He could see the new tattoos describing Rochant’s Legend – significant deaths that High Lord Sapphire wished remembered. He’d heard the stories connected to them, and had no doubt the Bringers were waiting to hear a recital. But there was a tattoo on his cock, silver where the others were gold, that made no sense to him. Why is it in a different colour? And why does nobody talk about it? It struck him that perhaps this was a measure of security, a single thing not shared with a vessel, to ensure that only the true Rochant could pass the test.

Aware that the Bringers were watching him and that to hesitate would raise their suspicions, Satyendra reeled off what he did know whilst trying to think of a clever answer for the bit that he didn’t.

‘I feel the mark on my skull. It shows that I fought and died for my house. I see the mark on my heart. It shows that I fought and died for love.’ His eyes fell on the last tattoo. ‘I see the silver mark …’ He paused. Without knowing any context, it was hard to guess what to say. Did it depict victory? Honour? Shame? He noted the Bringers’ mood seem to lift slightly, as if they were less concerned about the silver mark than the others or perhaps they found his answers reassuring. He stared into their masked faces, struggling to read anything there.

‘What does the silver mark tell you?’ said one of the Bringers.

He’d never heard of a silver tattoo on any Deathless before. This is something private, it must be. But is it marking Rochant’s mistake or a prized secret? Satyendra cleared his throat. ‘It tells me that some stories are best not shared.’

‘And what should High Lord Yadavendra fear, if Lord Rochant has returned?’

‘There are many things a High Lord should fear. Betrayal, failure, the price of a bad decision. But he no longer need fear being alone.’

‘A bad decision?’ said one.

‘A bad decision,’ echoed the others.

‘Tell us,’ said the first, ‘of a bad decision the High Lord has made.’

There was a slight change in the air, any sense that the Bringers were more relaxed had vanished. Their green eyes fixed on him like a circle of scavengers waiting for an animal to finish dying.

Though nobody spoke of it openly, the destruction of Nidra Un-Sapphire’s Godpiece was considered a mistake. Indeed, he knew from bits of overheard gossip that beyond House Sapphire, it was seen very poorly indeed. He also knew that Yadavendra living inside his crystal armour went against tradition and was viewed as a sign of instability, but to criticize either of these things felt too dangerous somehow.