Avi Marie's Arc

Chapter 29 of 30

The three masters above turned their cold eyes on Avi Marie. The guilty one was gone through the rift. She had her verdict, but one question still burned in her. Her mortal died as a witness. Yet other witnesses stood in that hall the day the stone changed hands. Why was her man alone chosen to die? Until she knew, his death made no sense. She stepped toward the tallest master. "He signed the order," she said. "But he did not choose the man. Someone told him which witness to silence. I want that name." The master did not answer. He rose an inch off the floor, ready to follow the others up. Avi Marie's chest went tight. If they left now, the reason left with them. Petra moved before the master could. She still held the metal plate. From her coat she drew a folded page, scorched at one edge. "The transfer had a clerk," she said. "Every witness was logged. One name was struck out by hand." She held the page flat. "His hand." She pointed at the plate, then at the rising master. "The same seal signed both." The master stopped. The hall watched. Avi Marie took the page from Petra and read the struck line. Below the scratched-out name, a note remained in cramped writing. Her breath caught. The murdered mortal had not simply watched. He had refused a bribe to stay quiet. The others took coin and held their tongues. Her man would not. Azrael spoke from the doorway, flat as ever. "So they paid the rest and buried the one they could not buy." "Yes," Avi Marie said. Her voice shook. "He was killed because he was honest." She turned to the master above. "You blinded me so I could not tell the council what he would have told them. Not to hide the stone. To hide that a good man said no." The master's face did not move. But he did not deny it. The silence spread across the floor. Every witness had heard the clerk's note read aloud. The reason was named now, plain and whole. "That is the truth of it," Petra said. She did not raise her voice. "Logged, sealed, and read." Avi Marie folded the page and held it close. For the first time since her mortal fell, the blank spot in her heart filled. She knew why he died. Not for the stone. For his own good word. The tallest master finally looked at her, and there was fear behind his cold face. He rose the rest of the way. "You have your answer," he said. "You do not yet have ours." Then he passed up through the rift with the other two, and the light closed behind them. Avi Marie stood in the quiet hall. She had the reason at last. But the ones who let it happen still waited above, and now they knew her name.