When she says it didn’t work, Palamedes stills, feeling as though something cold has been dropped down his back. But no—she can’t be talking about the Contingency. Gideon wouldn’t know about the Contingency. Though, of course, Camilla would tell her—Gideon and Harrow, they would be the ideal people to enlist to help, and they would help, even if they ended up grumbling the whole time. Together, the three would have done everything they could to bring him back. What if, in the end, everything hadn’t been enough?

But then Gideon keeps speaking, and Palamedes' shoulders relax just perceptively. “It slowed her down,” he says without a hint of doubt in his voice. “I’ve been studying the Seventh House cancer for twelve years, and she would have been in a shocking amount of pain, Lyctorship or not.” He has to stop for a moment and take a breath. “Between that and the explosion, she would have needed time to recover."