Crowther and Ilva were seated too far apart to look at simultaneously. She had to keep glancing between them; Ilva was not looking at her, while Crowther studied her with a look of impassive curiosity.
Helena’s voice failed twice before she managed to speak. “But—why would he—I don’t think Ferron knows who I am.”
Crowther gave a slow reptilian blink. “The two of you were academically competitive, weren’t you?”
“W-Well, yes, technically, but—it was just the national exam scores. We never—never spoke. He was guild, and you know how they were—and I was—I was…”
The thirty-six-hour hospital shift had dulled her brain to the point that it was only then that she realised Ilva had not brought her into the office to censure her at all.
She looked between them again. “Are you asking me to—”
“W
