“Did you bring me out here to warn me off him, or tell me you're interested, or …”
"What? No. Gods." Her face twists. "There's a reason this arrangement with Bas works for me."
"That's one way to put it," I murmur, turning back to the dark trees.
We both know the truth neither of us says aloud. If not for the law requiring marriage approval from the House of Justice, she and Naima would have been together years ago. But the Sages declared them incompatible, and the Sages are never wrong about these things.
They could be together without the title. Share a home, share a life. But Margot craves the word wife the way I crave the title of Veritas healer. I don't fully understand it, since we don't bear children or raise them like the families in the ancient texts, but I've learned that fulfillment takes different shapes for different people. I respect her choice, even if it breaks something in me to watch her settle.
"What will you do about Jordi?" she asks after a moment.
I sigh. "Go to the Sages. What else can I do?"
She hesitates. "Do you think they already know?"
I straighten, crossing my arms as I turn to face her fully. "Why would you say that?"
"I don't know." She shakes her head, looks away, then meets my eyes again. "I don't know how else to say this, so I'm just going to say it."
My shoulders tense. I recognize that look. She wore it the night we were girls sharing a room at the estate, and she stumbled upon Freida and Anala kissing in an alcove. We'd been so young, so confused. The Sages never ate, never drank, barely blinked. We'd assumed they had no human wants at all.
"What is it?" I ask, though part of me doesn't want to know.
"Bas told me something." She swallows. "He said the elixirs have been weaker. For the past couple of years."
My heart stutters. I bite my tongue and force myself to breathe before I speak. "How would Bas know that?"
"A Council member took him somewhere." Her voice drops to barely a whisper. "A pleasure garden. At the Keep."
I go very still. "Pleasure garden."
"For emotions. Not..." She shakes her head. "The Council member, Nicolas, told him the elixirs are too weak now. So they take the newer residents to the garden, give them the cloud potion, and remove their amulets." Her voice cracks. "Then they watch. They call it 'letting them enjoy the little life they have left.'"
The breath I try to take gets stuck somewhere in my chest. I think of the laborers Jordi and I encountered in the tunnels. The way they screamed when their amulets were removed. The raw, animal grief that poured out of them.
That's what the Council watches for entertainment. I wrap my arms around myself to stop the shaking.
"Why would he take him there?" I whisper.
"He …" She pauses to clear her throat. "Nicolas and Bas were together for a time."
The words land wrong. Everything about this lands wrong.
"For a time," I repeat, my mind reeling.
Bas was intolerable at the Veritas Estate, with his haughty attitude and anger issues. The Sages thread a small flame symbol on the women in Veritas —a sigil that reminds us to calm down each time anger rises. But the men are simply sent to the Dueling Estate to unleash their anger on sparring partners. When our gifts manifested, Bas' anger got worse, which is part of the reason he was sent there for good.
Arlo and Casimir soon followed, but they always returned to Veritas. Even after they became legion guards, they claimed their loyalty to the Veritas Order. Bas only returned when his presence was required and acted like it was a chore and we were all beneath him. Margot claims he's changed. I've never seen the evidence.
But I've heard enough from Arlo to know what happens to handsome young duelers who catch the Council's attention. The thought of anyone being used that way makes my sigil burn.
"Did Bas have a choice?" I ask carefully. "In the arrangement?"
"Yes." She says it quickly, defensively, then lowers her voice. "I think he loves him. Bas does."
Gods. I don't know if that makes it better or infinitely worse.
"When did he tell you this?"
