Kerasea suddenly walks away from him. His play to bed her must have failed. He seems annoyed as he returns, but his mistress tempts him, licking her lips and whispering in his ear. He’s not any better-looking than I am—I’m younger and more muscular—but these women climb into his bed for his status. They’ll act the same way for me soon.
“I have to piss,” I say as I watch the High Priestess leave.
Eyo glances at me. “Well don’t do it here.”
Everyone laughs like he’s hilarious, and he kisses his mistress. He’ll probably bend her over this balcony railing before the night ends.
Anger boils inside me, but I can’t act on it. Not until the second day of the conclave. Medea’s instructions were crystal clear, and the she-wolf must be obeyed. Her promises are as real as her threats. She elevated my father after he poisoned her twin brother. Father stayed loyal, and she rewarded him. It’s that easy.
I bow to Eyo and smile, knowing that he has only days to live.
Now that I’ve been excused, I can follow Kerasea. I turn to leave, but the Praetorian is far ahead of me, stalking her. I was told he’d hunt her down, but no one has been killed yet. He must just want her for himself.
I take the corridor toward the latrines, but I stop in my tracks as there are whispered voices near the bathroom. I take a left and slide out of sight. Leaning against the wall, I strain to pick up the sounds. The hushed tones signal a secret—something worth knowing.
“Remember, not a drop of blood, and you must plant the knife,” Medea says. I’d know her voice anywhere.
“It will be done,” a man responds. I’m not sure who it is.
“To the end of the Verity Guild,” Medea says.
“To the future, my love,” he replies.
Footsteps come in my direction, and I slip inside the doorway to one of the senate offices. If anyone turns their head fully, they’ll spot me. I wait with my heart pounding as Medea passes. She doesn’t turn. I exhale. I wait another moment, and then I go to the latrines.
As I piss, I realize she is having someone killed tonight.
I wonder who.
I gasp and wake with a start. I’m not in my own chambers—I’m in Tor’s bed. He lies sleeping peacefully beside me, his arm around me. I move to wake him. Something important just happened, something crucial. It sits at the tip of my tongue, but I’m too exhausted to remember what it was. I’m so groggy that I immediately fall back to sleep.
LXVI.
Torren
I’m awoken from dead sleep by someone knocking on my door. Worried, I turn and look at the sun clock. It’s nine in the morning. I slow my heart. I didn’t oversleep.
Wait, what is happening? I went to bed with Kera beside me.
I reach out, but there’s nothing but a rough cotton bedsheet. She’s gone.
With a sigh, I sit up. I knew she had to leave and so it shouldn’t hurt. But it does. She crept out like I was a shameful secret.
I hang my head, but when I raise my chin, there’s Kera standing by the dresser, tying her dress back on. She smiles, stunning in the morning light, and my heart leaps in my chest. She’s here.
But then her smile fades. “I need to talk to you.”
She probably needs to find a discreet way to leave now that it’s morning and someone is at the door. I don’t blame her. The Verity Guild will be convening tomorrow, and we will sit beside each other as we hear Trajan Lowe’s case. So we need to—
I take a breath as everything crystallizes, my heart hammering.
Thatwas the missing piece—the reason Medea struck this time, at this conclave. This was the knowledge just at the edge of my mind. Medea was after the Verity Guild because we will hear the treason case of her nephew. Trajan Lowe was caught raising a private army, but nothing goes on in her province without her knowing it. Now I see that those soldiers were actually for Senator Medea.
The incursion, the senators were important to the killer, but not for the reasons I thought.
With Verhardt and Eyo dead, she’d have the majority vote for a declaration of war, but Kerasea and I were still a problem. Even in a war, the tribunals proceed—they had to during a war that lasted one hundred years. She had the same dilemma I have experienced: how to topple elites of Pryor when they are so protected.
I would be naturally reappointed…unless I failed to keep the Senate safe, unless I failed as Praetorian. Each time someone died, Medea was in favor of allowing me to investigate because she knew she could keep me from the information I needed, thereby making the case for getting me dismissed for incompetence.
