tapped the table. “How many?”
Iris sighed. “I’d much rather discuss a deal.”
“I’m an Arbiter. I can’t be bribed.”
“I know that, but you’re not without sense either.”
He tapped the table again. “How many.”
Iris looked away.
Max stood up. “I’ll come back in a few hours. I’ll bring a Truth Mask with me. The one with the extra-sharp spikes.”
“About half of them. I think. I don’t recall exactly.”
“Do they all just blur into one over the years?” Max said, sitting back down.
“Something like that. You have to understand, Mr Arbiter, it wasn’t my choice to do this. I didn’t wake up one morning and decide it would be a jolly jape to go into Mundanus and destroy people’s lives.”
“But you went and did it anyway.”
“I had no choice. My patron expects his requests to be carried out immediately and without question. If I had disobeyed, I would have been replaced and another would have done his bidding.”
“I have no interest in the pressure he put on you. You’re a puppet, I know that already. I’m going to point to each picture, you say yes if you took them, no if you did not.”
The photos were sorted and the ones he denied taking were put back in the file. All of the pictures from the newspaper article were included among those left on the table.
“Why did Lord Iris want these people?”
“I have no idea. It’s not my place to question why.”
“Let me rephrase that. Did he ask for these people specifically?”
“No. He asked for people with particular qualities. That one, on the edge there, I took him because my Lord asked for a skilled musician. And that girl there, the same reason.” He paused, frowning to himself. “I didn’t want to. I knew their families would—”
“What other qualities?”
Iris sighed. “That one in the red shirt, he was taken because he had committed a crime, a violent one. The same for that one with the awful hair, yes, him, and that one with the appalling teeth. They were easier to take, I confess. I think I did some good removing them from Mundanus.”
Max noted the reason on the back of each picture and placed them back in the file. When they were done, he scanned the remainder. Over forty photos remained, including that of his father. “Which quality did these people have?”
“They were rebellious, in a variety of ways, but that was the quality he wanted.”
Max pointed to the picture of his father and the other foundry workers. “Tell me about those.”
Iris frowned. “That was a difficult night.”
“That’s when you got your scar.”
Iris nodded. “I’d already taken about half of them the previous night. They were a common lot, but they were some of the first to unionise in the city and were very vocal about it too. They were planning to strike and force the owner to increase pay. It was rather controversial at the time.”
“And how did you take them?”
“A very simple Persuasion Charm. Nothing violent. I invited them to my house for dinner, just like all the others. Once they were in the Nether, I simply told them to step through a mirror into Exilium.”
“And what happened the second night?”
“The owner of the factory was waiting for me and attacked. That’s how I got the scar. I never went back there again.”
“The people taken for being rebellious. What happened to them?”
“I have no idea. They were certainly never returned from Exilium.”
“Could they still be alive?”
“One can live indefinitely in Exilium, but only with the favour and care of one of the Lords or Ladies. Lord Iris is not one for keeping pets.”
“At least, not in Exilium,” Max said, and Iris bristled but said nothing.
“I should think he took whatever he wanted, or used them for whatever purpose he had in mind, and if they survived, well, it would be mere speculation.”
“Speculate.”
“I imagine they would have starved to death. I’ve heard tell of such things. Once the Fae lose interest in a mortal that’s trapped in Exilium, it’s very easy for them to forget about them altogether. The nature of the place is such that if they have no interest in an individual, they will never see them.”
“I know how Exilium works.”
“Quite. That’s all I know. Now I know you have no interest in a deal, but what if I could help with another investigation of yours? Would it make your report to my Patroon more favourable?”
Max called the Aquae Sulis Reticulata-Iris family tree to mind. George was the firstborn. No leverage there