Chapter 18

Din dozes in Seriv’s cells and wakes to see Seriv escorting Ippeas to the processing room, where Fotia awaits. Noting Fotia’s grief and love, Din reflects, then speaks with the drained Castus, who urges Din to protect Fotia and Ippeas.

Din intervenes as Fotia and Ippeas’s argument peaks over Ippeas’s credulous response to a lure note and his midnight visit to the Buravs. Fearing public fury and family disgrace, Fotia demands a path forward. Din, desperate, shares the broader case: scattered murders, Apoth-web suspicions, and scant motives.

Using Tauri’s testing parchment, Din confirms Fotia is uninfected, then discloses that Ippeas tested positive for the fungus but appears unconditioned. Din argues the poisoning likely came from the Burav estate and that the arson attempt was clumsy compared to web-based conditioning, unsettling but implying the killers’ haste.

Reassessing witness gaps, they recall Castus hearing someone after Zansay. Fotia posits that the unknown person was not tailing Castus but using a route to Gaddar’s glade, the shrine where the forest narrows between Lacanthim and the Burav spreads.

Fotia explains the geography: a thin strip of wood along an old creek allows a covert passage. This suggests a secret corridor enabling movement between the Burav estate and Lacanthim without detection, aligning with the killers’ needs.

Resolved, Din agrees to scout Gaddar’s glade with Fotia guiding. They plan to depart swiftly, preparing mint extract and handkerchiefs for the attempt.