Contents
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Overview
Neema secures physical evidence from Gaida’s rooms, confirming the sedative tea and postmortem staging. Forced before Hol Vabras by Kindry, she outlines motives implicating a frame of Ruko and panic among the faithful. Vabras targets Katsan after her outburst against Neema and tightens the investigation’s timeline, leaving Neema exhausted but determined.
Summary
Neema collects Gaida’s teapot and caddy as evidence and makes a final sweep of the ransacked room. Not finding Gaida’s folder, she notices a lavender scent and discovers discarded tea leaves mixed into the soil of an indoor fig, confirming that sedative tea was prepared and hidden, supporting her suffocation-then-staging theory.
Kindry barges in, accuses Neema of damage, and insists on accompanying her to Hol Vabras. On the canal, Neema’s plan to check her old room—where Gaida secretly met Princess Yasila—must wait.
Before Hol Vabras, Neema delivers a concise report and submits the teapot and caddy for testing. They debate the odd choice to stab Gaida after death; Neema posits motives to frame or humiliate Ruko Valit and to alarm the faithful. She also notes the sloppiness of leaving such conspicuous evidence.
Vabras scrutinizes Neema’s injuries and learns Katsan clawed her during an accusation, prompting his focus on the Bear contender, despite Neema’s argument that Katsan lacks motive. Vabras warns of the emperor’s impatience and effectively shortens the timeline, orders Neema to rest, and leaves the suspect field open.
Exhausted but unconvinced by Vabras’s focus on Katsan, Neema maintains her view of a rushed frame-up and resolves to pursue the lead in her old apartment once she can break away.
Who Appears
- NeemaInvestigator; confirms sedative-tea evidence, presents findings to Vabras, disputes suspicion of Katsan, and plans to search her old room.
- Hol VabrasHigh Commander; receives evidence, considers motives, focuses suspicion on Katsan, accelerates the investigation, orders Neema to rest.
- KindryArrives during Neema’s search, forces a meeting with Vabras; seeks control and access to evidence.
- GaidaMurder victim; her room yields lavender tea evidence and hints of a staged stabbing.
- KatsanBear contender; clawed Neema in grief-fueled accusation, drawing Vabras’s suspicion despite lacking clear motive.
- Ruko ValitTiger contender; his Blade was used to stage the stabbing, central to a possible frame or humiliation.
- Princess YasilaMet secretly with Gaida in Neema’s former room; Neema intends to pursue this lead.
- CainHound officer; interviews Rivenna Glorren as part of parallel inquiry into Gaida’s death.
- Rivenna GlorrenAbbess of Tiger; interviewed by Cain, considered a potential instigator.
- Ish FortFox abbot; contemplated by Neema as a possible orchestrator to frame Ruko and distress Katsan.
- Shal WorthyHis earlier bout left Neema bruised; noted for having the Sight, contrasting with Vabras’s scrutiny.
- BersunEmperor; his impatience tightens the timeline for resolving the murder.
- BennaApplied a vinegar-turmeric paste to Neema’s wounds; minor aid in Neema’s recovery.