I never saw the moment of Sasha's murder, but I did see her body. Then I became acquainted and re-acquainted with it during my sleep in the weeks following her death. But those dreams had vanished a long time ago.

Or so I'd thought.

There was a young woman lying in the entrance to the gambling hall. I understood that much. Her hair was dark and wrapped around her neck, tangled up, half covering her pale face. Blood had seeped from her abdomen into her tunic and dried there. Red scratches crawled up the skin of her arms.

They'd said they thought she was my sister. But my sister didn't look like that. She hadn't looked like that when she'd left me.

Her eyes were open. That was the worst thing of all. They looked at me as I looked at her, both despairing and empty at once.

"Is that her?" someone asked beside me. "Can you identify her, miss? Is that your sister?"

My blood was roaring in my ears. My legs felt weak, and I was suddenly too hot in my leather coat. I fumbled with the fastenings, trying to take it off before I fainted.

"Grace?" Sasha said.

I blinked, and she was standing up in front of me. Her eyes were still lifeless, looking through my skin. The rest of the room was suddenly empty.

I'd never seen this in a dream before.

"Why did you kill him?" Her voice echoed around the hall. "I didn't want revenge. I didn't want anyone to die because of me. Why?"

All I could do was shake my head. Black spots appeared before my eyes.

"Why?" Sasha stumbled towards me, a trickle of blood slipping between her lips. "Why?"

My knees gave way, and the world turned dark.

***

"Captain Grace?" There was a knock on my door. "Wake up, Captain Grace!"

I shot upright in bed. My blankets fell off, and I pushed my damp fringe away from my forehead with a shaking hand. Where am I?

The sharp rapping came again. "Captain Grace!"

The sleepy fog in my brain cleared, and everything flooded back to me at once. I cleared my throat. "Yes, I'm awake. What is it?"

"Prince Leo wants you in the servants' quarters with no delay, ma'am!"

"All right." I groaned and pushed my blankets away completely. The servants' quarters?

Clara came in silently and lit the fire while I rummaged through my trunk. The first thing I pulled out was a short, navy blue dress. I almost cast it aside, then hesitated. Frocks and gowns had never been my thing, but my usual fashion sense had made me stick out like a sore thumb amongst the murder investigation committee last night. I was supposed to be Prince Leo's partner, now.

I pulled the dress on. The bodice was tight, with gold ribbons decorating both sides in a criss-cross pattern. Three-quarter length sleeves hugged my arms, but the short skirt flared out a little, and its pleats added to the gentle volume.

Clara stood up from the fire and made a one-second assessment of me. Then she found a pair of black stockings and handed me my boots. I put them on as fast as I could, threw a cloak over my shoulders, and stemmed my impatience while Clara fastened it with a gold brooch. I tied my weapons belt around my waist and dragged my hands through my hair as a method of speed combing it, then threw open the door.

I immediately stopped again. I had no idea where the servants' quarters were.

Clara stepped into the corridor and beckoned.

I hurried after her, self-consciously tugging on my short skirt. "Thank you."

We walked quickly through the castle, Clara clicking in her high-heeled boots and me squeaking in mine. After a few minutes, the labyrinth of hallways came to an abrupt end at a large, oak door. Clara turned the handle and led me through.

We stepped into another dark corridor. This one was bustling with servants, all trying to crowd around the rooms closest to us. Several members of the Royal Guard were herding them away.

Leo was standing in the first doorway to our left, his hands clasped behind his back. He was frowning. "Our murderer was busy last night, Grace. Come in."

I followed him inside, gagging as the stench of rotten milk hit me. It was a large room, easily three times the size of mine, but only one brass lantern hung from the ceiling and the light was not nearly enough. Eight bunk beds were pushed against the walls, some half dismantled, so I guessed that the room was being refurbished. No one would have slept in it during the murder.

There was a message carved across the wood of a bunk still standing. SOMEONE REMEMBERS.

The victim, a young butler, was lying in the middle of the room. A broad man clad in an apron and leather gloves was crouched over the body. He rolled the butler's head to the side and studied something on his neck. Then he stood up and turned around, yanking off one glove and running a hand through his hair. His eyes, encased behind the lenses of wire glasses, landed on me. They widened, and his eyebrows rose. "Goodness, who's this, my lord? Lady Savina?"

I grinned. "Oh, good, I must look like I fit in now. I'm Gra--"

"Captain Grace," Leo cut in, his jaw tightening as he looked at my outfit properly. "She's a member of the Macarath Nohrian Guard who I've recruited to help with this investigation. She will be working alongside me from now on until the case is closed. Grace, this is Gideon, our pathologist. And the victim is a butler who worked part-time for Kass."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Captain Grace." Gideon gave me an appraising look, before putting his glove back on and returning his attention to the body. "Come and see our third victim."

I stepped closer. "Gods."

This was now the fourth body I had seen in my life -- there had been Sasha, then Janus' victim after he'd come out of hiding, then Janus -- but I still felt the blood drain from my face. I'd never seen a more heinous corpse. His veins had risen right to the surface of his skin, bulging like blue worms.

"The only poison I know that causes this sort of reaction is mivine," Gideon said. "Mivine smells like rotten milk, as the victim does, so that confirms it. You can see the puncture wound from the needle in his neck." He pointed to a mark so small I would have missed it. "You can also see he was restrained like the others by the bruising on his shoulders. His back is a similar colour where his blood has settled, suggesting that he collapsed in this position and hasn't been moved."

"That's called livor mortis, isn't it?" I said.

"Yes." Gideon smiled at me. "Do you think you can tell how long he's been dead for?"

A challenge. My heart beat faster as I crouched beside the body and studied it. "Rigor mortis has set in and is almost complete -- but not quite -- so he's been here for at least six or seven hours." I glanced at Leo. "Rigor mortis is when the muscles become locked in a rigid position because there's no oxygen --"

"Yes, I know what rigor mortis is," he snapped. "And now, if you two have finished showing off to each other, we need alibis from the Hoshidans. This murder is connected to Kass again, and I don't like it."

"Wait!" I straightened up beside him. "Gideon, I've been told about your expert knowledge of poisons. Do you have access to any?"

"I actively study them," Gideon said. "Mostly, I see which poisons counteract each other and work as antidotes. I have almost all poisons known to mankind in my quarters, but I keep them in a locked chest." He hesitated. "Perhaps you'd like to come and look at the poisons that were used on our victims? I could tell you a bit more about them."

Was that toxicologist speak for arranging a date?

Leo seemed to think so. His face darkened with disapproval.

"Not now," he growled, striding towards the door. "Captain Grace, follow me."

Just to wind Leo up, I turned and smiled at Gideon over my shoulder as I left. "I'd love to when I'm no longer on duty. Maybe I'll catch you later."

***

"If you go to his quarters," Leo said as we left the castle, "you will find dozens of drugged and poisoned mice on which he conducts his antidote experiments."

"Jealous?" I teased, but I couldn't stop myself from wrinkling my nose in disgust.

"I'm concerned that you're going to flirt with everyone who's involved in this investigation. One of the ninjas we're about to speak with is a man. Is that going to be a problem?"

I stopped in my tracks. "What do you take me for?"

Leo halted and turned around. "What are you doing? Keep walking."

"How much did you find out about my sister after her death?"

"Could you let it go?" His ears reddened. "We have to --"

"No. You found out that she was a whore, didn't you?" I folded my arms. "And now that your pathologist-toxicologist man likes me, you're thinking that I'm going to turn your castle into a brothel. Well, let me tell you something, Prince Leo. Sometimes, in the real world, we can't get ourselves nice, respectable jobs. You can starve, or you can take what's available. My sister worked in the brothels so that I wouldn't have to. She was no slut -- and it doesn't run in our family's blood, either."

I pushed past him, knocking his shoulder. He followed me. "That's not what I meant."

"Good. But I thought we should clear that up just in case it was."

He drew alongside me. "Sarcasm doesn't suit you, Grace."

"Lies don't suit you."

He glowered and looked away.

We crossed a bridge to the platform I'd seen soldiers training on the previous night. The guest rooms were to our east. The water was to our west, and ahead of us was a squat building of black stone, separated from the castle.

"The barracks," Leo explained as we approached it. His voice was sharp, and he kept his eyes trained straight ahead. "The Hoshidan ninjas are paid to train groups of our soldiers here. They'll be inside."

He took the steps two at a time, and as I'd been expecting him to, we marched up them in synchronisation. He drew ahead as we passed under a short canopy, pushed open the door, and held it behind him with the tips of his fingers until it was out of his reach. I glowered at his back. It was going to take more than a half-gentlemanly gesture to make up for his cold words.

The garrison was brighter inside than I'd been expecting: the stonework was grey, not black, and for once the torchlight shone into every corner. A corridor stretched out on either side of us, from which faint shouts rose as the soldiers jested. Just ahead, four people in distinctive Hoshidan clothing featuring scarves and bladed kotes were standing together in the middle of the flagstone floor -- three women and one man. The rest of the hall was devoid of both people and decorations.

The ninja in the middle of the group, a woman with ginger hair and a pink scarf, was the first to catch sight of us, and she lit up with a smile. "Good morning, Prince Leo."

The others turned towards us: a blonde woman with delicate features, a brunette with a scar across her forehead, and a man with a gloomy expression.

"Good morning," Leo said curtly. "There was another murder in the castle last night, so I've come to question you again. This is Captain Grace, who will now be assisting our investigation. Grace, this is Kaon, Emiko, Mura, and Jin."

Kaon, the woman with a scar across her forehead, scowled. "This is the third time you've questioned us. Why not just arrest us now? It's clear that you're desperate to pin the blame on someone Hoshidan."

"I'm questioning you because you arrived in the castle at same time these murders started," Leo said coldly. "It would be grossly negligent not to question you. But if you refuse to co-operate, I will arrest you."

"Goodness, you do enjoy handcuffing people," I remarked. "Is it a fetish?"

If looks could kill, I would have been hung and quartered.

Mura, at least, appreciated my snide comment. She giggled, fiddling with her pink scarf. But Kaon's scowl deepened. Her gaze travelled slowly over my outfit. "Captain of what?"

"A platoon in Macarath's division of the Nohrian Guard," I said. The lie felt strange.

She scoffed. "So nothing much, really."

"Kaon," the blonde said, but her voice was more soothing than scathing. "Why don't we all go into the break room for a moment and talk?"

Their break room was a storage cupboard. It was mostly filled with old swords covered in dust and some random bits of leather training armour in cardboard boxes marked Spares. There was hardly room to swing a cat, let alone seat six people for an interrogation session. Leo and I took Emiko, the blonde, in first and left the others standing outside.

"We'll cut to the chase," Leo said. "Where were you during the early hours of this morning, before dawn?"

"Asleep, my lord."

"Can anyone verify that?" I asked.

"Not really, ma'am. We usually request to eat down here with the rest of the soldiers after dusk. Then we take it in turns to tidy our equipment up. Jin and I had our turn last night while Kaon and Mura went up to bed. Then Jin and I went back into the castle and up to our rooms. That's the last time anyone saw me, I'm afraid. I stayed in my room all night."

We let her go so that she could carry on training the soldiers. Kaon and Mura, when they each came in, testified the same story. We asked them what they had last seen the other doing, and both of them said that after they'd entered the castle, they'd gone to their rooms and seen no more of each other until the morning.

But Jin had a different story.

He started off by telling us, as Emiko had, that it had been his turn to tidy up. Then he and Emiko had gone to their rooms and separated.

"And did you see either Kaon or Mura?" I asked.

"I could hear both of them laughing in Kaon's room as we passed," he said. "Emiko went to her room. I went to mine. I heard Kaon's door open and close several times in the night. But it stopped long before dawn."

Leo frowned. "Emiko didn't mention that."

Jin shrugged. "She's worried they'll be punished for having a good time when they're supposed to be here to work. She probably didn't want to get them into trouble. Those three banded together the moment we got here."

"Leaving you out in the cold?" I asked.

Jin glared at me. "I'm here to work, not socialise. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a platoon of your soldiers waiting."

He left the room. Leo shut the door and leaned on it, frowning across the tiny storage cupboard at me.

"That rattled him," I said in the most neutral tone I could muster. I fixed my eyes on one of the crates. "Do you think it's perhaps not Emiko, Kaon, and Mura who are lying, but Jin?"

"Why would Jin lie?"

"Out of jealousy. Perhaps he resents the others for not including them in his social circle, and he wants to stir things up for them."

"No. I think his isolation is self-inflicted. Besides, if he wanted to get them into trouble, wouldn't he have said that Emiko visited Kaon's room, too?"

I contemplated it. "All right, so the three women lied. But why?"

"Because Kaon and Mura were involved in the murder, and Emiko is covering for them," Leo suggested, his eyes darkening.

"Jin said all the noise stopped long before the murder. No one was opening or closing doors."

"He must have fallen asleep at some point. Kaon and Mura could have easily come out again and gone to the servants' quarters without anyone hearing. They're ninjas."

I sighed. "Well, at least we have something to work with. We should try finding the women and questioning them again once their sessions are over."

"Regrettably, I have to go." Leo straightened up in my peripheral vision. "Damn royal duties. Don't ask them anything else until I'm with you. I want to hear what they have to say for themselves. Xander is calling another meeting with the committee tonight -- which you'll be expected to attend -- and Camilla is due to arrive this afternoon, so we'll likely spend all night bringing her up to speed. We won't have time to come back until tomorrow morning."

He left before I even had the chance to protest.

What was I going to do now?

Maybe I would eat some breakfast and then find Gideon, just to wind Leo up even further. But the prospect of annoying him didn't seem so amusing on this occasion. His accusations about my behaviour and his silent judgement stung. I didn't want to give him cause to insult either Sasha or me any further.

I supposed, then, that I should try to make some other breakthrough on the case. Who else could I talk with?

Perhaps I should try the very woman who all these murders were connected to.