“I didn’t know what to do,” I said again. “If the city knows he’s dead … I just kept thinking what it would do to morale. There are so many rumors around the city about what caused the uprising and the Council’s role in it. The rest of us just aren’t beloved like the Chancellor. He is—was—the only thing keeping spirits up.”
“I can’t believe it,” Marco said at last, his voice hoarse. “I saw him in the morning. He was fine. I don’t understand how this could have happened. Who would do this? What purpose does it serve? We might all be dead in days anyway.”
“But do you see why we can’t tell the city? If they know the Chancellor is gone they’ll lose hope, and we still need to defend when the rebels attack the bridge.”
Marco nodded slowly. “What about the Council?”
“I don’t trust the Council. Whoever got to Tain was someone close to him. If one of them poisoned him, I don’t want them to know they succeeded.”
He frowned. “Credo Jovan, I understand that Council politics can be trying. And I can’t pretend I haven’t heard rumors, too. But surely no one on the Council would actively harm the Chancellor. This war is destroying our city. No one on the Council benefits from that. I truly believe there must be foreign agents at work in our city.”
“I suppose,” I said. “But all the same, I’m not willing to risk them knowing what’s happened. At the very least, not all the Council would be happy to keep this secret.”
“All right, then. But we will need a reason why they cannot see him when they ask.” His mouth twisted in a half smile. “I am not subtle and I’m no real Councilor, Credo. I do not understand the games. If I was suspicious about the Chancellor avoiding me, others will be, too.”
I studied Marco’s face, with all its earnest openness. An honest man’s face. Honor-down, he was convincing. He drew me in and made me want to trust him. The emotional part of my brain still insisted here sat a good man even if the cynic in me made an enemy out of everyone. “No more Council meetings,” I said. “We’ll run out of excuses. Argo at the Manor knows what happened and he can be trusted to pass on whatever messages we want to anyone who comes to the Manor. You and I can both vouch for having met with Tain.”
He gripped one of my shoulders. “Thank you for trusting me with this, Credo. But is there no one else on the Council you trust?”
“Well, I thought we could trust Eliska but…”
“I trust her,” he said. “And I think you should, Credo. The Stone-Guilder would never be involved in any plot against the Chancellor. She is an honorable woman, reliable to a fault. She has been invaluable in the defense of the city.”
I shrugged. “She was alone with the Chancellor on the morning he died. I don’t know how he was poisoned, but we can’t discount that.”
He shook his head, jaw set. “She was not the only one who saw the Chancellor that morning; not even the only Councilor. I did, too, and I hope you know I would never have harmed him. I can’t believe it of Eliska, either. She must have been alone with the Chancellor dozens of times since the siege began, with any number of opportunities.”
“I suppose,” I said, trying to sound persuaded.
“The Scribe-Guilder, too, could surely not be involved,” he added. “And the Artist-Guilder. What could Budua or Marjeta possibly gain from betraying a Council they’ve served on for sixty years?” He counted out on his fingers, “You, me, Eliska, Budua, Marjeta—if the five of us work together I am sure we could keep the illusion for at least a few days.”
“All right.” I clapped his shoulder. “Say nothing of this, and I’ll talk to the others.”
He nodded, his wide face earnest. “We will honor his memory, and hold the city, I swear it.”
I wanted to believe that, but even if Tain recovered I didn’t think we would save the city, not anymore. But I’ll catch you, I told Marco silently. If it’s you, I’ll catch you and I’ll make you pay, before the end.
* * *
If I had found Marco’s performance convincing, Eliska’s was equally stirring. It had taken until the evening to have a chance to get her alone to explain. Her eyes filled with tears at the news, and it took her a long time even to speak. When she did, her tone matched my heart for bleakness.
“We’re lost,” she said dully. “We can’t hold out against that army. They’re taking their time to regroup, but they know we’re trapped in too little space with diminishing resources. Sooner or later they’ll take the tower. We were all counting on Tain somehow getting through to them and convincing the rebels to negotiate instead of attack. Now we don’t even have a leader, and there’s no one from the Families we could elect who’d have the credibility to convince them anyway. No slight to your honor intended, Credo,” she added hastily.
“None taken.” I had neither the contacts nor the presence to be a leader, and my compulsions were too obvious and inhibiting to be under such pressure. My role had always been to support and protect. You did a great job of that.
Unlike Marco, Eliska seemed unconvinced by my plan to keep Tain’s “death” a secret. “I don’t see the point,” she said, voice wooden. “But I’ll go along with whatever you want.”
“I need you to keep being the Stone-Guilder,” I said. “You can’t give up. We need your engineers and builders; if we can keep holding the rebels off we have more chance of negotiating peacefully with them.”
“Fine,” Eliska said. But she sounded the way I felt: empty. She volunteered no insight into whom we could trust on the Council. I had to prompt her.
“You have to be careful what you say around the other Councilors.”
“Is that what it’s come to?” She gave a harsh bark of a laugh. “Honor-down. This city was lost before the siege even started, wasn’t it?”
Sometimes I thought the exact same thing. “Maybe it was. We caused this. We created enemies of our own people through inertia and ignorance. If we’d treated our country citizens like equals instead of resources, if we hadn’t treated the Darfri beliefs as unimportant superstitions, this would never have happened.”
Eliska glanced at me out of the corner of her eye, and her tone changed, just a little, becoming higher and a fraction quicker. I wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t been listening for it. She rubbed the back of her neck. “Chancellor Tain was openly sympathetic to the rebels, and seeking peace. I don’t see why any sympathizer would have murdered him when he’ll likely be replaced by someone worse.”
I nodded. “It’s possible the siege and the poisoning aren’t connected.” I might have once regarded the Stone-Guilder as naive, but never stupid. “But where does that leave us? I still don’t know who on the Council we can trust.”
“If this was a political act, given who owns the estates you would be better trusting only the Guilders who aren’t Credolen. Marjeta, Budua, and Marco. Although…”
“What?” I asked.
Her lips tightened. “I can’t imagine a deceptive bone in that man’s body,” she said. “And I hate to even raise it. But I guess we can’t ignore that he’s a foreigner by birth, and a trained soldier. I suppose it’s possible he might be less loyal to Sjona than he seems.”