Ana and Din Mysteries, #3
A Trade of Blood
by Robert Jackson Bennett
Contents
Chapter 3
Overview
Din walks to the Lacanthim jail weighed by Ana’s revelation that his engravings have matured, starting a countdown on his sanity. He reflects on Imperial risks, his suffusions, and estrangement from his family. Accepting the trade he made—his future for their stability—Din resolves to focus on the investigation.
Summary
Din makes a somber walk through Lacanthim toward the custodi jail as gentry holdouts glare at passersby. The recent revelation from Ana—his engravings have matured—turns his unease into dread, as he imagines an hourglass of sanity running out.
He contextualizes his fate against common Imperial losses: Legionnaires die young and high imperials perish at the sea walls, yet his own looming madness feels personal and inescapable. He recalls the Sublime suffusions that altered his body, marking him as other.
Din’s thoughts turn to the bargain that bound him to the Empire: paying his father’s debts and raising his family from poverty. He has received only bank notices and news of his father’s death, and he has not written home, nurturing a bitter detachment from their possible contentment.
Accepting that his future was traded for their stability, Din chooses not to seek reassurance. Instead, he resolves to focus on the path ahead—the investigation and Ana’s orders—as he proceeds toward the jail, isolated but determined.
Who Appears
- DinImperial engraver narrator; confronts maturation, fears of madness, and family estrangement while heading to the jail.
- AnaDin’s blindfolded superior; her revelation about Din’s maturation drives his introspection and renewed resolve.