"No. More metal scraps, but that's all." She glanced at him. "Some searchers found a few bones, but they were too old to be… anyone's. The coroner said they're probably wild dog bones."
"Did you see them?"
"No. I decided to work with the engineers." Taya swallowed. It took a particular kind of person to work on a body reclamation team. Just the thought of finding something she might recognize made her feel sick. "They think they found part of the bomb."
"I'd like to see it."
"A team of experts was examining it."
"I wonder if I know any of them."
Taya shrugged, looking around. They were turning toward the switchback road that descended to Secundus.
"Did you did you find anything at your brother's house?"
"The mansion?" Cristof stopped. "The lictors searched it. But I was being questioned, and then they pulled me off the case." He made a sharp turn left, instead of taking the road to Secundus. "I'm an idiot. It's about half a mile away."
"Do you want me to go with you?"
He gazed at her, puzzled.
"You're free for the rest of the day, aren't you?"
"Yes. I just thought it might be too personal for you. Going through your brother's things."
"Oh." He looked away and gave an abrupt, dismissive shrug. "I have no intention of bursting into tears, if that's what you're afraid of."
"Your mask is in place."
"I did all my grieving last night." His voice was hard. "Now all I want to do is give Alister a peaceful rebirth by putting his killer behind bars."
Taya walked side-by-side with him, her wings straining against the harness when the winds caught them. She was glad he'd said ‘behind bars’ and not ‘to death.’ At least he wasn't going to do anything stupid.
Ondinium would execute the killer, anyway. The city wasn't tolerant of murderers.
That reminded her of her own fight. She glanced down at the cuts on her hand, which were nearly healed.
"Do you know if the Demican I stabbed is still alive?"
"So far."
"Did they find the Alzanans who were with him?"
"Not the last I heard. I expect the investigation has been suspended."
She mulled over that a moment, then attempted a joke. "Maybe after we've borrowed you a set of wings, we can walk around Tertius and try to get mugged. See if we can tempt them out."
"As long as we're walking."
"Oh, I wouldn't take you flying down there. Too many towers and wires. Flying up to the Tower will be a lot safer."
"Good." Cristof took a deep breath. "Alister learned how to fly when he was fourteen or fifteen. He said it was the most exhilarating thing he'd ever done. I didn't pay much attention to him. He was always getting excited over some new adventure or another. His enthusiasm would last a month or two, and then he'd move on to the next thrill. I imagine that being with you made him want to strap on a pair of wings again."
"He could fly?"
"Yes." Cristof looked at her. "He didn't tell you?"
No. But he'd led her to believe that he'd known nothing about flying.
A lie of omission, Viera would have called it.
She would have brought Alister a pair of wings, expecting to teach him what to do, and he would have been able to show off. To impress her.
Taya took a deep breath, shaking her head.
Just forget about it. It doesn't matter anymore.
"But you never learned how?" she asked, forcing herself to sound natural.
"No."
"You'll do all right. Knowing how armatures work will give you an advantage."
"Knowing how armatures work is different from actually using them."
"It's easy," she assured him. "The icarus docks are above all the towers and cables, except the wireferry to the Council building, and we won't have any problem avoiding the broken lines. The only danger will be the wind, and I'll help you navigate it."
"It's not the wind that worries me. It's the distance to the ground."
"You aren't afraid of heights, are you?" Taya teased, glancing at his sharp profile, which was cast into relief by the late afternoon sun. He was wearing a cross expression again.
"I'm terrified of them."
He said it so tonelessly that she burst into laughter. He shot her a dark look, stopping in the street.
"I'm sorry! I'm not laughing because you're afraid," she apologized. He glared, hunching his shoulders. A gust of wind flapped his coat around him, making him look like a crow with its feathers ruffled. "It's just that it explains so much. That's why you keep track of wireferry repairs, isn't it? I wish you'd told me sooner." A dry leaf whirled up and stuck to his hair. She reached up and plucked it away.
"It's not something I felt comfortable admitting to an icarus."
"Don't be silly." She let the leaf go, watching it tumble away in another gust. Cristof reached up and irritably brushed at the place where it had been. "If you're afraid of heights, you shouldn't go. I can keep you from falling, but if you freeze or panic, you might still get hurt."
"I won't panic."
"You never know how you'll react until you're up there."
"I'll be fine. I don't have a choice, so I'll do it." Impatience was creeping into his voice.
"All right. You don't need to get angry."
"I'm not angry." His voice was taut. "I'm not snapping, shouting, shaking, or lecturing. Nor am I pretending to be anything I am not. In fact, I am being very honest. Is that satisfactory, icarus?"
"Yes, exalted." She sighed. He would get moody again, just when they were starting to have a real conversation. "Is your brother's house nearby?"
He stared at her a moment, then tugged up his collar and turned away.
"It's right over there."
Estate Forlore didn't seem any different from the other houses around it; a huge edifice behind an iron gate. Cristof strode toward it as though eager to get away from her.
Taya drew in a deep lungful of the cold autumn air and watched Cristof search through his pockets until he found a ring of keys.
"You have a key to Alister's house?"
"It's my house too. And Alister had the keys to my shop."
When he got the gate open they walked up the path to the door, and he rang. A famulate woman dressed in mourning opened it, then stepped back, bowing. Taya recognized the servant from her dinner with Alister.
"Good afternoon, exalted. We've been awaiting your visit."
"I should have come by yesterday. I was distracted." Cristof stepped inside, dropping his gate keys back into his pocket. "Is Mitta here? I need to talk to her about — arrangements."
"Of course."
"This is Taya Icarus. See that she's made comfortable." He turned to her. "I need a few minutes to talk to Alister's housekeeper." He looked wary, as if expecting her to argue with him. But the servant's black livery and the black cloth draped over the mirrors in the foyer served as stark reminders of why they were there, and Taya just nodded.
"That's fine," she said. She should have guessed that Cristof would be the executor of his brother's will. "I'll wait."
"Would you prefer to doff your wings, icarus?" the servant asked, as Cristof vanished through a side passage. Taya nodded and left her armature behind in the cloak room. The servant led her into a parlor where a small fire burned, and she was soon settled in with a glass of warm spiced wine. It might have been pleasant, if she could forget that she was in a dead man's house.
Alister's taste had run to contemporary artists, she saw, studying the names on the paintings that hung on the walls. One of the works she recognized from last year's exhibition at the Ondinium Museum of Fine Art. She'd gone with Cassi and Pyke, but they'd abandoned Pyke after about half an hour of listening to him rail against the ‘anti-aesthetic’ of contemporary art. They'd wanted to enjoy the paintings, not think about the politics surrounding them.