Caim scratched the man. A bead of blood trickled down into Parmian's collar.
'Frenig despised the theocracy!' Parmian said, almost shouting.
'Quietly,' Caim admonished.
Parmian drew in a long breath, but shallow so as not to impale himself on Calm's knife. 'If you had known the late earl, then you would know what I say is true.'
'I knew him.' Josey came over to stand beside Caim. 'Very well, in fact. And you're right. He despised the Church and what it had become, although he didn't air his grievances in public. How did you know him?'
Parmian took in Josey with a long glance. 'The late earl was a family friend. He'd known my father many years ago. He helped me achieve my position in the treasury. I visited him on a social call.'
'From what I've been told'-Caim leaned closer and dropped his voice to a whisper-'it didn't sound very social. It sounded like an argument.'
When Parmian didn't reply, he moved the knife point to the groove of the man's neck, where the big artery throbbed. 'I'm losing patience, Master Parmian.'
Something changed in the man's eyes. A bulwark of resistance crumbled and he collapsed against the wall. Caim pulled the knife point back to avoid killing him by accident.
'I went to warn him.'
'About what?'
Parmian's eyes shined as he lifted his head. 'The Elector Council was moving against him.'
'That makes no sense,' Josey said. 'He was retired, a hero of the realm. Why would they want to kill him?'
Parmian hesitated a moment, until Caim caught his attention with a pinprick. 'They'd found out about his activities.'
'What activities?'
Parmian drew in another deep breath. 'Earl Frenig was the head of a secret society sworn to restore the empire.'
The words hit Josey like a runaway coach.
She reached for the alley wall, forgetting for a moment about the crud and grime coating the bricks. 'You're wrong,' she said. 'My-the earl withdrew from politics after he resigned his post.'
If Parmian caught her slip, he gave no indication. 'I'm sorry, but it's true. My father was a member of the same society before he passed.'
No, no, no! The denial echoed in her mind, but deep inside she knew it was the truth. After all, she had seen it herself.
Hubert whistled. 'No wonder the Council did him in. They've got enough trouble on the streets without the nobility trying to bring back the old regime.'
'Shut up!' Josey shouted, much too loudly, but she didn't care.
She spun away as Caim looked at her. She couldn't face him like this. Cold splatters fell on her face like the pieces of her world falling apart. The hidden chamber beneath her family home appeared in her mind, just the same as it had looked all those years ago. The hooded participants of the bizarre ritual stood in a circle in the dim light. Their chanting echoed across the gulfs of time.
Her hand crept up to the cool talisman dangling between her breasts. Her father had said it was the key to his heart, a sentimental gesture she had thought little of over the intervening years, but it had been more than that. She knew now what the key truly was, what it would unlock.
Calm's voice intruded on her thoughts. 'So you were their spy.'
'No,' Parmian answered. 'I never wanted any part of their schemes. I'm little more than a glorified accounting clerk, but I see everything that crosses the keeper's desk, and everything that happens in the city eventually makes its way through the treasury. We control the funding. When I saw the indications of a coup, I went to warn the earl. For my father's sake, I felt I owed him that much.'
'I don't buy it,' Caim said. 'Why try to resurrect an extinct regime? What's the point? The emperor and his family were killed when the Church came to power.'
'I was just a kid,' Hubert said, 'but I remember. They called it an execution, but it was murder, true and simple. Anyone related to the imperial family was either eliminated or forced to show their support for the prelate.'
Parmian's voice regained some of its initial confidence. 'When I spoke with him, the earl said he possessed a secret, something so powerful that if it was revealed, it would bring down the Church.'
'What secret?' Josey blurted before she realized what she was doing, but she had to know.
Parmian shook his head. 'He never told me. He said it would be safest if kept to himself until the time came to unveil it. Those were his exact words.'
'What else?'
He lifted his empty hands, but dropped them as Caim applied more pressure with his knife. 'That's all. I urged the earl to leave Othir as soon as possible.'
'What do think, Caim?' Hubert asked.
Parmian perked up. 'You're Caim? The one they're searching for?' He looked at Josey. 'Then you're…'
A bevy of whistles split the night. A cry went up from a nearby roof as hard footsteps pounded on the cobblestones. Josey wrapped her arms around her body, but her shivers had nothing to do with the cold. She couldn't catch her breath. She felt like she was running, so fast her lungs might burst, but her feet never moved.
'We're done here,' Caim told Hubert. 'Take your men and disappear.'
'Sure. I'll go rally the rest of the boys. Once word of this reaches the streets, every hand will rise against the Reds.'
As Hubert disappeared into the night, Caim turned back to Parmian. The man stood up straight, his shoulders squared as if expecting the worst.
'What do you intend to do with me? My family will-'
Caim stepped back. 'You can go.'
The man didn't move. 'Just like that? I know who you are. I could have every able-bodied soldier in the city searching for you.'
Caim sheathed his knife. The whistles were getting closer. 'Can't you hear? They already are. Go home, Ozmond, and think about taking your own advice. Things are heating up. Othir's going to be a very dangerous place, no matter which side you support.'
Caim turned away, but Parmian stopped him. Josey watched a host of emotions play across the treasury man's face. He grimaced, shook his head slightly, and then settled into a look of resignation.
'Wait. There's something else.'
He looked at her. 'The order to have the earl killed came from the highest level.'
Icy fingers constricted around Josey's windpipe. She couldn't breathe. What did he mean, the highest level? The Church hierarchs? The prelate himself? They killed Father, and now they want to kill me.
She gasped and shook. Then, Caim put an arm around her and the air rushed once more into her lungs.
'Come on,' he said, pulling her away. 'We have to get out of here.'
Josey leaned into him and felt his warm breath against her cheek. She needed the contact, to feel the touch of another living person. She felt like she was surrounded by ghosts. She looked back over her shoulder, but the alley and Parmian were gone, hidden in the night. For the first time, she realized it was raining.
'I know,' she said. They hurried through the slick, black streets. 'I know where we have to go to find the next piece to the puzzle.'
Caim regarded her with an amused expression. Something flickered across his eyes, too quick to follow. A blossom of heat spread through her chest as she realized she trusted him.
She turned her head as the warmth spread into her face. She gazed into the sky, into the rain and gloom, to the heights of Esquiline Hill.
'I have to go home.'
