#### Chapter 24

What do you want?”

Lord Vetas stood on the front step of Adamat’s house. He was dressed sharply in a new black tailcoat with matching boots shiny enough to hurt Adamat’s eyes. He wore a scarlet vest beneath, and a black silk shirt. He held his hat in his hand, short black hair styled and flattened against his head. Adamat wiped the sleep from his eyes and adjusted his dressing gown. He glanced at the hall clock.

“It’s seven o’clock,” Adamat said flatly.

“May I come in?” Lord Vetas asked. His tone was polite.

“No. Why are you here?” He paused, suddenly suspicious. “And where are your goons?”

“I’ve no need to make threats today,” Lord Vetas said. “Last time, my men were only there to take care of Palagyi. I trust you had no problem disposing of the body?”

For all the concern he showed, he might have been asking about Adamat’s morning tea.

“Not too much, thank you,” Adamat said. “Now, tell me why you’re here.”

Lord Vetas seemed unruffled by Adamat’s brusque tone. “A gift,” he said. He held up a small black box. “I’ve not yet heard from you. I assume you have decided not to take our offer of employment?”

Adamat snatched the box. “Tell your master to stuff it. I dropped by that address on the card, an empty warehouse near the river. It was no good to me. And you,” he added. “You don’t exist. I haven’t had much time to hunt you down, but there is no ‘Lord’ Vetas.”

“Very astute,” Lord Vetas said. “But the address is quite valid. I’m surprised my men took no note of your visit. Impressed, in fact.” He raised his hands and clapped them together softly. “Your skills as an investigator are impressive. I have no doubt you will discover my identity eventually, and that of my master.”

“Why don’t you tell me who you are and save us both the time,” Adamat said.

Lord Vetas just smiled. “You’re conducting an investigation for Field Marshal Tamas into the likely traitor within his council.”

“No.”

“Don’t lie to me, Adamat,” Lord Vetas said. “I already know as much.”

“Even if I were, I’d not discuss a current investigation,” Adamat said.

Lord Vetas said, “What are your conclusions so far?”

“Don’t you understand me?” Adamat asked. “I have nothing to discuss with you. Good day.” He made to close his door.

Lord Vetas held up his hand politely, like a clerk trying to get a superior’s attention.

“What?” Adamat said.

“Won’t you open your gift?”

Adamat frowned at the box in his hand. It was plain and black, tied with a silk ribbon in the middle like one might find at a jeweler’s. He undid the ribbon. Within was a finger. It had been severed at the knuckle, and experience with this sort of thing told Adamat it had come from a teenage boy. There was a ring on the finger. The ring had belonged to Adamat’s father. A ring Adamat had given to…

Adamat trembled as he put the lid back on the box and slipped it into his robe pocket. He snatched Lord Vetas by the front of his suit and yanked him through the door. Lord Vetas made no protest as Adamat kicked the door shut and slammed him against the wall. His breathing was steady as Adamat put his face close.

“It belonged to your son,” Lord Vetas said helpfully.

“I know who it belonged to!” Adamat couldn’t help but shout. He took hold of Lord Vetas’s suit coat with both hands and threw the man down the hall. He drew his cane sword from the cane holder by the door and bared the blade. He thrust it under Lord Vetas’s chin. Lord Vetas didn’t even tremble.

“If he’s dead…”

Lord Vetas looked at the point of the sword like a man examining a harmless peculiarity beneath his nose. “Oh, he’s quite alive. That’s the thing with using people as leverage. They aren’t leverage if they’re dead.”

“I will kill you.”

“Kill me, and my master will simply send another. One who will bring a slightly bigger box. It will contain your daughter’s head.”

Adamat’s blade drew a drop of blood at Lord Vetas’s throat. Lord Vetas produced a hanky and dabbed the blood away.

“Why shouldn’t I kill you now?” Adamat whispered.

“I just told you.” Lord Vetas gave a sympathetic smile. “You’re very emotional right now. I understand. Take a moment to calm down and think things over.”

Adamat wanted nothing more than to run the man through. He strained to keep himself in check. A slight twitch and the man’s life blood would be on the hallway rug.

SouSmith had appeared at the top of the stairs in his nightclothes. Adamat waved him away.

“What does your master want to know?”

“Everything,” Lord Vetas said. “Whatever Tamas has told you; whatever you discover through your investigation. Starting now.”

Adamat sighed, the fight draining out of him. Fear filled the empty space. “Nothing. I know nothing.”

A hint of annoyance betrayed itself on Lord Vetas’s face.

“My investigation has yet to draw any conclusions.” Adamat struggled to gather his scattered thoughts. Josep was still alive, he kept reminding himself. Everything would be fine. As long as he played along with Lord Vetas.

“Let’s start at the beginning,” Lord Vetas said. “Tell me all about your investigations. Both of them.”

Adamat found himself talking. The words tumbled over themselves, as if each one was the brick in a wall of safety he was building around his family. He slumped at some point, returning his cane sword to the cane and leaning upon it heavily.

He told Lord Vetas everything he knew about Kresimir’s Promise and his and Tamas’s conclusion about the Promise being nothing but rubbish. He told him about the night at the Skyline Palace, and about his meeting with Uskan. He included details he’d not meant to say. He went on, recounting his meetings with Ricard Tumblar and Lady Winceslav. Through it all Lord Vetas remained quiet. Adamat could read nothing on the man’s face; he absorbed the information impassively.

Adamat spoke so quickly that it did not even occur to him to fudge the truth or lie outright until afterward. When he finished, he fell to sit on the stairs, his hands shaking, and he felt drained. It seemed his age had caught up to him then, and far surpassed him.

Lord Vetas took a moment to think. “Two months of investigation, and this is all you have?”

Adamat narrowed his eyes. “I’ve been doing the work of twenty men.”

“And these are all the details, you’re sure?”

“I’m sure,” Adamat said. “I do not forget things.”

“Ah, yes. Your Knack. Tell me more about this… pending destruction of Adro,” Lord Vetas said.

“I know very little.” Adamat was tired. He wanted nothing more than to crawl back into a hole. “It is a prophecy that Kresimir will return. It implies a great deal of violence accompanying his return. An old legend.”

Lord Vetas remained thoughtful. He dabbed at his neck one last time to remove the blood there and put on his hat. “I’ll be back,” he said. “I hope you’ll have something of greater interest for me when I do. If not…” His eyes flicked to the box in Adamat’s robe pocket.