“I had a . . . feeling,” she muttered. “A sort of pain. I felt it when we saw that woman yesterday, and when it came back, I thought she might be here.”

“Every naathem can feel others of our kind,” Feor had said. Marcus hadn’t considered that it might apply to Raesinia as well, but she’d obviously sensed Ionkovo’s presence. He glanced at Uhlan—at some point they were going to have to bring him up to speed, now that he’d seen this much. No time.

“Tell me if you ever feel it again,” Marcus said quietly.

Raesinia nodded. “It’s still there, but getting weaker. Who was that?”

“One of them. The Penitent Damned. His name is Ionkovo.”

“You know him?”

“I took him prisoner during the revolution,” Marcus said. “Or he let me take him. I had no idea what he was. I think he wanted to find out how much I knew. When he was finished he just walked out of a locked cell.”

“I heard him talking, and I thought you might be in trouble.”

“He told me Maurisk is coming for us. For me, rather. I don’t think he knows you’re here.”

“When?”

“Now. Tonight.” Marcus got to his feet, head spinning a bit. “We have to get out of here.”

“He just told you this? Why?”

“He wants”—Marcus looked at Uhlan again, who was studiously pretending to ignore them, and grimaced—“the things Janus brought back from Khandar. He thought I could tell him where they were. I think the backup plan is to lock me in a cell until I let something slip.”

“Oh hell,” Raesinia said. “That means it’s all happening tonight. The coup. I have to get word to Sothe.”

Marcus nodded. “First we need to get out of here. Uhlan!”

“Sir!” The lieutenant saluted.

“We have to leave—now.”

“I made sure the carriage was ready, sir. I’ll send word to harness the horses.”

Marcus frowned. Fleeing in a carriage would have been a lot less conspicuous before the war had mostly banished horses from the streets of the city. Then another thought occurred to him.

“What about the staff?” There were three Mierantai women who cooked and cleaned at the Twin Turrets, along with two stable boys and the carriage driver. “We can’t leave them.”

“You think they’d be hurt?” Uhlan sounded genuinely shocked.

“Maurisk will want to know whatever they know,” Marcus said. “That means grabbing everyone in the area for questioning.”

“I’ll go and wake them,” Raesinia said as she hurried off.

A hasty muster in the living room produced three middle-aged Mierantai women, looking stolid and unflappable even in their heavy cotton nightdresses. Uhlan ran to the stables to get the cart ready.