‘Why does that surprise you?’ she retorted. ‘Try telling me something that doesn’t break my heart, then. Try telling me something that doesn’t make me furious – at your arrogance. Your contempt.’
‘We do not hold the Adjunct Tavore Paran in contempt.’
‘Really?’ she asked, the word dripping with derision.
‘Captain, she takes our arrogance and humbles us.’
‘And what’s her reward?’ Shurq demanded.
Hood looked away, and then shook his head. ‘For her, there is none.’
‘Tell me,’ Shurq said in a rasp, ‘tell me she did not agree to this.’
‘To that, Captain, I shall say nothing.’ He stepped past her then and raised his hands. ‘We cannot survive the violence your thoughts have conjured, Captain. Thus, I have no recourse but to intervene. Fortunately,’ he turned to eye her briefly, ‘Mael concurs.’
‘Push it away, then,’ Shurq Elalle snapped. ‘But I will bring it back, I swear it. To so use an innocent woman …’
‘You begin to try me, Captain Elalle. If you intend to fight me for the rest of this voyage, I must find us another captain.’
‘Please do, Hood. I barely knew the Adjunct, but—’
He twisted round. ‘Indeed, you barely know her. I will tell you this, then. I looked out through her sister’s eyes, through a helm’s visor – in the moment that she died – and I stared up at my slayer, the Adjunct Tavore Paran. And the blood dripping from her sword was mine. You will speak to me of innocence? There is no such thing.’
Shurq Elalle stared at Hood. ‘So, in using her now … is this punishment?’
‘Consider it so, if it eases your conscience.’
‘She murdered her sister?’
‘Yes.’
‘Is it guilt that drives her now, Hood? Does she seek redemption?’
‘I imagine she does.’
‘Will she find it?’
Hood shrugged.
What is it you’re not telling me? I can sense … something. The sister … a helm’s visor . ‘Hood, that murder – was it an accident?’
The Jaghut did not reply.
Shurq stepped closer. ‘Does Tavore even know she killed her own sister?’
‘Irrelevant, Captain Elalle. It is the ignorant who yearn most for redemption.’
After a moment, she stepped back, went to the side rail, stared out over the rolling grey swells, what Skorgen called swollen waters. ‘If we had met in your realm, Hood,’ she said, ‘I would not have refused my state. I would not have sought to escape. Instead, I would have tried to kill you.’
‘Many have, Captain.’
‘Good for them.’ Swollen waters . ‘Hood, if she never discovers the truth – if she is made to carry that ignorance for the rest of her days … do you even care?’
‘Do you imagine that knowledge would be a gift?’
‘I … don’t know.’
‘The truth may hide at your feet. The truth may lie coiled in high grasses. But it still has claws, it still has fangs. Be careful, Captain, where you step.’
‘Food reserves are dwindling,’ Felash said, and then sighed and looked up at her handmaiden. ‘Straits are dire for dear Mother.’ She sat straighter, arched her back and groaned. ‘Do you advise rest? These journeys through troubled realms, by Jaghut’s cold breath or not, do take their toll upon my delicate self. But I must refuse your concerns, my dear. Necessity demands – is that wine you’re pouring? Excellent. I’d thought that long gone.’
‘I made a request, Highness.’
‘Indeed? Of whom?’
‘It seems,’ the woman said, passing over a cup, ‘libations in the name of death continue unabated, and if the once-god of that dread underworld is not above trespassing in his old … er, haunts, well, far be it from us to complain.’
‘Just so. Nonetheless, sweetie, I dislike the notion of you consorting with that hoary creature. Best keep a respectful distance, matching my own wise caution in this matter.’
‘As you wish.’
‘But I must say, superb wine, given its provenance – I trust you have acquired a decent supply.’
‘Luckily, yes, Highness.’
‘The other news is almost as dire, I’m afraid. We have cause now to mistrust the motivations of the Perish Grey Helms. Most disturbing.’
The handmaid’s eyes narrowed as she set to filling a bowl of rustleaf. ‘Are we not at this moment sailing to a rendezvous with the Perish fleet, Highness?’