Page 5 of A Trade of Blood

“You need not introduce yourself again,” he said somberly. “I heard you well enough from where I was.”

I cringed ever so slightly. Of course he had: his ears were just as augmented as his eyes.

“Do you know of me, Signum?” he asked.

“I take it you are Burilis Burav, sir,” I said, bowing again. “Prime father of the Burav gentryclan.”

“That I am,” he said. Though his voice was calm, there was a frailty to his eyes. “And it is my daughter, Zansay, who is slain and lies within. The custodi will not permit me to enter, nor to bear her away. So! I am forced to stand here and wait.”

“I grieve your loss, sir.”

He nodded quickly, as if struggling to maintain his emotions. “I will be speedy here, Signum. I am not hostile to you, nor the canton custodi. I served my time in the Imperial Iyalets myself, as an Apothetikal.” He gestured to his augmented face. “Unlike the Armentas, I understand how and why the Empire does what it does. But I mustinsistI be given access to my daughter. We have waited far too long to give her the honors owed to her. Especially given the straightforwardness of this horror.”

At this, he glanced to his left at a boy of about eighteen, tall and skinny and solemn—and nervous, as well, unsure how to marshal his movements. He, too, was of Kurmini folk, with a wisp of a beard about his lip and cheek, and he was unmistakably the son of BurilisBurav. He wore a large tughra ring on his right hand, signaling that he was of gentry stock and which house he belonged to: a curiously outdated affectation, as most gentry these days hardly ever interacted with anyone who wasn’t either a relation or paid help. The ring seemed an ungainly thing as well, with a large point in the middle forming the beak of the hawk in flight—the family crest.

Most critically, I took note of the look from father to son: it was one of acrid reproach, as if Burav worried the boy was not strong enough to bear this.

“I’m afraid my superior officer and I must review the death scene first, sir,” I said to the elder Burav. I gestured at the carriage behind me. “And we must speak with the witnesses and the custodi before we can release your daughter’s body to you.”

“Again, I doubt whether there is anything to review!” Burilis said, bristling. “It is a horrid thing that the Armenta boy has done, but a simple one!”

“Could you provide me with your understanding of what happened, sir?”

“I was not present during this atrocity,” he said frostily. “I only came here once I heard it had happened. And besides—wouldn’t you wish to hear from the custodi first? They are subordinate to you, yes?”

“I wish to get your thoughts as well, sir,” I said. “In case there is some disagreement between what the custodi say and what members of your clan report is the case.”

Burilis considered this. “I amtoldthat my daughter came here yesterday in the early evening.”

“For what reason, sir?”

“She had told me herself she was visiting town to meet a friend of hers—an Arniz Dosi. However, she came to this inn instead, for reasons I do not know, and gave a false name to the innkeeper. She then went to one of the rooms, where she met…” A quiver to his beard. “The boy.”

“Castus Armenta?”

“Yes. Though I understand he, as well, gave a false name. It is the first time my daughter has come here, I know that—Iamcertainofthat. I am unsure what feints or tricks the boy used to draw her to this place. There is obviously some…amountof subterfuge occurring here. Several hours later, the little rat came charging out of the chamber and into the street, covered in blood. Then he cried out and sprinted away. The innkeeper went to check on the room, and there…” He trailed off.

“I see, sir. Was Castus Armenta apprehended then?”

At this, Burilis grew too emotional for words. He angrily gestured to the boy, who stepped forward and said in a soft, quavering voice, “N-no. He ran into the fields, and then into the woods. By then the custodi had been called, and they brought their trackers.”

“And you are, sir?” I asked the boy.

“Jalin Burav,” he said. He bowed seriously. “It was an easy thing to follow Castus, given the blood upon him. They found him in the deeper wood, where the trees are…quite old.”

There was a strange tone to those last two words. I sensed I knew what he referred to here, but decided not to pry further on that subject.

The Empire brims over with elder mysteries, boy,Ana had said once.Don’t pick at them unless you’re sure they’re fucking pertinent.

“What reason might Castus Armenta have for perpetrating this act?” I asked them. “And for exposing himself so openly?”

“Reason?” said Burilis, bristling again. He stepped forward, shoving his son out of the way. “The reason is that theyhateus and always have. They nearly extinguished my family’s holdings mere decades ago! And they havedefamedmy son’s name in the public streets here, every day!”

At this, Jalin visibly squirmed.

Burilis continued: “Worse, there is a strain of madness that has emerged in that family recently. I wish the Armenta boy had turned his blade upon himself first, as several of his kin have done!”

I carefully engraved that comment in my mind, then looked to the son, Jalin.