29 went to supper and found the shadow there before him, talking quietly with the Senator. The shadow’s wound had become an old scar. “You’ve gone beyond murder this time,” she snapped once she saw him. “They were children!” Bile rose in his throat as she described the acts of terror. “On my life, Senator, I gave no such order.” “Yes, you did,” the shadow hissed, almost thoughtfully. “You ordered it directly, Father.” The man’s blood thickened with ice. “Did you— lie to me?” “I can’t. I’m bound to you. Aren’t I?” “Senator,” the man whispered, around a pasty tongue and numb lips. “Senator.” He tried. He tried, desperately, to get her away from the shadow. She didn’t see the danger. Gave him a pointed look, and didn’t move. “What do you want?” he asked the shadow. “I want you to be proud of me, Father.” “I—I have been.” “Yet you say nothing. Am I nothing to you?” “You,” he faltered, “you are my son.” The shadow rubbed the spiderwebbed scar on its chest. “Do you love me?” He raised his good arm to point to the door. “Go kill whoever did this,” he barked. “Find whoever was involved. Get answers before they get away.” The shadow bowed and dashed away. There were bodies, but no answers. It returned again and again, bowing, hand clutched to chest. Never news of the rebels. The man scarcely spoke but to send it again. The Senator expressed little concern for his well-being, though he came to supper with his arm in a sling for weeks. He kept the shadow away until the day it burst into her quarters unbidden— “Father! Father,” it cried. “The assassin is dead.” “Where was he from? Who was he working with?” “I could not—” “Go!” And the shadow bowed, light leaking through its claws, and dashed away. “You haven’t healed him?” the Senator asked. Her fingers strayed to the blade of her knife. The man gave silence for answer. * * * He left for a week, paying respects to one of his lords further south, as proof that he was neither ill in bed nor dying. The shadow had work to do, and remained behind. It was upon his return that he
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