Chapter 4: The Last Slot

"I'll tell neither of you," I said. "I'll tell you both the same thing."

Cadoc Vaughan unfolded his arms.

"Go on," he said.

"You keep your mouth shut, and I'll keep my distance," I said.

"That's two things," he said.

"Then I'll keep them both."

He laughed once, low, and the sound went straight down my spine.

"You don't have to keep your distance from me," he said. "I'm the one with the Captain's key to the east wing."

"I said distance."

"I heard you," he said.

The lamp over the bathhouse door guttered and steadied.

Behind it, in the dark between the buttresses, I could not see Iolo any more.

I did not know if he was listening.

I thought he was.

"The baths," I said. "I've the last slot. Nobody's in there after midnight."

"I know."

"Then you know what I need."

"A guard on the door," Cadoc said.

"A door with nobody behind it."

He looked at me for a long moment, and I understood he was deciding whether to make a joke or be kind.

He did neither.

"Wash," he said. "I'll stand at the end of the passage. Nobody comes by me."

The bathhouse was a long stone trough lit by one blue gas lamp.

Steam stood in the rafters.

I locked the plank door behind me and peeled the binding off my chest, and for the first time in two days I could expand my ribs.

I stood in the hot water up to my waist and cried a little, without sound.

It was only the pain of the cloth coming off.

I was sure of it.

I was still in the water when the door opened.

I had locked it.

I had heard the bolt shoot.

I turned in the steam with my arms across my chest, and Cadoc was standing four feet from me with the key to the east wing in his hand.

"I said distance," I said.