Page 92 of This Monster of Mine

The Archive of Homicidium.Of course!Jovian had loved a good mystery. He’d probably suspected foul play in the other Petitors’ deaths.

Racing to the archive, a bewildered Gaius in tow, she pulled out the indexes covering suicides in Edessa over the past five years. He positioned himself by the door, whittling away at a bit of wood as she sat in the cramped space between the shelves and gingerly opened a book. The spine gave a creaky groan, then settled into place. She began reading.

Sunlight shafted in through the archive’s sole window and climbed across the wall as morning drew to a close. She squinted at Aelius’s spidery writing and Tullus’s scratches on older records, making note of every Petitor who had committed suicide: their method of death and where they were found.

Several hours later, she sat back, tapping her overworked ink pen against her case summaries, and tried to make sense of everything.

In addition to Othus, his Petitor, Jovian, and Livia, there had been five dead Petitors since her Fall. As predicted, the bodies had been pulverized and the deaths marked as suicides. From being trampled by horses to flattened by granite slabs, Helvus had come up with increasingly ingeniousways of camouflaging how they’d died. That part didn’t trouble her. What did was the common thread tying the victims.

Each one had started acting strangely in the weeks leading up to their death. Their families and relatives had reported paranoia. Writing wills. Muttering about dreading stormfall. Whatever they knew had to be more than just the scuta. Despite knowing they were faulty, and having a bounty on her head, Sarai hadn’t experienced anything close to the terror these Petitors had.

Her hands trembled.I need more to tie the deaths together.

She had to investigate Sidran Tower.

If these records were right, then her Fall had occurred before the first Petitor death. She was the first victim. After entering Edessa, she’d been invited to a convivium at the Academiae bysomeonewho’d let her know of the passage into Sidran Tower so she could avoid the Tower Gates. While attending the party, she’d discoveredsomethingand been drugged by someone before being tossed off Sidran Tower.But who did I meet? What did I see?And how had ten people—that she knew of so far—been thrown off Sidran Tower without any witnesses? Her Fall had occurred in the midst of stormfall, but Jovian’s … she clapped a hand to her mouth in realization.

Jovian’s fall had happened during the same.They’re using stormfall to cover the falls. And what was it Helvus had said to reassure his Guildsmen?

“We’re fine. They’ll ensure it.”

Whoever Helvus’s clients were, they were wealthy lightning magi who’d had access to the convivium that night. Which could be at least half the partygoers.

She slammed the records book shut in frustration and blanched when the spine cracked. Staring at the two halves of the leather-covered boards, she resigned herself to paying the archivist a hefty fine. Gently lifting the carnage, she paused at the sight of a folded piece of parchment stuck to the endbands. Tugging it free, she unfolded it and froze at the lines of Urdish in a different hand than Jovian’s scrawl.

My dear Jovian,

If I could, I’d wipe last night’s events from memory. I’ve thought about it all night, and my conclusion doesn’t change. I saw that scutum explode. Cassandane looked worried when I brought it up. She said I was stressed and to ignore it. But how is a Petitor to hide from her mind?

Will you help me? Meet me at the courtyard behind Homicidium and Materialize that night for me, so I can put this to rest. By Wisdom, I hope I saw wrong.

Your faithful friend,

Livia

Below Livia’s letter, a different hand had responded.

I’ll be there.

1: Next one’s the first floater.

Sarai reverently folded the letter and tucked it in her robes before muffling a squeak of excitement in her hands. She’d be willing to bet that there were more such letters here. She took in the thousands of books in archive with grim anticipation.Three weeks to search them all.

“Fancy seeing you here, barmaid,” a serpentine voice murmured too close to her ear.

Sarai whirled around to find Harion.Havïd. She reached for her armilla, readying for trouble. “What do you want?”

He shrugged innocently. “I’m just here to laugh.”

“Of course you are. Just focus on keeping my hundred aurei safe, lecher.” While Harion shook with laughter, she returned to the sharp-eyed Homicidium archivist and sheepishly paid two aurei for the broken spine, vowing that she’d be more careful with the books.

Harion followed her as she left the archive and ducked into a nearby courtyard in search of Gaius. “You don’t seriously think you’ll win our bet,after being strangled by Tullus! How was that, by the way? Learned your lesson?” He tugged the collar hiding her fading bruises, chuckling when she flinched away.

“You two must get along well seeing as you both assault women.”

“Putting an uppity barmaid in her place is ‘assault’ now? I must deserve a prison cell.”

“That can be arranged.” Finding Gaius, she relaxed. “Petitor Harion of Dídtan, have you had your laughs? Ready to leave me alone now?”

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