“Skies above, now I’ve put my foot in it,” Aren said. “Didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, believe it or not. I’m sorry.” He sat back in his chair, stretching his legs out in front of him, and looked between them, now completely sober. “I get why you asked for the data, Jainan, but I hope you’re wrong. I know you won’t mind me saying that.”

Aren had a point. Jainan hadn’t voiced any suspicions out loud, but if the crash hadn’t been a chance failure, then the Auditor was right: Taam’s death wasn’t an accident. And if Internal Security hadn’t caught it, they were either incompetent or had decided to cover it up. Kiem felt slightly queasy at the thought. They didn’t have any proof. Yet. “Will you be in trouble for skipping the approvals, Aren?”

Aren waved a hand. “I’m a forgiveness-over-permission sort. Really, though, don’t send these to the Thean embassy. The new ambassador seems like a good old boy, but every time we’ve told him something, it’s gone straight to those fringe logs I showed you.”

“No,” Jainan said. “Of course.”

“Then go ahead,” Aren said. “Knock yourself out. I hope to hell you don’t find anything, but”—he crooked his head to one side, his face wryly sympathetic

—“I get it. Forget the politics. No one can fault you for being sensitive about this.”

Kiem wouldn’t have pinned Jainan as overly sensitive, but Jainan didn’t react to that either, apart from a movement of his throat as he swallowed. “You’ve been … very helpful,” Jainan said. He glanced at Kiem, and Kiem realized this was probably a signal that he didn’t want to talk about Taam anymore.

“We’ll leave you to the important military stuff,” Kiem said, getting to his feet. “Can’t have civilians underfoot all the time, right?” He leaned over the desk and pumped Aren’s hand.

Aren grinned. “Believe me, you’re not half as bad as the civil servants. And

honestly, I’ve been worried about Jainan. Anything I can do—you only have to ask.” He held out his hand to Jainan, who took it gingerly. “You only ever had to ask.”

Kiem held himself back until they were outside and in the shadow of the Emperor’s Wing. “So,” he said. “That went … well?”

Jainan paused. “Taam found Colonel Lunver valuable,” he said abruptly.

“Taam did not suffer fools. I think it would be a good idea if you got on well with her and Taam’s unit.”

“Right,” Kiem said, gathering certainty. “We’re liaising with the military. I’m a model liaison. Should we invite them to dinner? I cook a mean pancake. Only pancakes, though. I suppose we need to make sure we get on with everyone involved in the investigation.”