En left the room, closing the door behind him.
“Well?” His tone implied that this had better be good.
“The mission given us by the Emperor—or by you—cannot be completed.”
“Cannot be or will not be?” Helmat’s voice became a wall of neutrality as he glared at the newest of his Wolves.
“Cannot be. The person responsible for arranging the deaths of the Tha’alani two decades ago is already dead. His death brought an end to further murders.”
“And the Barrani man Timorri saw?”
“You wanted—the Emperor wanted—the man responsible for hiring him to orchestrate these deaths. That man has already died.”
“How?”
“His death is not contained in the Records of the Halls of Law; he was a Barrani Lord of note and it was considered an internal Barrani affair.”
“The Tha’alani are not Barrani.”
“No.”
“They died.”
“Yes.”
“Tell me what happened. And drop the Barrani; I’ve heard nothing but Barrani for the past week, and I’m sick to death of it.”
“I am not certain—I mean, I’m not sure—”
Helmat lifted a hand, and abandoned Barrani entirely. “I’m in too foul a mood to handle bullshit. What happened?”
“Barrani were involved in the murders.”
“Do not try my patience.” He ennunciated each word with force.
“A Barrani man was involved with a Tha’alani woman.”
Helmat whistled before he could stop himself. “Was he insane?”
“By Barrani standards, probably. I’d’ve chosen the Tha’alani friendship over Barrani overtures any day.”
And still would, Helmat thought. “And?”
“She died. She was killed, but the death was marked as—and believed to be—accidental.”
“And the person responsible for her death was responsible for all the others?”
“Yes. I don’t believe the deaths would have stopped if he hadn’t died.”
“How did he die?”
Severn shrugged. This annoyed Helmat. But something about the boy’s expression quelled irritation. What had he said to Rosen? He was earnest. Earnest was often conflated with naivete. That, Helmat thought, the boy lacked.
“You’ll have to have better answers than these if you want this mission to be marked as resolved.”
Severn nodded.
“And the death of the witnesses?”