Lips pulled back, I scoffed. “You can’t do anything to stop it. Theonlyone who can”—I swatted my parasite’s chest again—“refuses to do anything, lest he endanger his precious cousin.”
The captain laughed, incredulous. “Were you present in the baths, or were you lost in your own charmed little world? Blood means less than nothing to that man except when it can be used as a weakness. A pressure point.” Clenching his fist so hard the knuckles popped, he admitted his failure. “Harper set a trap, and I was too distracted to notice it snapping shut. A mistake I won’t make twice, but Idoknow that man—mycousin—cannot be defeated with strength alone.”
“Because you’re a coward—”
“Because it’s not an option!” he roared, seizing my shoulders. Shaking me. “Did you forget I cannot use your ki without risking your life andmine?”
But his theatrics no longer held the power to subdue me, if they ever had at all. “Then what do you suggest wedo,surrounded as we are. Trapped as we are.”
“Well,” Marco said, and exhaled, engulfing Alicia in a great white puff of smoke. “Sorry, beautiful.” He swatted at the cloud, grimacing when she coughed. “We’ve got options—Oi!”
Alicia plucked the lit cigarette from Marco’s lips. “It’s a filthy habit,” she snapped, tossing his smoke into the sink. “And you’ll not be doing it in this house.” In answer, the soldier could only stare, jaw unhinged. Prim, she nodded, turning back to the conversation. “You were sayin’?”
Marco cleared his throat, and began ticking options off on his fingers. His obedience the strongest argument I’d yet seen for Alicia’s mandate to ‘play the part’. “Murder. Call in political favors. Go out in a glorious last stand, fighting to the end. Or”—his nose wrinkled—“run. Flee tonight before the general comes to collect the Wildcat, and live out our pitiful lives in the wilderness, absent the luxury I’ve become accustomed to.”
“There’ll be no spilling blood unless it’s our very last option,” the captain countered, scrubbing at the back of his head. “Anyone who owes me a favor either doesn’t have the rank to overrule a general, or is still in the Capital and too far away to help. I don’t have to explain why I’m not interested in the ‘last stand’ option,exceptas a last stand.”
I grinned. “Then we run. Leave this wretched place and go to the forest.” A forest where none could survive ifIdidn’t allow it…
The captain rolled his eyes. “Assuming we could get past the men watching this residence, to run would be to confirm Harper’s suspicions. And there’s nothing the Empire wouldn’t do to recover the power of a Trila-Glís.Nothing. Tell me,” he continued, cutting me off before I could counter his assessment. “Would you leave the other Priestesses to suffer in your stead? To bear the brunt of your punishment?”
For a moment, I merely gaped. And then a scowl crinkled my face. Ceding a point to the enemy.
Alicia snapped her fingers.“Wehave advantage.”
“How’s that now?” Marco asked, plucking a fresh smoke from the pack, though at Alicia’s fierce glare, settled for twirling it between his fingers.
“The general thinks he’s won. Plan already in place. Already counting the wee lassie among his winnings, isn’t he? Thinks having Mila tested again will uncover her true nature and reveal the captain as a traitor, loyal only to himself. What we need is t’prove him wrong. Beat that inflated prick at his own game.”
“And how do you suggest we do that?” I asked, eying the brilliant Eloran scientist.
“I was schooled in the Temple before the Fall,” Alicia said, the evasive truth sliding off her tongue with a smile. “I know much o’Tritan lore. Could talk ‘till your ears bleed, but more relevant, I saw my share o’Flourishings. It’s how the Priestesses know who are Triloth and who will be their next Trila-Glís. It’s not the general we’ve got t’fool,” she continued, grinning now. “It’s the Lotus Regula.”
Gooseflesh prickled at my skin, but I didn’t move. Didn’t breathe, for fear that Alicia had given up too much and outed herself as one of Tritan’s elusive rogue scientists. Unless, of course, they alreadyknewof her past, and their lack of reaction was proof that she was the traitor I thought she was.
But the captain didn’t appear to catch her slip, instead saying, “I’m listening.”
“A Triloth o’moderate potentialbeforethe Fall woulda had the ability to turn the Lotus green, and call thick, healthy vines into being. Now? Bound in Glaith? Who’s t’say how the Lotus’ll react to each Priestess?”
“I am,” I replied, digging at a band of gold ringed with scabs, letting it catch the light and her eye, both.“I’mto say. I’m bound tothisinflated prick, and I touched the Lotus yesterday. It bloomed.”
“Yes,” she said. “But were you wearin’ theRaith?”
I recoiled, colliding with the captain’s naked chest, teeth bared. “No.”
“Raith? I’m not familiar with that term. What’s—”
“No.”I shook my head, squirming when the captain tried to restrain me. “I won’t do it.”
“You’ve no other choice, lass. Raith’s the only thing with even half a chance at foolin’ the Lotus. Virgin Glaith canna compare. Your chains o’gold and Glaith canna compare. Neither can contain one such asyoufor long.”
Jolting with apparent understanding, the captain’s arms tightened around me. “Eidolon. You’re talking about binding her with Eidolon. Alicia… that’s… That’sbrilliant.”
“No,” I said again, twisting and writhing. “It’s insane. I could barely walk with that heinous filth touching my skin—and that wasbeforeyou took everything from me, Asher. What do you think’ll happen now, when I have nothing left to spare? If it doesn’t kill me outright, it’ll be obvious something is amiss.”
“You needn’t wear it for long, lass. Only long enough to fool the Lotus.”
“She’s right,” the captain breathed. “I can tie the leather around your wrist, loosely, and when it’s time, flip the stone so it touches your skin. We can only hope it’ll be enough.”
