32. A Bastard by Day

In the days following Hasp’s pyre, Kinch steals time from Renata to revisit the forge and seek the key promised by the cyclops smith. He finds the same body but a different temperament: Zherit Dayborn, a brusque, bullying counterpart to the dreamy Zherit-Nassk. Kinch offers a barber-surgeon’s book as payment, hoping to complete the bargain.

Zherit Dayborn rejects the book and publicly scorns Kinch, then erupts in a violent display that silences onlookers. When Kinch tries to withdraw, Zherit Dayborn relents and names his price: opium. He presents the forged key but withholds it until Kinch agrees to procure the drug, wordlessly threatening consequences for deceit.

Kinch accepts the terms and deftly pockets the key. He reasons that obtaining opium will be difficult but possible, given his Guild skills and his knowledge of the sathium-pipe passages threading the palace. With the key to speed access through compatible locks, he resolves to pay the cyclops later and, first, to witness a coming event he calls “a tiger’s sister born.”