Us?
I'm not joining their cultic table.
Kirill and Fiona freeze, staring at her.
"Please," she adds, voice cracking with urgency.
Kirill exhales, jaw grinding, and closes his eyes like he's bracing for a blow. He opens them slowly.
"Of course you can have them," Fiona offers.
Hope flashes across Valentina's face. Then it dies.
Kirill states, "No. Unfortunately, you can't give them the open seats."
Valentina's body stiffens beside me. "Why not?" she demands.
"They saved us," Fiona cries out, looking genuinely confused and hurt.
Sympathy softens Kirill's features for only a moment. He turns to Valentina. "There has to be a cleansing ritual. You know this, Valentina."
Fiona scrunches her face. "What does that mean?"
"It was one of the missing sections in your Royal Doctrine. It's Amendment 666," he informs her.
I stare at him, trying not to snort.
Amendment 666.
Of course it is.
Fiona scoffs. "The same amendment that almost got us beheaded?"
"Yes."
"And what is so special about this amendment?" she asks.
Kirill glances between us, then pins his attention on Fiona, answering, "Seats must be refilled with the same status as those who left."
"Meaning?" Fiona pushes.
"If an individual dies unmarried, another unmarried individual takes the seat. But if a couple dies, then another couple replaces them," Kirill asserts.
Fiona wrinkles her nose. "That's stupid."
"Agreed," I mutter.
Kirill snaps his attention to me. "Don't belittle the rules Fiona's father created. They are to keep balance."
Fiona folds her arms. "So they should get married."
I jerk my head backward and grunt.
Sure, Fiona. And fairies exist, too.
Kirill shakes his head. "No. The amendment states that the evil needs to be cleansed from the seats during a purity ritual."
She admits, "I'm still lost."
