“Mx. Derring, afternoon,” Yemi sighed, halting reluctantly.
“I heard about the incident with Dahlia,” Luc announced, waving the paper at her.
“Hardly special, is it? You hearing about things.”
“Do you realize how early I had to wake up this morning to strike it from the papers? Convince them to lead with this charming nothing photo instead of the ‘Qorrea Stumbles on Rebel Cell in Green Zone’ story? Favors are owed now. The looks I got for not even knowing you were going into town…” Luc complained.
“It was a spontaneous excursion into town for a beer, not an attack on your office. And if it makes you feel better, the beer was swill,” Yemi assured them.
“There’s your story,” Nova chimed in. “?‘All the Queen’s Men Imbibe Backwash, Plot Treason at Local Tavern.’?”
“Iheard we’re rounding up soldiers suspected of dissention,” said Brother Lain, somewhat more distressed than Luc. Around them, the leafing of pages quieted for more ideal eavesdropping.
“Oh gods, don’t call it ‘rounding up.’ You make it sound sinister.” Yemi rolled her eyes. “We’re questioning soldiers who were witnessed in the little traitor huddle for any threats to the peace.”
“Traitor huddlesounds a lot less worrisome,” Luc said, gathering their locs at the crown of their head as if they’d worked themself into a sweat.
“Witnessed by whom?” Brother Lain insisted.
Nova whistled from behind her and waved. She was somehow further above reproach than Yemi as far as Lain was concerned, so he squinted his disapproval rather than start in on a lecture about the rights of Men.
“See? All perfectly aboveboard. Nobody’s going Mad Tyrant.”
“In the future…” Luc continued as Yemi moved away.
“Something about making your job easier, yes, I understand,” she called back.
“You earned that,” Nova prodded.
“I appreciate your support,” Yemi replied. They came to a door in a secluded alcove overlooking the military’s training plateau.
“So I can either hang around here and be distracting—wink, wink—or I can go back to assist Cutter. Latter’s probably the only way you’ll get any updates, former’s guaranteed to be more fun.”
“I have plenty of work. I’ll see you at dinner.”
Nova nodded, perhaps disappointed but not surprised. “My Light,” she said, bowing as she backed away. Yemi watched her stride across the library, whistling, boots clicking, hips in their light switch as she dodged the tables.
Yemi pulled an ornate copper key from her pocket and had barely stuck it in its lock when Brother Lain walked over.
“One last word, My Light.”
“Oh, much more than one, I’m sure,” she sighed.
The priest appeared to be choosing his words carefully, lips tightened, fingers pressed into a steeple so hard his nails went white. “About this mess with the Drakes. I understand your internal conflict.”
Yemi laughed slightly and leaned against the door. She was in no mood for a sermon. “The Kept. The Divine Promise of connection between the world of Men and their gods, and now also mind readers?”
“Enough!” he hissed. “Stopthe performance. I have not been impressed with your cleverness for years, having borne the brunt of it. This is serious.”
Yemi chewed her tongue to keep from responding. She hated her compulsion to listen respectfully to him when anyone else would be dismissed.
“Now, you have never been tested like this before,” Lain continued. “These people, whom you have now caged for something very personal to you, were speaking privately as all Men are permitted to do under every law.”
“The plots to kill my parents, your queen and your king, began as whispers in dark places, too,” she replied grimly.
“That was an entire other set of people who have been dealt with.”
“You didn’t see… You’ve never seen…” Her face grew hot, the key nearly carving into her flesh as she squeezed it. “Itravagesher body. Her pain persists to this day. Who’s to say her enemies don’t?”
