The tension builds back up as the study group continues; my recently acquired worries, briefly suppressed by the company of others, creep back to the surface of my mind. My newfound rival for Anar’s favour has the potential of ruining everything for me. It was nice to forget about it in the company of friends, if only for a little while, but I soon find myself unable to concentrate on the ongoing conversation.

  So, I finish the assignment quickly (I think I’m able to focus on that because it feels like working for the mission) and excuse myself from the table. They all pleasantly say goodbye, with Ser Terry’s gaze lingering as he looks up as if not wanting me to go yet. It makes me want to linger too… I suppose I haven’t helped him with the assignment as much as I should have. But I just can’t be the person who fits in with them while this potential disaster is on my mind.

  I go back to my dorm and set up a new array. I’ve, of course, done periodic counter divinations to obscure my presence ever since arriving at the capital, but I doubt it’ll be enough with the added scrutiny. Hopefully, the fact that she’s conflating me and the killer will confuse her search for a while longer. But I’ll still need to step up my efforts, even if it’ll bring me dangerously close to causing distortions.

  After an hour of hard chanting, it’s time to go to the week’s irregular lecture. It’s… boring. Just some random noble talking about integrating local festivals of recently conquered territories into the larger empire and vice versa. I suppose I should be more interested in this, as it might be necessary for me to learn the mechanics of how the empire assimilates its conquered territory for me to effectively counter them, but I just can’t bring myself to care about minute differences in harvest festivals of neighbouring regions. Whether the festival monarch holds a bundle of wheat or fruit as they’re hoisted around town. Which, I suppose, the fact that the differences are so minute makes it an ideal vector for assimilation, but not one that I think is fertile for resistance.

  I almost stumble out of the lecture hall when it’s over and immediately rush back to Allan’s house. It’s nearly sunset when I arrive. Fortunately, he’s in, having brought his lover home for once. I tell a servant to inform him that I’ve arrived, but that it’s not urgent. Besides, the timing allows me to do a vesperal study session on the roof as he finishes and dresses. Afterwards, I make my way to his study and activate the silencer item as I wait.

  He has a concerned look as he strides in wearing a quickly donned evening robe, so I speak before he can ask about why I’m here.

  “I didn’t do it,” I say seriously. My gaze level and my spine rigidly not resting against the back of the couch.

  “Oh…um… good to know. Didn’t do what?” he asks nervously.

  I sigh in relief at the fact that he hasn’t heard. That there wasn’t a moment in which he thought I had broken my promise to inform him of my victims the moment I made it. Our trust has already been shaken, and a period of uncertainty would only strain it further.

  “There was a body with Anar markings found over the weekend in one of the low sections.” I speak flatly, not wanting to give any hint on how I want him to react, because I don’t know my own preference.

  “Oh, that’s um… awful.” His face twists in distaste, or maybe even distress. Like me, he’s trying to reduce the expressed emotions, but he’s not putting nearly as much effort into it.

  “It’s worse than that. They think I did it.”

  “What!?” he jolts back up from his seat, his eyes wide open in surprise as they snap towards the window as if looking for if the house is being surrounded as we speak. Good instincts, I suppose.

  I wave a calming hand. “I mean, they think it was the same Anar cultist who fought in Caethlon. They obviously don’t suspect this identity.”

  “Oh,” he says, comically, as he collapses in relief back on the couch. “Maybe lead with that next time?”

  “Sorry… I thought it was obvious. Still, it’s nearly as bad. Because of this new cultist, my teacher, the Count Vithal, saw fit to consult an oracle who seemed to confirm that I was the killer.”

  “…You don’t think maybe you did it and forgot? You have compared the feeling you get from sacrifice to drugs. Perhaps the comparison is more apt than you thought?”

  I laugh softly and shake my head. “I did think about that, but it doesn’t fit. I would have to have more than half a day unaccounted for, which I don’t. It’s far more likely that her question to the oracle was phrased poorly. Maybe the oracle told her I was in the city, which she assumed must mean that I was the killer. Or maybe she doesn’t care if I’m the killer, and just used the incident as an excuse to divert a strategic asset to check my location.”

  He raises a questioning eyebrow. “You think she would deliberately misphrase her divination request in the hope that it would justify continuing pursuit? I mean, I’m sure it would have cost her if you didn’t happen to be here.”

  I shrug. “I wouldn’t go so far as to say that she’s obsessed with catching me, but she does at least seem highly motivated.”

  “You don’t suppose that you sacrificed someone she cared about, do you?” He says as if being casual, but I sense an intense interest.

  I shrug. “It’s possible. I did sacrifice a lot of imperials… though not that many elites, and I find it somewhat unlikely that she had close bonds with the rank and file.”

  “Perhaps it’s a moral indignation, or a sense of responsibility for those under her. Most people do find Anar sacrifice inherently abhorrent.”

  I ignore the weight he puts to his words and shrug. “Or maybe she’s just a hunter that’s upset about losing her quarry. It doesn’t really matter. What does is, because of this new cultist, she’s resumed the hunt for me. If she finds them first, she might figure out clues about me. Maybe start thinking about why I’m here, if not to find easy sacrifices. Use that to feed her divinations and eventually find out I’m a new student. From there, I doubt it’ll take long to arrive at the adept diviner who just happens to also be skilled at Caethlon style fighting.”

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  “…I think she probably assumes you’re a bit older.”

  “…Yeah, maybe,” I say, ignoring the standard rankling feeling I get for being dismissed due to my age. “Still, no reason to take chances. I have to find them first.”

  “…And do what when you do?” He asks slowly, a nervous tension to his voice.

  I give him an amused, taken aback smile. “Kill them, of course.”

  “Just kill or…” He trails off, voice laden with meaning.

  “I have no plans otherwise,” I state flatly, not willing to promise.

  He shrugs, an unexpected relief washing over his face. “I suppose if anyone deserves… nevermind… Are you sure you need to go after them? None of the Anar cultists in Caethlon were captured alive. No reason to think this one will surrender.”

  I shake my head. “I can’t take that risk. If they get interrogated… besides, I always thought it was weird that my old cult all fought to the death. Capture would have given them a chance to convert to Tacyn, while death at that moment all but guaranteed going to Anar’s orchards. My only guess is that the imperials got too worked up going in and didn’t give them a chance. A mistake they might not repeat when dealing with a lone killer.”

  “Right… so how do you intend to find them?”

  I sigh, letting tension roll off my shoulders in admittance of the slimness of my chances. “I don’t know. There’s a fifty-fifty chance that the killing took place in the same section as my client tower. If so, I might have an advantage over an official investigation in that people will tell my people things that they won’t tell the guard. But then again, I don’t dare have them actively pursue the killer as that would put my asset at risk… maybe a proxy for my proxy… nevermind. Anyways, even if it’s not the right section, I do have one solid advantage over the official investigation.”

  “Which is?” he asks, leaning forward intently.

  I smirk. “They don’t know they’re looking for two different people, while I only have to look for one.” I chuckle in an attempt to be reassuring, but for some reason he resists the attempt. “…Anyways, I should get going. I need to talk to my clients tonight, and I mostly just came to make sure you didn’t think I was the killer… and to see if you can help?”

  “Ah… well, I don’t know how I can help directly, at least right now. I think it’s best if I just subtly inquire in my circles for more information. But Malichi…” he looks at me dead on, tone suddenly very serious, “if you do find them, tell me. I’ll help you deal with them.”

  I assess him momentarily. I think he’s offering to help partly because he wants to ensure that I won’t sacrifice them. But he does also want to keep me safe, so I smile gratefully and nod in agreement. “Just keep in mind that I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone about this.”

  He gives a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, you can always count on me to be discreet.”

  In this, I do believe him.

  As I leave the house, I call a bound bird to me and send them ahead to the Mud Hares with a simple message saying that I’m coming. Jack is the only one waiting for me when I arrive, the rest having either gone to bed or out to no doubt perform acts of borderline legality.

  “What’s this about?” He asks, leaning cooly in the doorway. Though there is a slight irritation in his tone.

  “… My apologies on the short notice, but the issue was too complex to convey via letter.” At least at their current literacy level. “I need to know if there’s been increased guard activity in the section over the past couple of days.”

  He tenses at the suggestion and replies suspiciously. “How do you know about that?”

  I sigh in relief, knowing that I at least now have a chance. “I have connections. Why didn’t you report it?”

  He shrugs. “I only learned about a few hours ago. Besides, it’s not near us. Just an oddly large patrol to the middle where the guards don’t often go. But it’s not unheard of for them to do stuff like that. Usually doesn’t end in anything. Should I be telling you about all the rumours I hear over the course of a day then?”

  I nod hesitantly. “No, you acted reasonably. But at least for the next couple of days, you should tell me everything you hear that’s unusual. I need all the clues I can get.”

  “Clues for what?” He asks, tension rising.

  I inhale deeply as I think about whether to tell him. Finally, I decide that not telling him would harm our trust more than any benefit there might be in maintaining secrecy. “…There’s an Anar cultist in the capital. Seemingly in this section.”

  His tension has reached its peak, with his hand going to his knife, not out of an intent to use, but to grip it as if seeking comfort. “I see,” he says, his gaze unfocusing as if looking at something in the distance.

  “Anyways,” I continue as if it were not a major issue, “don’t tell anyone…”

  “Why not?” he snaps.

  I raise a questioning eyebrow. “Because then they’ll just run away and go into hiding.

  “Exactly,” he says with great emphasis. “The guards aren’t saying anything because they want to catch them, but why should we care about that? We should only concern ourselves with our own. After all, no one else does.”

  I pause, recognizing that he has a good point. In fact, it’s one that I would agree with if my circumstances were different. As it is, if the new killer left the city, then the only Anar cultist left for Vithal to hunt would be me. Right now, she’s hunting two without knowing it, dividing and confusing her focus. I won’t last long if she starts hunting me exclusively.

  I shake my head slowly. “Unfortunately, I have personal reasons to hunt the cultist. But don’t worry, if the guards don’t deal with it, I will.”

  This strangely seems to comfort him. “Alright, I guess I can trust that you can handle it. So, what do you want us to do?”

  “Just ask around, but not directly. Send people out to talk about anything, but don’t tell them what they’re looking for. Just tell them to find out about unusual guard activity… Oh, and see if you can’t pay that mage with her own gang from before to look into things directly.”

  He raises an eyebrow at this. “That might be expensive. What do you want to tell her?”

  “Just that there’s been a murder in the middle section that the guards are taking an unusual interest in, and you want to know why. Say that she should be able to learn more than you with her divinations.”

  “Can’t you divine it yourself?”

  I shake my head. “They’ll almost certainly be countering divinations. But she won’t know that when you hire her. Just make sure you pay her for results, not the attempt. In fact, play ignorant about what you know about divination. Don’t even use the word. Just make sure you offer her enough that she’ll try looking directly when her attempts fail. Make sure to include pay to keep the request secret. I don’t want the investigation leading back to you. Take it out of my cut for the next couple of weeks if you must.”

  He nods. “Alright, so long as you’re taking this seriously, we’ll do it your way. Will you be searching yourself?”

  I look at him and decide that I’d better. He definitely seems to be scrutinizing me even more than usual. It could be disastrous for our relationship if I handle this poorly. “Yeah,” I nod. “I can’t spend too much time personally, but I’ll take a look around the area before I leave the section. Where exactly did you hear the guards were?”

  He gives me an inexact location, and I spend the next few hours looking around under concealment. I find where the killing happened by the dozen guards securing the building. I’m about to sneak closer when I spot Count Vithal arrive by carriage. She looks around as she alights, and I freeze as her gaze seems to linger at my hiding spot.

  I suppose that’s as much confirmation as any that I’m in the right spot. Though with her here, there’s really nothing I can do… though I suppose I’m just a bit unnerved by her presence. After all, I don’t have a good excuse for being here if I get caught.

  So I spend the next hour wandering around getting a sense of the area, then head back to my dorm and slink into the bath where I immediately fall asleep, feeling in part relieved that things have gone unexpectedly well, and in part tense at the work I’ll be having to do in the days or weeks to come.