Alleys and spying. Following a servant … What he was telling her was—

“As you can imagine, I had to be quite rough with Barad. He’s a big man, you see, so I had to be careful. Anyway, he was a little bit out of it, and he asked me, ‘Did he betray me to her?’ I had explained to him that I was in your employ. When he asked, I almost asked him, ‘Who?’ The word was on my tongue, but I snipped it.” Delivegu demonstrated just how precisely he did so by making scissors of his fingers. “Instead, I said, ‘Of course, he betrayed you. He’s royalty after all. Why would he side with commoners?’ I said this to provoke confusion or disagreement or something. But he responded with none of those. He simply accepted it sadly.

“So …” Delivegu inhaled a long breath, then said plainly, “There can really be no doubt, Your Majesty. Barad, your enemy among the people, was in a partnership with King Grae. As I traveled with Barad I returned to this subject several times. He didn’t give much, so I told him how it was. How King Grae had come to you speaking of a plot they had concocted together. How you and he worked to find a way to capture him. I even said that you and the Aushenian were secretly engaged. It’s a skill I have, finding the truth even when the one I’m interrogating doesn’t say a thing. There’s no question, though. He was in league with Grae, and now he believes Grae betrayed him. I deliver him to you in the hope that you will mete out justice as is right.”

Inside Corinn’s head a hundred different thoughts assailed her. On her face she made sure that nothing could be read. Despite the internal turmoil, she heard herself say calmly, “We’ll see about all this soon enough. I will speak with him now.”

Delivegu straightened like an obedient servant, eager to please and seemingly happy at her reaction—or lack of reaction. Corinn paused at the door and let Delivegu advance ahead of her. Leaning close to Rhrenna, she whispered, “While I am with him, bring Grae to the upper terrace. Let him see to whom I’m speaking. Watch his face. Tell me if he shows signs of recognizing him.”