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“I’m sorry. Would you like me to say it again, in iambic pentameter?”

“Yes.”

Aurienne didn’t, because she couldn’t remember what iambic pentameter was. She regrouped and said, “I’d like us to agree to use violence as an absolute last resort.”

“Sounds like a bit of a faff.”

“Not murdering people for five minutes is a bit of a faff?”

Mordaunt tilted his head back and sighed at the ceiling. “Violence is a first and best resort. But, very well—I’ll let you have your delusions.”

“Then we’ve agreed: no more cadavers,” said Aurienne.

“Fewer cadavers,” said Mordaunt.

“None.”

“Less.”

They stared at each other. Aurienne felt the enormity of the gulf between them—morally, ethically, constitutionally. The points of commonality faded to nothing.

“Why does death frighten you so much?” asked Mordaunt.

“Death doesn’t frighten me. I am very familiar—toofamiliar—with death. It’s you doling it out all willy-nilly that’s the problem.”

“There’s nothing willy or nilly about my approach,” said Mordaunt. “I’m a professional; I assess situations and act accordingly.”

“I’ma professional, and I’m running a course of treatment, not an abattoir.”

“An abattoir. That’s a good idea.”

“A good idea for what?”

“Never mind,” said Mordaunt. “Not important.”

“Might we therefore turn to whatisimportant: the name Scrope gave?”

“Yes,” said Mordaunt. “What is it?”

“Bardolph Wellesley.”

Mordaunt straightened out of his slouch. “Wellesley? Really?”

“You know him?”

“He’s one of the Wessexian queen’s retainers. Powerful. Rich. How do you not know of him?”

“I don’t keep track of the goings-on among the kings and queens,” said Aurienne. “My Order is apolitical.”

“As is mine, on paper, but it doesn’t mean I wander about absolutely oblivious,” said Mordaunt. “All the Orders are under some royal’s thumb, somewhere up the line, including yours.”

“You’re incorrect.”

“You’re naive.”

They stared at each other again.

Mordaunt moved on with a shrug. “The Wessexian queen is the most powerful monarch in the Tiendoms. Bardolph Wellesley, though. That’s interesting, if it’s true. It mightn’t be true—Scrope might’ve been trying to impress you with the name drop.”