She was frowning now, her impassioned speech bringing out more emotion than she seemed to have expected.Gryfon stood nearby, arms crossed, clearly displeased that she'd mentioned his involvement at all. I couldn't fathom why. If he truly was the hero she hinted he was, I couldn't imagine why he wouldn't want that more widely known. Then again, hero status would mean he'd have to sacrifice his hard-earned reputation as a surly asshole.
“So, they still aren’t safe,” I said slowly. “Not entirely.”
“No one is safe in Sanctuary,”Primamuttered. “Ignorant, yes. But safe? Never. Not as long as there's a Culling. Not as long as they keep pledging those foolish oaths and entering those dangerous Trials.”
I frowned, trying to process all I'd just learned.
“What’s it like now?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
I looked up to find her eyes gleaming in the soft light of the candles flickering in the corners of the tent.
I could have lied. I could have assured her Sanctuary existed in the splendor it must have been during her time. But I didn’t. I told her the truth of it, all of it. I told her of the class separation, the way those in the lower rings lived, the religious fanaticism of the upper rings, the elitist society of the Major Houses, her house in particular. I told her aboutCosmoandMyrine,but not Dante. I could tell she suspected my connection with her former house by the way she narrowed her gaze at my detailed explanation of her ancestral home but I didn't verify those suspicions. Finally, I told her about the violence that was brewing there now, about the line of acolytes who'd shown up atCosmo’sorders to keep me from returning to my family after the ninth Trial, about the zealots who'd hailed my partner and Ias saints only to be slaughtered in the streets in front of us, and finally about the beheading of a boy from the lower rings to force his brother through the Culling arch that I'd seen just before we broke out of the Underground.
She listened to it all with a frown, expression hardly changing as I detailed what life in her so-called paradise had become. Upon the utterance of a few such details,Gryfon’s gaze finally swept away from me and to her but she never offered a reaction, even for his benefit. When I'd finished, she sat in silence for some time, so long it wasGryfonwho broke it first.
“Prima,” he said slowly, cautiously.
“It's as we feared then,” she interrupted him with a sigh. “Another revolution based on a religion that worships false gods.”
“Another revolution?” I asked, gaping at her in awe.
“For a proposed paradise, Sanctuary has quite the bloody history,” she told me, brow arched once more. “Not that you would know about that. I’m certain they do quite a good job of hiding such history from you. But it happens, I’m afraid, every few hundred years or so. Those at the top become corrupted by their power or the High Houses begin to fightamongstthemselves for more. They base their arguments on religion, invoking theGeist’snames to stir the public to their sides. Violence erupts, tensions rise, people die. We tried to intervene in one such dispute over a thousand years ago, even went to theGeistto beg their assistance. Do you know what those supposed gods called it?Population control.”
I shuddered at the cruelty.
“People are dying,” I said. “Innocent people.”
“And they will continue to,”Primareplied, rising from her seat. She passed me on her way to the exit.
I whirled around, stunned by her indifference and her sudden departure.
“You intend to do nothing?” I snapped, enraged by her sudden disinterest.
“Perhaps I could,” she replied from just before the flap. She raised a brow again as she spoke. “If I had someone capable of removing the wards surrounding the city.”
My fists clenched and I grit my teeth, chastened.
“You were supposed to be training her,”Primasaid then, turning toGryfonwho finally stepped forward from the shadows.
“I can do nothing with her until she manages to actually call the dark,” he replied, gruffly.
“I’m trying!” I cried out, throwing my arms up in frustration.
“Try harder,”Primasaid firmly, turning back to me. “AndGryfon, help her. You can’t possibly expect the girl to do everything herself. Need I remind you, youarethe most suited to assist her.”
Gryfon’s jaw ticked in annoyance.
“You'll rise at sunset to train,”Primaordered both of us, tone ringing of pure authority I hadn’t heard yet but now seemed to always be underlying every word she spoke. “We'll move after breakfast and reachArchíby sunset.”
“My friends—” I started, stepping forward.
“Will be well taken care of and will have the opportunity to learn the skills that suit them,”Primatold me. “Archíis a free society, Adrian. I know you have no semblance of what that truly means, but I take pride in it as my only true and lasting accomplishment in this world.”
With that,Primathrew aside the canvas flap and vanished into the night beyond. Silence settled over the tent once she was gone. I turned slowly toGryfon who was now glowering at my side.
“So—” I started.
“Meet at the rock at sunrise,” he growled in clear dismissal. “Don’t be late.”
