“I’m not looking to fight people,” I say.
“I’ll fight if that’s what it takes…” Saipha murmurs, her voice trailing off.
I focus on the silvered crossbow. The weapon is firmly welded to the wooden panel. But the panel itself doesn’t have obvious hooks, nails, or screws attaching it to the wall.Curious…Gripping it, I give it a firm tug. It doesn’t budge.
“It’s just a replica. What good will it do?” Saipha is being pushy today. Not that I blame her. More days of starving and fearing other supplicants is hardly appealing.
Lucan inspects the crossbow and its mount. “Try turning it.”
I twist, and the crossbow swings easily on a hidden pivot. There’s a click deep in the wall. I pull, and the whole placard swings open like a door, revealing a hidden room.
“What the…” Saipha whispers. “How did you know this was here?” She grabs my shoulder and half-turns me, looking me dead in the eyes. “Isola, are youcheating?”
49
I freeze, searching for a plausible excuse for how I knew this was here. My friend inspects me. She knows me too well. She’ll see through any lie.
“First the food. Now this. Is the vicar giving you an advantage?” she asks, a frown tugging on her lips.
I’m caught between a convenient excuse and a desperate desire to never be seen as relying on that man—but I can’t betray Callon. “Yes.” The word is as acrid as scourge on my tongue.
“Great. Another thing you couldn’t trust me with.” Saipha leans away, regarding me with a wary expression.
A flash of pain ignites in my chest. “It’s not what you think.”
Her gaze darts to Lucan. Ignoring me, she asks him, “Did you know?”
Lucan shakes his head.
“I thought better of both you and the vicar,” she says cooly.
“Excuse me?” I say, head spinning.
“The Tribunal is sacred. The vicar has said as much himself.”
“Since when do you care about whether or not what the Creed says is sacred?” It’s like I don’t even recognize her.
“Since when are you willing to take the easy way out?” she fires back. “The Isola I knew didn’t want to be handed anything, especially not by the Creed and the vicar. She wanted to earn her rank and title. She was willing to lie and sneak if that’s what it took to get in the wall on her own so she could practice for Mercy. Now you’re accepting the vicar’s help to cheat?” Saipha looks away with a shudder.
I need to fix this. Now. “That’s exactly what I did! I got the vicar to mess up and say something he shouldn’t.”
That pauses her, and I seize my opening. I hate compoundingmy lies, but I’ve no other choice. I can’t bear to lose my friend.
“I probed and pushed him, Saipha. It’s no different than me sneaking into the Creed’s library. I wasn’t sure if what he told me would even be helpful—or if I read between the lines correctly. But the first thing was helpful. And I think this will be, too.”
She chews on this, and I fight holding my breath—fight looking even guiltier.
“Can we talk about this inside?” Lucan gestures toward the opening in the middle of the wall that the crossbow plaque revealed. “Before someone sees the only safe spot we have?”
Saipha gives me a hard look, and for a second I really think she’s going to refuse to enter. But, with a sigh, she steps through the opening behind the placard. Lucan meets my eyes and gestures for me to go ahead. At least he doesn’t look mad at me…
We close the trick door and make a quick inspection of the room. It appears to be another workshop of some kind. Four open doorways line one main room—two workshops, a bathroom, a laboratory that will serve well as a kitchen. To my relief, I walk over and note it has a running tap. A thick blanket of dust covers all the surfaces, casting everything in a gauzy hue.
“It looks like no one has been in here for a long time,” Lucan muses.
“That means no one else knows about it,” I say, feeling confident in this at least. “Perfect place to hole up.”
“And probably somewhere we’re not supposed to be,” Saipha murmurs. “Maybe the vicar was testing you to see if you’d cheat and this is a trap.”
