“Do you find it so?”
“Yes. But it could be the circumstances. Yet Verity seemed often depressed, and he used it frequently. Again, it could be the circumstances.”
“It may be we shall never know.”
“You speak very freely tonight. Naming names, ascribing motives.”
“All is gaiety in the Great Hall tonight. Regal was certain he had bagged his game. All his watches were relaxed, all his spies given a night’s liberty.” He looked at me sourly. “I am sure it will not be the same again for a while.”
“So you think what we say here can be listened to.”
“Anywhere I can listen and peep, from there it is possible I could be overheard and spied upon. Only just possible. But one does not get to be as old as I am by taking chances.”
An old memory suddenly made sense. “You once told me that in the Queen’s Garden, you are blind.”
“Exactly.”
“So you did not know-”
“I did not know what Galen was putting you through, at the time he was doing it. I was privy to gossip, much of it unreliable and all of it far after the fact. But on the night he beat you and left you to die … No.” He looked at me strangely. “Had you believed I could know of such a thing and take no action?”
“You had promised not to interfere with my instruction,” I said stiffly.
Chade took his chair, leaned back with a sigh. “I don’t think you will ever completely trust anyone. Or believe that someone cares about you.”
Silence filled me. I didn’t know the answer. First Burrich and now Chade, forcing me to look at myself in uncomfortable ways.
“Ah, well,” Chade conceded to my silence. “As I began to say earlier. Salvage.”