It dawns on me that I asked her to meet up inside the Orrery Tower today. I wasn’t there. “Goddess, Cordelia. I’m so sorry,” I sigh. “It’s been a hell of a day. I completely forgot. But I’m free now, if you have a moment.”
Aside from her aura, she’s deceptively well-composed. “It’s all right. My questions can wait, but both of you had better come with me now.” She turns to me. “It’s Tiss.”
Bibi croaks, her head tilting this way and that.
The scent of smoke clings to Cordelia’s clothes. The three of us are closing the distance between my rooms and Tiss’s at a frantic clip.
“I was tending the apiary when Tiss came out of the bathhouse, so of course I ran to help,” she explains. “Thanks to the fuss we were making, Sadrie saw and rushed right over.”
We turn a corner, Maida and I close on Cordelia’s heels.
“What was shedoingin there?” my friend asks for the third time. At this point the question is rhetorical.
“That’s exactly what I’ve been wondering,” Cordelia mutters. “Disrupting that betrothed girl—”
“Wait. Whatbetrothedgirl?” I cut in. This detail is new.
“The one being punished.”
I damn near trip over my own feet. “With her mouth sewn shut?”
“Lydia. Yes. Did I notjustsay this?” Cordelia’s getting flustered now. But this is a lot to take in, and Maida and I are doing our best.
“No. I would’ve caught that.”For fuck’s sake.I’ve got a pretty good idea what Tiss was up to. According to the look Maida shoots me, she does too. And she isn’t happy.
Cordelia says, “She’s not talking much at the moment. She’s embarrassed, I think. Or angry. But with how much blood she has on her—”
“Blood?” I snap, far harsher than I mean to. “What blood, Cordelia?”
“This is what I’ve been trying to tell you,” Cordelia throws her hands up. “From what I could get out of her, Sister Ailen took that cane to her.”
A low growl escapes me, prompting Maida’s hand to land on my wrist. The gesture does little to calm the anger pounding through me.
“But her injuries…” Cordelia falters. “She said Ailen struck her on the head and shoulder, and she bit through her tongue. And now she’s… Goddess, it’s hard to describe.”
Wait.“She’s healing,” I say. “Quicker than she ought to be. Isn’t she, Cordelia?”
The acolyte peers over her shoulder. “How did you know?”
I can hardly breathe from the sheer relief. “That’s one of the things you and I are eventually going to discuss.”
We reach Tiss’s rooms to find Sadrie next to her on the bed. I stop short, surprised to see them sitting together. My heart squeezes pleasantly for half a second.
Their shoulders are pressed close. Fingers interlaced. Auras smudged and blurred with incandescence reminiscent of love.
“Oops, so sorry for interrupting,” Cordelia says.
They hurl themselves apart. A moment later, all the color drains from the world.
“Please,” Maida snorts. “I hardly think you two are surprising anybody in this room.”
My limbs lock up, my body shaking while I take in Tiss’s full state. The sheerquantityof blood down the front of her rumpled dress—
“Fuck me,” I mutter and turn away. Yank loose the thick knot on the back of my head. Fury scorching my veins, I run my hands through my hair and retrace my steps to the door.
“El,” Maida says, hand on my elbow. “She’s fine. Shewillbe fine.”
“I’ll watch this temple burn to the ground and piss on the ashes before I let any more harm come to her, Maida,” I grit out. “Deirdre’s fucking fortunate I’m not hunting that nun of hers down with a bar of soap in a pillowcase right about now.”
