A Masquerade of Spiders

Chapter 20: A Lie, A Truth

I didn't reply.

"During the execution in Klesei market square of the vintner from Thalmina and his wife, you stood with Lady Afali, Lord Euryis and three other lesser Cervi lords, Panlis, Filar and Modian. Then, just when everyone was distracted, you vanished for approximately six minutes. Where did you go?"

"I was—"

"Wait, don't answer that, let me ask you a better question." He abandoned his wineglass on the mantlepiece and began pacing in front of me, grinning. "Who was the dead girl I found in the alley right behind where your group stood? Why was she naked, the girl? Did you kill her? But if you did, why did you strip her of the dress?"

When I spoke next, I could barely hear my voice over the sudden ringing in my ears. "What were you doing at the execution?"

"I'm the one asking the questions here. You speak only to answer."

I could feel sweat trickling down my back. I couldn't find my voice, but he didn't seem to really expect me to answer.

"Why did you try to pay for the peasants' burial? And where did you get that coin purse? You didn't have it with you before you vanished. Who gave it to you?"

My knees were weak, the room grew unsteady. All this effort I put into my survival was being undone, one question at a time, by this man. Whatever he planned to do with his knowledge, I was at his mercy and it killed me. I longed to do something terrible, something violent that would banish the smug smile off his face forever. But I remembered all too well how expertly he had wielded a sword in the darkness, and he was living proof that leaving a trail of dead bodies in my wake would not go by unpunished.

Waryn twined his fingers behind his back as he paced. "The vintner was an interesting choice for an execution. He managed a successful holding that had been in his family for generations. From what I could gather, his family originated in Kambria, that's why he proudly wore the sigil of a sea-gull. That explained a lot about the quality of the wine, but nothing about what his crimes were and where both of his daughters vanished on the night before he and his wife were executed."

Waryn had his back to me when he faced the empty hearth. "He had two daughters. One aged sixteen, his heir, Marin Dieder, last seen during the seasonal wedding night in Thalmina, and the older daughter, Yael Dieder, apprentice to a local mask-maker who went only by the name of Shana and who conveniently vanished this morning just as my eyes went looking for her. Yael Dieder, too, disappeared on the same night as her younger sister."

He spun around to stare at me. He knew my name. He knew exactly who I was. "I really believed there was a girl named Abetha in my room that night. And yesterday, I was convinced you were Dylana. I truly thought you were her. You behaved just like she would have. Like a woman with no soul who would do anything to get away with cruelty. But Nava figured something was odd when she heard your accent. "It isn't real, Waryn," she told me. "It's too elaborate." Not many have an ear like Nava, you had everyone else fooled. To confirm her suspicion, she tested you on your knowledge of Tvereman history, of Manadira, the Tvereman ancestor, and you failed."

What did he want me to say? What did he want me to do? I was frozen solid as he took slow, deliberate steps towards me, a lion cornering its prey.

"And then I realised that you were the same woman who entered my room, from that brief moment that you showed me your face. What made you try to escape that night? Were you worried that your old mistress would reveal you when she came to measure you for a mask? Or that you'd die while taking serum? Which was it? Both? And you came to my room, why?"

He held up three fingers. "There are three more things that elude me, Miss Yael," he said. I shut my eyes at the mention of my name, as if I wanted no involvement with it. "The first is, how did you know to choose Dylana as your victim? Who gave you that information?"