I have no answer for that.
"What about the Shroudmaidens? Are they really sacrificed healers?"
"I don't know for certain. But an old Veritas scholar had a theory." He pauses. "He believed the maidens sacrificed themselves for Pia. To help her in the afterlife."
"How? Why?"
"He didn't explain. Just said he saw a pattern."
I think of the Shroudmaidens in the tunnels. Their glowing eyes. Their accusation:You fed?—
"This is awful," I whisper. "All of it."
"It's not your fault."
I scoff. "Maybe not the oldest residents. Maybe not directly. But it's still my fault."
"You couldn't have known!" He slides off the table and grabs the edge when his legs wobble. "We couldn't have!"
"I should have. I made those elixirs for years, Jordi. Years. How could I not sense something was wrong?"
"You stopped the moment you suspected something was wrong. You didn't even know the full truth." He shakes his head. "I can't believe you didn't tell me."
"It wouldn't have changed anything."
A wave of emotion crashes over me. The curse. The bargain. Everything I haven't told him.
"Jordi. I need you to go with Draven."
"I can't. I read that prophecy. I saw what's coming." His voice cracks. "I can't lose you."
I press my hand to my throat. "Did you actually have a vision?"
He wipes his eyes. "I have Fidus's scepter.Had. I buried it in the forest before I went to see you that day."
I stare at him for a moment. "How did you get it?"
"I was looking for Ignata's temple. Found a cave I'd never seen before. The scepter was just ... there." He shivers and wraps his arms around himself. "It was strange, Temp. One moment I was here. The next, somewhere entirely different."
I frown. "Different how?Where?"
"I don't know. I just know it wasn't Lunaris."
"And you took the scepter? You didn't think you might end up cursed like every fool in those old texts?"
He shrugs. "I figured at least I'd be a cursed fool with a god's scepter."
A laugh escapes me despite myself. I swat his shoulder. "There's something seriously wrong with you."
He grins. "But you love me anyway."
I press my lips together as emotion rises again. "Jordi. I need you to go. I can't do what I'm supposed to do while worrying about your safety."
He opens his mouth to argue. A knock interrupts him.
I wipe my tears as Jordi calls for them to enter. Malachi steps through the door. Jordi gapes at him, then me, then Mal again.
"I hoped you'd be awake. Didn't expect to find you standing," Mal says to a bewildered looking Jordi.
