Cristof gave the lictor a sour smile. "So, I'm trustworthy enough to run your errands but not investigate your crimes?"
Amcathra pulled a narrow black wallet out of his coat pocket and handed it over. Cristof flipped it open, then looked up.
"I thought you were going to wait for the captain's approval."
"This is a field decision. I will clear it with him later." Amcathra was as stone-faced as ever. "I recommend you do not speak to your brother without another lictor present, and if you do speak to him, do not promise him anything you cannot deliver."
"I understand." Cristof slid the wallet away. "Thank you, Janos."
"Why are you still here?"
Taya grinned at Cristof as they headed out the University gate. "Are those papers what I think they are?"
"My credentials. I'm back on the job." He sounded pleased, although he was clearly trying to hide it.
"He was going to give them back to you all along, wasn't he? Because you're friends."
"He's my supervisor, Taya. Not my friend."
"Men." Taya laughed. "So, what are we going to do now?"
He stopped, outside the University gates, and looked askance at her crutches.
"I need to deliver the lieutenant's messages and start investigating these leads. I'm going to be running all over the city. How do you feel?"
"Tired," she admitted. "And my leg's starting to hurt, but I'm not supposed to take any medicine for another half an hour."
"I'm sorry." He frowned. "Maybe you should rest for a few hours. It's not that I don't want your company, but you might hurt yourself trying to keep up with me."
"I'm not going to go stuff mail bags."
"They'll give you the day off, won't they?"
"I don't want to sit around the eyrie all day, either." Taya let her gaze climb up the side of the mountain, over stacks of houses and shops to the mansions of Primus. The stubborn part of her wanted to stay with Cristof, but the practical part of her knew that she'd only slow him down. "Do you think Viera's ready for visitors yet?"
"I'm sure she'd like to see you. But she's not very happy right now."
"Well, she wouldn't be. But I want to see her again."
"Should I look for you there?"
"I don't think I'll be staying long. I might go down to that bar Lars mentioned. Is there any reason I can't tell them about Kyle?"
"You'd better not. We don't have any proof that he's involved. That hair and blood could have come from a janitor or one of the engineering team. It's too early to tell."
"But—"
"Please, Taya. There's no sense frightening his friends if he's just off visiting his mother or spending the day with his girlfriend, is there?"
"Hmph." Taya wasn't so sure Kyle had a girlfriend, but she let it pass. "Okay, but if you haven't found anything by this evening…."
"I'll find you, and we'll talk about it."
"Promise?"
"I promise."
"Good." Taya leaned on her crutch and touched his face. "No matter how late."
He nodded, looking preoccupied. "Take a hack and charge it to me if you have to."
Taya sighed and dropped her hand. Whatever romantic stirrings Cristof had felt earlier that day had vanished in the excitement of the new case.
"What's wrong?" He blinked, focusing on her again.
"Nothing," she said, ruefully. "I'll see you later."
She spent two hours with Viera, which was longer than she'd expected to stay. Viera had welcomed her with relief and pressed her for all of the details of the previous day's adventures. As Cristof had warned, she was still furious with Alister.
"My family took him in when his parents died," Viera raged. "I looked up to him as though he were my own brother. And when I got married, I welcomed him into my house, fed him at my table — and he betrayed me!"
Taya nodded, watching the exalted pace back and forth across the parlor. She'd seen Viera take a dose of something medicinal, but it hadn't done much to calm her down.
"I don't blame you for being angry," she said. "He betrayed a lot of people."
At last Viera dropped back onto her sofa, wiping her eyes with a handkerchief.
"I wish he'd died with Caster," she said at last. "It would have been easier if they'd both been victims. Finding out he killed my husband… it's like losing him all over again."
Taya didn't ask which ‘him’ she meant. Instead, she pushed out of her chair and limped over to sit next to Viera.
"I wish I could help. I'm sorry I've brought so much pain to you."
Viera shook her head, sighing.
"It's not your fault. I'm glad Alister was caught. I hate it, but I'm glad for it."
Taya nodded, understanding.
"You can't stay away," Viera added. "I've already lost too many people."
"As long as you want me to keep visiting, I will," Taya promised.
She left some time later, sobered and depressed. What would have happened if she'd agreed to Alister's ruse and pretended he'd survived the explosion? Viera and Cristof both would be happier, and Alister wouldn't be under a sentence of death. But no. She thrust the thought away. One way or the other, the lie would have come out and destroyed them. It wouldn't have been possible to keep the secret forever, and it would have made her an accomplice to his crimes.
"Taya!"
She looked up and saw Cassi sitting on top of a hack, her ondium wings bright in the afternoon sun. Taya limped across the street and saw her friend had found Gregor and Bolt.
Cassi hopped down and gave her a quick hug, careful not to jab her with the armature's ondium keel.
"I got your note," she said. "Took me a while to find you, though. I ran into your exalted and he told me you were either up here or at some punch-jockey bar. He told me to make sure you were staying off your leg, so I rounded up your favorite coach."
"Thanks." Taya turned to Gregor. "Can I put you on retainer for a day or two?"
"Of course." The coachman smiled.
"I appreciate it. If I don't have enough money with me—"
"We'll settle up later, then." Gregor slid from his seat and opened up the hack's doors, letting the folding steps clatter down to the cobblestones.
"I asked Pyke to get your armature," Cassi said. "His uncle works in the repair shop, so he's got a better chance of nicking it than I do. He said he'd leave it in the eyrie for you."
"Thanks. I hate these crutches."
"No flying, though," Cassi warned her. "If you rip out your stitches, you're going to have an awful scar."
"I'm going to have an awful scar, anyway." Taya sat on the hack's steps, making the coach rock, and set her crutches on the street. "But I don't plan to fly. I just need to get lighter before these things put permanent bruises under my arms."
"Good idea. But listen. I found Exalted Forlore down at one of the gates, and he bought me a cup of tea. I thought he was just going to thank me for yesterday, but as soon as we sat down, he started asking questions." Cassi grinned, squatting in the road next to the steps. "He looked like he was in a hurry, but I think he couldn't resist the chance to investigate you."
"Me?"
"Uh-huh. He grilled me for ten minutes, fidgeting constantly, and then he shot out the door without even saying goodbye. Do you like him?"
"What do you mean, he grilled you? What did he want to know?"
"Oh, the usual. What kind of flowers do you like, how many boyfriends have you had, what's your favorite color, how many boyfriends have you had, what kind of jewelry do you like, how many boyfriends have you had…."
Taya groaned, covering her face with her hands.
"I think he's prude," Cassi concluded, sounding cheerful. "He looks like a prude."