'I also promised to donate the remainder of Alister's inheritance to the Council coffers. I didn't want it anyway.'
Taya narrowed her eyes. He still wasn't looking at her.
'And what else, Cris?'
He sighed and pulled off his glasses, pinching the arch of his nose.
'They need me to dress like an exalted again. But it won't be as bad as before.'
Taya stared, shaken.
'You said you wouldn't.'
'Don't get angry until I can explain.'
'You promised you wouldn't go back.' Gwen's warnings came back to haunt her. 'You told me you were never going to wear a mask again.'
He looked at her, his spectacles dangling from one hand. He seemed strangely vulnerable without glass and silver between his eyes and her gaze.
'I had a choice between keeping my promise to you and saving my brother's life,' he said, quietly. 'I did my best to respect both. Will you trust me a little longer? I don't know if you'll approve of the deal I made, but it's not—'
'Exalted? Icarus?' Captain Scarios interrupted them. Cristof gave her a long look, then slid his glasses back on.
'Not all the stereotypes about exalteds are true, either,' he said, stiffly.
Taya hesitated, then nodded, once. Fair enough.
'You're going to tell me everything,' she warned him. He adjusted his frames and picked up her other crutch as she limped past.
She was startled, at first, to see that Alister was waiting for them in a chair. His public robes were draped around him and his blank ivory exalted's mask hid his face. The robes were heavy with jewels and embroidery, their hems folded on the floor and draped over his lap to hide his hands and feet. His mask looked like every other exalted mask she'd ever seen, a smooth ivory disk with slits for the eyes and a wave mark shining on one cheek in inlaid gold.
She'd never seen Alister in his public robes before; but then, she'd never seen him in front of strangers, either. Neither Amcathra nor Scarios were permitted to see an exalted unmasked.
'Alister.' Cristof stepped forward, then dropped his eyes. 'I talked to the Council. They've agreed to reduce your sentence to Neuillan's, in exchange for your assistance.' He dragged his gaze up and held out both hands, palms up. 'The paperwork's already in the captain's hands. But if you agree, you'll forgo your right to trial. You'll be automatically admitting your guilt and accepting exile from caste and city. Starting now.'
For a very long minute the figure in the chair didn't move, and Taya wondered if it were even real. Maybe Alister had managed to set up a mannequin and escape. But then, at last, the exalted's arms rose, his hands still covered by draped material. Embroidered hems touched the sides of the mask and lifted it away.
To Taya, the gesture only seemed full of melancholy, but both Scarios and Amcathra leaned forward. She glanced at them and was taken aback by the awed, almost guilty fascination on their faces as they stared at the exalted's naked face.
Alister set the mask into Cristof's waiting hands. His cheeks were flushed, and Taya realized that he felt humiliated at being unmasked in front of a lower caste. For the first time in her life, she understood how privileged she was to be an icarus. For her, this forbidden sight was a matter of course.
'It's better than dying,' Cristof breathed, holding the mask. The two brothers were staring at each other, Cristof with a peculiar expression of pity and Alister with a tense expression of shame.
'It looked easier, when you did it.'
'It wasn't. But you'll survive, just like I did.'
'What did they make you give up, to save my life?'
'Nothing that was mine to begin with.'
Taya wanted to object, but she ground her teeth together and stayed silent.
Will you trust me a little longer? he'd asked. All right. She'd give him a chance to explain before she got angry about it.
Before she let anyone else know how angry she was about it, she amended.
Scarios cleared his throat, an oddly polite interruption for the brusque man. Alister tensed, not looking at the lictor.
'Your part of the deal is to spill everything you know about who stole the engine,' the captain reminded him.
'Has anyone been arrested yet?' Alister asked, his voice and bearing taut. He'd dropped his hands back in his lap, the folds of his robe still covering them.
'Kyle's missing,' Taya said, limping forward. For the first time his green eyes flickered up and registered her wings, and when he looked at her, she thought some of the tension in his face eased. 'Was he working with the thieves, or was he kidnapped by them?'
'If anyone's working with thieves, it would be Emelie,' Alister replied.
'Not Victor Kiernan?' Amcathra sounded surprised.
'Victor's a nonconformist, but he isn't a thief,' the exalted answered, still looking at Taya. She nodded, encouraging him to continue. 'But Emelie's always been dissatisfied. She got through the University by cutting corners and cheating on tests. She's a good programmer. You can't fake that. But she wants to be rich, and she doesn't want to work for it.'
'You two were lovers.' Taya couldn't help the note of accusation in her voice.
'She thought she could get special favors that way.' Alister raised an eyebrow, his green eyes still fixed on her. 'It worked until I got tired of her and broke it off.'
'Nice.'
'Do you have any proof she's involved?' Scarios asked, cutting in.
'I never said I had any proof. Just suspicions.' He never looked at the captain.
'What about the Alzanans?' Cristof pressed.
'All the data on them is in my office.' Alister shifted his gaze to his brother. 'There's a cabinet with my punch cards inside. At the bottom of Resources and Allotments is an envelope with Neuillan's cards. Anyone on my team should be able to read them without sending them through an engine. They aren't encrypted.'
'Cassi and Pyke can get them,' Taya suggested, looking at Cristof. 'And Victor said the team was going to be waiting outside—'
Cristof nodded, already reaching into his pocket. He handed his keys to Amcathra.
'You can walk out there faster than Taya,' he said. Amcathra gave him a cool look, then turned and left the room.
'I'd like to see my team,' Alister said, looking at his brother. 'May I?'
Cristof turned to Scarios.
'Another day,' the captain said, tersely.
'Did the information say anything about a bar down in Slagside?' Taya asked. 'One with a red door?'
Alister shot Cristof a look.
'A red door means it was a brothel, not a bar,' Cristof said, looking uncomfortable.
Taya frowned. 'Wouldn't a sign be better advertising?'
'Only for the literate,' Alister pointed out. Cristof seemed discomfited by the entire subject. Maybe he was a little bit of a prude.
'You know, I deliver messages for some of the most prestigious brothels on Secundus,' she told him. 'But they have signs.'
'I didn't know prostitutes conducted their business by mail,' Cristof muttered, his cheeks flushing.
'There was a brothel listed among Neuillan's contact points,' Alister said. 'I remember it because I'd
