Rowan leaned back, whistling through his teeth. Loren sat on the edge of his table, leaning forward, an intense expression on her face. Judging by the shadows below her grey eyes and the wrinkles on the edges, she hadn't slept properly for a few days.

"You're awfully chilled about it." She sounded accusatory.

"Really? I don't feel it. Halen Ashworth, huh." Rowan rubbed his eyes. He hadn't come across her before, although the renown of Ashworth metalwork spread far and wide. "But why Seiren specifically? She's just a brat."

"She's not the only one targeted, though. The odd thing is by the time we arrived, she should have been dead. That wound – it was almost fatal, and judging by the severity of the attacks until this point, these guys want to kill. Seiren shouldn't be alive."

"You're saying Ashworth got interrupted?"

"Yes, and it's not Seiren. She didn't put up a fight."

"Who would have interrupted our assassin?"

"I don't know. Someone strong enough to take on a state mage. Halen Ashworth is no pushover."

"Of all people to not put up a fight, her?" Rowan arched an eyebrow.

"That girl has a lot of issues," Loren said, jabbing a finger at his chest. Rowan retreated, hands held up. Loren's eyes burned with passion. He knew better than to argue with her when she was so fired up. "She blames herself for what happened six years ago and there's been nobody to help her through that at all throughout. She's just a kid. In her mind, she's still that scared kid who just lost her entire family. That's why she's so childish. I'm not asking you to mollycoddle her, Ro, but she needs support. I can do it, but it can't be only me."

"If you're going on about the mothering role—"

"Kommora was there for me when I was lost. So were you. Seiren needs that now. She might not acknowledge it, heck—" She ran a frustrated hand through her hair, tousling it. "—she might not even be grateful for it, but she needs it. She has so much potential, especially being Kristen Harred's daughter. You really don't want someone like her falling into darkness. You don't want her to be like Portendorfer."

"She has to learn from her own mistakes. Over-protecting her is just as bad. I'm not her mother."

"I'm not asking you to be that. That's like asking a dead guy to run a country." Rowan winced. "Just don't abandon her. She's conditioned herself to not let anyone in because nobody cared to stay before."

Rowan shook his head. "I see why you're a doctor, Loren. You're nuts."

She chuckled. "The best kind!"

"In all seriousness, though." Rowan leaned forward, resting his chin on a hand propped on the table. "The whole situation is quite strange. Ashworth attacking Seiren. I don't think it's a random attack."

"You think they purposefully wanted to kill her? What for? She's got a bad mouth but they're hardly insults of the century."

"There's something else I've been thinking..." Rowan pursed his lips. Loren's eyes lit up. "Kristen Harred was one of the most gifted rune mages of our time. How can someone like her be killed by a twelve-year-old girl who's not even been admitted to King's at that point? And it was magic from her own arsenal. How is that possible?"

"Seiren's pretty gifted, but you're saying...?"

"It's not an accident. I don't think Seiren did it."

"She managed to tether Madeleine, though. That must have been her, surely..."

"That's what I want to find out. If Seiren didn't kill Kristen, then who did? That 'rogue Hannan' whose traces nobody can find? Her father's definitely dead. The three were all buried. We saw the corpse at the funeral. But why weren't any of the mages warned about the attack when it happened? How were Kristen's runes breached? She created the national security system!"

"We were both still at King's six years ago, Ro. Maybe we just weren't told about the alarm that went out."

Rowan shook his head. "Mage Haigh was practising back then. She said there never was one. Even probationary mage attacks have alarms sent out – why would Kristen Harred's not, of all people?"

"You spoke to Kommora?" Loren couldn't help but grin. "I thought you hate the woman."

"Believe me: I'd rather gouge out my own eyeballs than spend five minutes in the same room as her."

"She scares you, eh?"

"No, she doesn't!" Rowan flushed. His back burned. Loren giggled, infuriating him further. "And there's a point to all this."

"All these conspiracy things make you and Kommora very similar, you know that?"

He glared at her. "I need your help."

"Oh? I thought you'd never ask. Let me guess: you want me to look into that night Kristen Harred died?"

"Yes. If Bicknor and your trainee aren't keeping you too busy, I'll be grateful if you take a trip to Finberry and find out what happened that night. The investigation from six years ago was very hush-hush, just as suspicious as these recent mage attacks. Seiren would have been too young to push it and if the king's mages said they got to the bottom of it even without revealing anything, nobody would question it."

"I take it Seiren didn't fancy a trip down memory lane."

"No. She told me as much."

"You asked her?" Loren sounded horrified. "You have as much tact as a dead fish, Rowan Woodbead!"

"I figured she will have questions about her mother's death—"

"Oh yes, so let's just go get her to do your dirty job for you, never mind her emotional health!"

Rowan waved his hand, sighing. "I'm a monster, yes, I've heard. But I have stuff to do here. Seiren, and Carla, Pober, Raynott, and that mysterious explosion at the abandoned mill here a few weeks back – that was magic, too. The king's mages are involved once again and nobody knows anything."

"Yes, any news on that? You're heading the investigation, aren't you?"

"I was. Haigh's taken over now. I'm her lackey." Rowan sighed.

"Aaand?"

"She doesn't tell me much, but she said there were three mages at the old mill and one got killed."

"Name?"

"None. Well, I think she knows, but she hasn't released it yet."

"Oh, Kommora will know. She knows everything."

"Would be nice if she can tell me then..." Rowan couldn't help but sound bitter.

"Is the pipsqueak upset I won't let him in on the big boys' and girls' secrets?"

"Kommora!" Loren said in a jovial voice, waving. She leapt off. "How have you been? Long time no see."

"And I see you're still flinging that bloody head of hair of yours. Do I really have to cut them off?" Kommora scowled, her greying dark hair tied back in a tight bun as always. Loren laughed in response. "And do I hear you blabbing confidential military secrets to non-essential personnel, short-ass?"

Rowan felt himself go bright scarlet but he bit back a retort; Kommora would only make him regret it bitterly, he was sure.

"I'm not sure if I'm 'non-essential' any more, Kommora. Seiren told me quite a bit about her attack in Bicknor."

"Oh?" Kommora's razor-sharp dark eyes honed in on Loren, who told her everything she'd just told Rowan. He could almost hear the cogs of her formidable brain turning. Her face turned darker with every word. "I see."

"Care to share what you see?"

Rowan fought to keep his spine straight under her withering glare. With a grimace, Kommora lifted her book of runes out and peeled off a handful before applying them around his office, preventing any unwelcome guests or eavesdroppers. She turned around; Rowan pretended he didn't just break out in cold sweat.

"There are three groups at work, currently." She paced around the room, hands clasped behind her back. "You have the state mages: the victims of these seemingly random attacks. Ignorant, innocent, kept in the dark thanks to Pollin and his mages. You have the king's mages: too powerful to be attacked, but for some reason keeping mum when they take over the investigations into the attacks. And finally, you have the rebel mages who have now defected from the state's laws. Their exact numbers and details are not known aside from two, and it's likely they won't be found out until there is another attack."

"You said there are two that are known. Who is the second, aside from Halen Ashworth?"

Her eyes burned with fury. "Crina Nighy."

Loren clapped a hand to her mouth. "Wasn't she your...?"

"Former student. Yes."

"She's the victim in that flour mill attack here? But why wasn't her name announced?"

"Because Domic Butterworth got there before me," Kommora spat out his name.

"Just like in Keycol." Loren frowned. "The king's mages really are pulling out all the stops in preventing outsiders from investigating these attacks. Who was the attacker?"

Judging by the grimace on the old witch's face, it wasn't good news, whoever it was.

"There were three of them at the flour mill. Butterworth, Nighy, and a third."

"Then who..."

"You're not saying Butterworth is a rebel mage, are you?" Rowan asked, astounded.

"The third person? Maybe it's the third one who attacked Crina, and Butterworth came and assisted?"

Kommora looked away. Her voice was flat. "The magic there was a clash between Crina Nighy and Domic Butterworth. The third person barely participated."

"Nighy fought with Butterworth?" Rowan's eyes widened. "But why?"

"Wouldn't you like to get a punch in that smug perfect face?" muttered Loren.

"That means he knows who the rebels are. He's one step ahead – taking them down," said Rowan. He didn't like the look on Kommora's face.

"That's a good thing, surely. He's tackling the threat to all the state mages."

"There's something the king's mages aren't telling us," said Kommora in a low voice. "I knew Crina Nighy. She wasn't a defector. There is something the king's mages are trying to cover and they're silencing the rebels for it. I am not agreeing with whatever the rebels are doing. It is repugnant. But they are the enemies of the king's mages who seem hell-bent on covering up, and I intend to dig to the bottom of this."

"I'm sure you'll get there, Kommora," said Loren with a mirthless chuckle. "However ugly, you'll get there. I just hope the end isn't too messy."

"If you want to stay out of the mess, I suggest you keep away from Benover, Rummage. There is something sinister going on and people are going to get hurt."

"Oh, I intend to. I have a week off, so I'm doing some travelling. I'm sure I'll have a grand time." Loren stretched and grinned, hands on her hips. "I'm expecting good news when I come back, Kommora, Ro."

There was a semblance of a smile on the old witch's face. "You stay out of trouble, Rummage."

"Aye, aye." Loren waved behind her, skipping out of the door and closing it with a snap.

"I guess we should get back to work?" Rowan said. He flinched when Kommora laid eyes on him.

"It will be helpful if you do not go blabbing to everyone. Our work could easily be seen as treasonous and I'm certain you don't fancy being executed, short stuff."

"N-no, but Loren is—"

"An outsider as far as this operation is concerned. It's helpful she's volunteered information about the Harred girl, but you have no rights to go spilling your guts to her every time she bats those eyelashes."

"I do not—" Rowan started, flushing bright red.

"This business is getting dirtier, so don't you dare involve her in this. As it stands, Crina Nighy was a traitor and Domic Butterworth killed her for it. From the looks of things, the third mage is an accomplice of Butterworth's, which makes me think they were also a king's mage."

Rowan's mouth snapped shut.

"It would have been good news, if I didn't know Butterworth better. That man never acts in anything beyond his own self-interest. He most certainly didn't kill Nighy to protect the rest of the mages."

"You think the king's mages are all linked together?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if they were. And that Harred girl is more involved than she seems – or knows. I'd keep a closer eye on her if I were you."

"We relinquished tutor-student relationship earlier on this week," said Rowan, avoiding her eyes.

"Oh boo-flipping-hoo. Grow a pair, Woodbead." Her eyes flashed in a manner not dissimilar to Loren's when she got fired up. "A little spat with a kid and you're all over the place. I've been watching you this week, sighing and leaning against things like you're paid to be a bloody model or something. Well here's news, short-ass. You're too short a short-ass to be anything else except what you're paid for, so get off that short ass and do some bloody work. The Woodbeads might have some military leaning but you're a bloody mage, and one with some semblance of intellect unlike the rest of your dead-brained family and their dogged obedience. Ashworth and Nighy aren't the only rebel mages. There's at least one more. Pull your damn weight, kid. Or are you going to leave me another steaming pile of shit to pick up?"

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