Chapter 26

After securing the Burav vault with four custodi, Din rides back to Lacanthim with Commander Tauri. Tauri insists Din rest before entering the forest, warning the wood unsettles minds and sometimes claims Orbiis officers who wander off the seams. He apologizes for harsh remarks about the gentry; Din recognizes the corrosive wear of their work.

Their talk turns tender and guarded. Tauri frames hope as a barren garden; Din urges him to look harder for what might still grow. As they part, Din notes his attraction to Tauri’s presence and scent, underscoring a fraught, understated intimacy before Tauri retires to Orbiis offices to meet Din in the morning.

Fotia arrives breathless, choosing to stay in town rather than at Aimafall, where Madam Velona has withdrawn in grief over Castus. Fotia plans to keep Ippeas company in the cells. Following Din’s advice about rope, she learned from drovers that the rope used to hang Sagma was immediately torn down and disposed of—likely by the discoverer, Arthinio, a former stableboy who quit after finding the body and later worked for the Buravs. He reportedly feared for his life; Fotia intends to find him in the city, despite Din’s caution to bring custodi.

As they walk through lamplit, muddy lanes, Din warns Fotia to keep Jalin’s suspected role quiet. Fotia describes Ippeas’s sleepless despair after Castus and hears echoes of Jalin’s hopelessness in him. Their conversation widens: both fled their grandmother only to serve new, harsh matriarchs; Din reframes his vocation as nourishing rather than merely feeding, though it sets him apart, “a different breed.”

Before parting, Fotia begs Din to be careful in the wood. She distrusts Tauri’s view of her trade but teases that Tauri’s gaze betrays feelings for Din. The night ends with plans set: the Orbiis hunt for Jalin will begin at dawn, and Fotia will pursue the lead on Arthinio and the missing rope.