“You have failed to understand both the Barrani and An’Tellarus.”
Severn shrugged. “Probably.”
“And you now think, with this imperfect understanding, that An’Tellarus is attempting to warn us off because she’s concerned for our safety? If true, that would be almost insulting.”
“Or to warn us off because she’s worried about his,” Severn said.
“And this warning has now changed the shape of this case, for you?”
“I’m not certain. Are all of the Emperor’s hunts going to be this tangled?”
“No. I can think of very few in the recent past—which would be the whole of your life should you die of old age—which have been nearly as complicated as this. Were it not for Ybelline, you would not have been the partner assigned to me, either. And the partner assigned to me would not make the mistake you are making.”
Severn let this pass without comment. “Given her warning—regardless of the reasons behind it—what do you intend to do? She didn’t give us Teremaine’s location.”
“I doubt she knows it.”
Severn, clearly, did not.
“We’re not here to execute Teremaine; the interest in his activities—no,ourinterest in his activities—has become his death sentence. It is how things are done. The Emperor very rarely takes an interest in the petty crimes of those Barrani associated with the lords. When he does, it serves one specific function. It rids his city of the petty criminal. It is its own Imperial writ of execution.
“Teremaine was present for at least one of the murders. If he did not lift a hand to cause injuries that led to deaths, he was the driving force behind them. Do you not feel that his death would be justice?”
Severn nodded. After a long pause, he said, “Where I come from, death is death. We were taught not to look for justice in anything but our own behavior, because we had control of that. In theory.
“If Teremaine won’t lead to Sennarin, what’s the point in pushing for more information from him?”
Elluvian shrugged. “There is always a point,” he said in his native tongue. “It is never wise to allow your opponent to understand the whole of your thought or intent; if they do, it will be trivial for them to block you.”
“She doesn’t believe we care about Teremaine.”
“She doesn’t believe Teremaine is the true focus of our investigation, no. But she is not a fool. Teremaine is the murder weapon; he is not the murderer. What we want is the man or woman who chose to use him. She knows this. Everyone of note knows this. But Teremaine knows too much about too many.”
“The Emperor’s prohibition on using the Tha’alani—”
“They cannot believe that the Emperor’s prohibition forbids the Emperor from taking advantage of the Tha’alani when it serves his own purpose. The truth, in this case, is irrelevant. As would be any protestation based on Imperial Law. Even if the Barrani who employ Teremaine’s services chose to believe no Tha’alani would be involved, it would make little difference. Before the advent of the Tha’alani, information was still retrieved. The people Teremaine has served in the past will lose face. In the worst case, they would lose their lives if they are not powerful enough; Teremaine interacts with the mortal caste court. His crimes are therefore crimes that the Halls of Law would, by mandate, investigate. Teremaine will die if he remains within Elantra; there are few places in which he could now find safety.”
“Few, but not none?”
“Indeed. And he is not our concern.”
Severn nodded again.
Helmat was unaccustomed to unexpected knocks at his closed door. If the door was open, he was willing to take visitors; if it was closed, he was not. Only two people knocked at his door when it was closed. Or perhaps one. Elluvian generally opened the door unless he knew an actual meeting was ongoing.
The other person was probably Private Handred.
Helmat spoke a single word, and the door rolled open. It was indeed the private, but Elluvian was not far behind. Wearing his bestthis had better be goodexpression, Helmat stared at them until they entered the room. The door closed behind them.
Helmat did not particularly care for this door. He vastly preferred the old one. But waiting for the preferred replacement would leave his office open at any time of day or night, and he had accepted the practical necessity of a lesser choice. He glared at Elluvian.
En actually smiled in response.
“The private wishes to see the actual orders the Emperor handed down.”
“Pardon?”
“He wishes to see the wording of the orders themselves.”