Sable came to the cot and stood over him. Once again his eyes captured Perry’s attention. Clear, but ringed in dark blue, they studied Perry with a mixture of cold calculation and amusement. “I’m Sable, by the way.”

He pulled the chair closer and sat down, crossing one leg over the other. “It seems inevitable that you and I should meet, does it not?” he said. “I knew your father, your brother, and your sister. I feel as though everything has led to this. To us.

“I don’t think your father thought much of me, though,” Sable continued casually, as though they were old friends. “We met years ago, when we still had tribal gatherings. Jodan was reserved and quiet around strangers, not unlike yourself, but Vale and I got on much better.

“Your older brother was cunning and ambitious. I enjoyed the time we spent together when he came to negotiate for your sister’s hand. We had many long conversations during his stay in Rim. . . . Quite a few of those were about you.”

Perry gritted his teeth until they hurt. He didn’t want to hear this.

“Vale expressed serious concerns about you. He feared you’d try for the Tides’ chain, so he asked me to take you into my house as part of the arrangement we were making for Olivia. He wanted you gone, Peregrine. And I accepted. People who inspire fear are my very favorite kind. I was eager to meet you. But later, Vale wrote and said he’d made other arrangements for you. We both know where that led.”

Sable looked up to the ceiling and drew a deep breath through his nose. The chain at his neck glinted with gemstones—nothing like the crude metal of the Tides’ chain. Of his chain.

“I would have done the same to Vale had I been in your circumstance,” Sable continued. “Betrayal is unacceptable. In fact, I have done the same thing, which brings me to your sister. Olivia.”

Before he could stop it, a gurgle bubbled in Perry’s throat.

Sable’s eyebrows rose. “Fresh wound? It is for me, too.” He nodded, quiet for a moment as his eyes took on a distant look. “Liv was sublime. Ferocious. Being around her was like breathing fire. I want you to know that I treated her well. I wanted only the best for her. . . .”

He shifted in his seat and leaned closer. “You’re very easy to talk to. I don’t just mean because you’re a good listener.”

At first Perry thought he was joking, but Sable’s expression was pensive and relaxed.