She snorted.
“I know many men who share the same opinion,” she muttered as she placed the envelopes carefully on her desk and turned to face me again.
“Maurice giving you problems?” I asked.
“No. He’s great. I just…we’re from two different worlds and he doesn’t understand mine. He’s got that Third Ringer mentality where you get married, settle down, have some kids, and try to squeeze out some happiness from each other. I’m not–it’s not that I don’t want that but I’ve dedicated myself to a life of study. Priestesses don’t get married and I–”
“You’re not a Priestess. Not yet. And you don’t have to become one.”
“Milo.”
“You’ve started on a path to becoming a Priestess but you aren’t one yet. The rules that govern them don’t apply to you. Sometimes our lives take us in a direction we never expected to go. Who knows? Maybe it’s the will of the Geist that you met this man instead.”
She frowned as her brow furrowed. I couldn’t blame her. I’d never been all that fervent about my faith, largely due to the fact that I knew more about the Geist than anyone and would hardly classify them as divine. So my calling their will into question now was likely raising all sorts of red flags with the acolyte.
“He’s a Third Ringer,” she said after a moment, vocalizing the second issue with her relationship, one which I imagined kept her up at all hours of the night.
“So was Adrian,” I reminded her. “It seemed to work out for her and Dante. They were even engaged with Cosmo’s blessing.”
“I’m not a Champion.”
“No. You’re his granddaughter.”
She eyed me for a second but then nodded and turned away. After a moment, she snorted.
“I caught them in here once, you know,” she said.
“Who?” I asked.
“Adrian and Dante. They were half dressed and all over each other on top of my desk there. I’ve scrubbed it as good as I can but it’ll never be the same.”
I barked out a laugh and Bria was smiling again, even if it was sadder than it had been before.
“I miss them,” she whispered a moment later.
I nodded, though I couldn’t agree entirely. I missed Adrian. Her refreshing curiosity, fervent loyalty, and fierce determination had been like a bucket of icy water dumped over my head up here where luxury was king and boredom reigned. But I didn’t miss Dante. I’d never truly liked the man if I were being honest and I’d always felt like Adrian deserved better. But Bria was his cousin, his family. Of course she would miss him.
“I just stood there,” she said after a moment, her voice so quiet I almost didn’t hear her. “Outside of the Tenth, when Cosmo forced her to go onto the next Trial, to leave forever without saying goodbye, I just stood there in that line with all the others.”
It was quiet for a moment as her words sank in. There was nothing for me to say, no way for me to alleviate the guilt she obviously felt for the role she’d played in Cosmo’s cruelty. I could tell she needed to confess it to someone though, that she needed to say the words out loud and own up to her actions.
“I didn’t speak up for her,” she continued. “I didn’t defend her just like I never defended Dante when grandfather…”
She trailed off, turning away with a sniff to wipe the tears from her eyes. I frowned. Cosmo was known throughout the entire city for his cold cruelty. He always found a way to justify his actions with religion. It was the will of the Geist, he claimed, and anyone who disagreed was a heretic who should be condemned. In reality, Cosmo of House Viper was the least religious of all. He would have to be to invoke the gods’ names so flippantly to get what he wanted. But everyone still fell for it, none more so than the priests. Bria, as an acolyte, wasn’t an exception.
“Did Cosmo force Adrian to become engaged to Dante?” I asked, finally vocalizing the question that had been burning through me ever since I’d attended that wretched engagement party for the pair back when she was still here.
Bria looked back at me and frowned, eyes still moist with unshed tears.
“Of course he did,” she replied. “You know Adrian. Do you really think she would have agreed to such a thing out of her own free will?”
Anger coursed through me, swift and strong. My fists clenched at my sides as I spoke the next word through gritted teeth.
“How?”
“Her brother went and married that girl they humbled for killing her partner,” Bria reminded me, voice low even alone as we were in this converted garden shed. “He circumvented the will of the Tribunal to elevate her to Second Ring status. The Tribunal couldn’t have allowed him to skirt their ordered justice so easily. They would have punished them both and perhaps the rest of the family as accomplices but Adrian stepped in. She came to Cosmo and offered herself up in exchange for his agreement not to seek punishment for her brother and family.”
“And Dante allowed this?” I could hear the anger in my own tone now.
