Revan didn't answer right away.
His fingers stayed on the kunai in his sleeve. Even with his wounds aching, the muscles in his arm stayed tense.
'When something looks this convenient, somebody set it up. Growing up with the Vespera family taught me that much.'
'So either this is the luckiest coincidence of my miserable life, or the most obvious trap ever.'
Apparently his silence pleased the woman.
"You're not jumping at my offer. Most people in your position would be desperate for answers."
"Most people in my position would be dead. I didn't survive this long by trusting strangers who come out of the shadows."
That earned him another laugh.
"Fair. Then what would convince you I'm not here to slit your throat?"
Revan studied her for a moment.
"Nothing. But you can start by telling me why you watched instead of helping. You knew about tonight, and you let it happen."
Some of the amusement faded from her face.
"Would you have believed a warning from a stranger?"
"No."
"Then you've answered your own question."
Now those violet eyes moved over him with more interest.
"I needed to see how you'd handle yourself, and whether you were worth talking to at all. A lot of people talk about strength. Very few still have it when death shows up."
'So I was the test subject. Wonderful.'
Anger tightened his jaw until his teeth ground together.
"Fine. Talk. If I smell a lie, this conversation is over."
With a nod, the woman leaned back against the pillar and crossed her arms.
"The Garden of Eternal Bloom. That's their full name. Poetic, isn't it? Flowers, growth, beauty, all of it planted in rot."
"What do they want?"
"Tell me, little servant. Have you ever wondered where that pretty red crystal came from?"
Nothing showed on Revan's face.
'She knows about the [Crimson Tears]?'
But the shock was too fast to hide completely. His fingers jerked against the kunai in his sleeve, so her gaze dropped straight to his hand.
"There it is. You know exactly what I'm talking about."
'Damn it. One twitch, and she caught it.'
"What does The Garden have to do with it?"
"Everything. They're a distribution network. They move those crystals across kingdoms, to noble houses, criminal gangs, cults. But distribution needs supply."
She turned to face him fully.
"Someone has to make them. Someone with money, connections, and a clean reputation to hide behind."
Revan's stomach went cold. Only one family he knew fit that description, so he said the name before she could.
"The Vespera family."
A sharper smile spread across her face. "You're quicker than most."
FWIP!
Revan had thrown the kunai before he thought about it. It stuck in the pillar a finger's width from her cheek. She didn't even blink.
"That's your first lie tonight."
"Oh? What makes you so sure?"
"I've been Sylvia von Vespera's right hand since I could hold a knife. I know their smuggling routes, their black market contacts, their assassination networks. If they were making those crystals, I would know."
Her smile never wavered.
"And yet you didn't know about the train mission until a few hours before it started. You didn't know what cargo you were recovering. You didn't even know the crystals existed until your Lady showed you one."
After a short pause, she added the last part softly.
"For someone who knows everything, you know very little about what actually matters."
That hit him harder than the knife in his back had.
'...Fuck.'
'She's right.'
Sylvia's right hand. He called himself that, but the truth behind it was pathetic. Sylvia had told him about the train only on the night she summoned him. Only after the fight had he seen the Crimson Tears. The word traitor came after Vargos was dead. Revan learned things when Sylvia needed him to know them, and not a second earlier.
Point and kill. That was his whole job.
Out of a habit he had picked up from Sylvia, he bit the inside of his cheek until he tasted blood.
"You're right. I don't know as much as I said."
The woman paused and looked at him again, more carefully this time.
"Honesty. How refreshing."
"Call it reality."
Her head tilted to one side.
"Then here's some honesty back. I don't know how deep Vespera's involvement goes either. But your Lady called Vargos a traitor who bit the hand that fed him. You don't say that about some random thief."
'She has a point. Vargos was an insider. Someone they trusted to guard the crystals, who decided to steal them instead.'
That thought led somewhere he didn't like.
"Say I believe you. Why would The Garden send killers after a servant?"
"Because you stopped being just a servant the night you fought a Master and walked away breathing."
When she stepped closer, the perfume reached him again, flowers with something rotten underneath.
"People notice that kind of thing."
A bitter laugh escaped Revan.
"Walked away breathing? I was one heartbeat away from being a corpse."
One of her eyebrows rose. "And yet here you are."
"Because my Lady decided I was still useful enough to save."
The words came out flat.
"I didn't beat Vargos. Sylvia did. I'm alive because she dragged me back by the collar."
'And because I chugged an Elixir that kept rebuilding my body while it fell apart. She doesn't need to know that part.'
For a while, the woman only looked at him.
"Humble. Or just honest about your limits."
"Realistic. I know exactly where I am on the food chain."
Slowly the smile returned, sharper than before.
"The Garden doesn't know any of that. They only see the result: a servant who challenged a Master and lived, and who now goes to the Undergallows alone, visits blacksmiths, and asks questions. To them, you're an unknown variable, and The Garden hates unknowns."
'So they think I'm some hidden monster, when actually I'm a desperate idiot who got lucky.'
'Well. Better to be overestimated than underestimated. Right up until they fight me and find out.'
"What do you want from me?"
"Keep your eyes open."
From her sleeve came a small coin, black like obsidian, with a wilted flower wrapped in chains carved on its face.
"You can go places I can't. When you find something that leads to The Garden, burn this. The smoke will find me."
For now, he left it in her hand.
"Why would I help you?"
"Because tonight they tried to take you alive. Killing you was never the plan."
All the amusement left her face.
"They want you for something. And I promise you won't enjoy finding out what."
That was enough to make him take the coin. Cold and heavier than it looked, it sat in his palm. Before he could ask anything else, the woman turned her head toward the far end of the passage.
"Company."
Footsteps. Several people, walking slowly. The night patrol.
"Our time is up."
With one step back, she was inside the shadow of the pillar. Then the shadow moved. It climbed up her body like something alive, covered her shoulders and her face, and pulled her into a darkness much deeper than it should have been.
Revan had seen Sylvia's teleport anchors flash and fold space. This was silent, and somehow worse. Shadows were part of his work every day, yet he had never seen them obey anyone like that.
"One more thing, little servant."
The voice seemed to come from every direction.
"You looked surprised tonight that the crystals exist at all. Like you expected them to show up later."
Revan went still.
"So ask yourself this. If things can change once, what else might be different?"
Then she was gone. Only the empty passage remained.
The patrol came around the corner. Revan slipped into a side corridor and pressed himself against the wall until the voices passed. Even after they were gone, he stayed there a while longer.
'She noticed. Does she actually know I have knowledge I shouldn't have? Or was she fishing, and I just took the bait?'
Walking back to his room, he felt heavier than his wounds could explain. Behind him, the door clicked shut. He fell onto the bed with his clothes still on.
The coin went on the bedside table, face up. In the dark, the wilted flower seemed to stare back at him.
Sleep took a long time to come. When it finally did, he dreamed about red crystals and violet eyes.