Séverin leaned in. “I made no promise to treat you as one. Is that the issue?” he asked mockingly. “Do you want me in your bed, Laila?”
Laila dug her nails into his wrist until he winced.
“I just want you to remember your promises.”
IN THE LIBRARY,the statues of the nine muses glimmered like nacre. A Mnemo projection hovering midair showed two sets of symbols. Laila recognized one of them as the images carved across the girls’ jaws.
The other set must have come from what Zofia had seen inside the leviathan.
Delphine greeted Laila with a huge scowl. As usual, the other woman was dressed impeccably—her steel-blond hair in a tight chignon, a dark sapphire cape trimmed in fox-fur cascading from around her shoulders. Laila considered her. Delphine was not…nice. But she was kind, and therein lay all the difference. When Delphine had led her away after they discovered the bodies, Laila managed to drag her fingers across the other woman’s scarves and furs. What she felt was the crush of loneliness like a clamp to her heart, and what she glimpsed was the memory of Séverin as a child: violet-eyed and cherub-cheeked, his eyes aglow with wonder. Shame tended to warp memories, conjuring slick and grimy textures in Laila’s readings. But the matriarch’s memories of Séverin ran through her mind like a river of light… and she couldn’t reconcile what Delphine had felt for him and what she had done to him. It made no sense.
“Are theyalwayslike this?” asked Delphine.
Laila looked beyond the other woman’s shoulder to where Hypnos and Enrique argued over the positioning of pillows on a chaise; Zofia absentmindedly lit matches and watched them burn; Séverin—who had left the atrium before her—pretended as though he noticed nothing; and poor Ruslan could only rub his head in confusion.
“They’re hungry,” said Laila.
“They’referal,” said Delphine.
“That too.”
“Should I call for food—”
Behind Laila, the doors opened once more and the attendants came in pushing a cart of food. Laila heard a sigh of “cake” as the food was distributed. Séverin, she noticed, took nothing.
“Let’s get started,” said Séverin loudly.
Delphine lifted an eyebrow, and had made her way to the small arrangement of chairs when Séverin held up his hand.
“Not you.”
Delphine stopped short. Hurt flashed across the other woman’s face.
“I am the one sponsoring your acquisition, therefore I can stay.”
“We already have the presence of two Order patriarchs.”
Delphine let her gaze settle over Ruslan, who waved apologetically, and Hypnos who was frowning over the stemware on his tray. Even Laila felt a slight cringe in her heart.
“What an inspiring sight,” said Delphine. “Two Order representatives strikes me as rather extraneous.”
“Fine,” said Séverin. “I will send one away.”
Across from Laila, Hypnos went still.
“Patriarch Ruslan, would you give us the room please?”
Ruslan blinked owlishly. “Me?”
“Yes.”
Laila caught the sudden sag of Hypnos’s shoulders. Relief clear in every line of his body. When he looked up at Séverin, something like hope touched his eyes.
Ruslan grumbled and pouted, before finally joining Delphine at the front of the room and offering her his uninjured arm. She took it as gingerly as if it were a soiled cloth.
“I will leave you to your work, then,” said Delphine. “But you should know that the Order continues to grow impatient.”
“Do they know where we are?” asked Séverin.
