Page 45 of This Monster of Mine

“And more.” He turned to Decimus. “This study wasn’t searched after Jovian’s death. When did Aelius’s vigiles really come here?”

She was about to ask how he’d come to that conclusion when Decimus crumpled.

“They came the day before he died. But my brother was no criminal. I swear it!”

“Was Jovian being accused of something?” she asked, surprised.

Decimus’s lip quivered. “They never gave me the details. Just that Jovian had done something awful and to alert them when he returned. I thought I heard something at night, but the lock was intact, so I shrugged it off. Next morning, the walls were covered inmodraiand I found him under all that wood—” The tears that had been gathering in his eyes spilled. “I still see it every time I come here.”

Sarai winced, wondering if it had been as hard for Cisuré to pass Sidran Tower for four years. She thought back to the promise the other girl had begged from her before the Robing, and a fissure of guilt cracked her chest.

“Once he passed, Tetrarch Aelius sealed the records. Said nothing good comes from speaking ill of the dead. But all I can think of now is that I doubted him to the end. And he was murdered!” He fell to his knees again, sobs wracking his body. “Please give him justice, Tetrarch Kadra. I need to know what happened!”

Her eyes burned.You could be begging your brother’s killer.

“You won’t find justice in the courts. Not when coin trumps everything.” She stiffened as Kadra repeated her words from their first meeting. “But I’ll find those responsible, and I promise you this: They’ll pay in kind.”

“Certo.” Decimus nodded fiercely. “Certo!Kill them all.”

Sarai’s jaw tightened. So this was how Kadra indoctrinated everyone to his brand of violence. He took their broken hearts and reshaped the fragments into daggers. Yet, despite the picture of solicitude he made, Kadra’s eyes were empty. When Decimus’s sniffling subsided, he dropped the consoling hand. “We’ll need the room to ourselves while we search.”

And just like that, the compassion’s gone.How no one saw it was beyond her.

“Certo.” Decimus paused. “If I may ask, Tetrarch Kadra, why are you reinvestigating this? I imagine Ur Dinyé doesn’t lack for cases.”

“But it lacks Petitors.” Black eyes found hers. “And I’ve one of my own to watch out for now.”

Damn him to every one of the ten hells.Sarai shot Kadra a look of pure disgust while Decimus and his maid gaped as if he’d proposed marriage. Before they could start writing hymns to Kadra, she ushered them out of the tablinum and shut the door.

Back against the wood, her lips pressed in a thin line. “Kindly leave me out of your games. Those two would do anything you ask. You don’t need to use me to get a few seconds of goodwill.”

He looked curious. “Was that what I was doing?”

“We’re investigating a murder. None of this is because you—”Care for my safety.Breaking off, she picked her way around the room, stopping at Jovian’s fallen desk. “Is there anything I should be looking for? Correspondence with the killer?”

A wall sconce flickered to life with the barest motion of Kadra’s hand. “Correspondence,” he repeated thoughtfully. “Do you have a suspect in mind?”

“I didn’t say that,” she muttered quickly. Too quickly. Avoiding his narrow-eyed look, she wedged her fingers under a corner of Jovian’s desk and tilted it up.

“Interesting.” His voice sank low. “Is there someone you think pushed Jovian to his death?”

Turning, she froze at Kadra’s dark smile. “No.”

He stepped closer. “He would have bled out. Unable to beg for help. Lying in the ruins of his body.”

Stop. Chest tight, she struggled to breathe evenly.

He crouched at the opposite end of the desk she still held. “Is your suspect in this room?”

Her hands went nerveless. The desk crashed down, splinters breaking off at the impact. She held herself still, breath coming in short bursts.

Gripping an unfragmented corner, Kadra righted it in a swift motion. “And you said you weren’t afraid of me.”

“I’m not,” she snapped.

“Hmm.” There was a wealth of disbelief in the syllable.

Don’t lose your temper.“If that was a test of my”—she couldn’t bring herself to sayloyalty—“intelligence, it was in poor taste.”

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