Just when I think this might come to blows, though, Foreau turns on his heels and walks out, laughing.
“I move to censure Senator Foreau,” Terrance says once the man is gone.
It’s an empty gesture when senators are elected for life, but it used to mean something. When Pryor was a kingdom, three censures by the Council would lead to a recommendation of removal by the king.
“Seconded,” Suh says.
Paolo draws a breath. “Opposed.”
The two elder statesmen look at Paolo in disgust, and he shrinks slightly in his chair. Then all three of them turn toward Medea. If she opposes the censure, they will deadlock. But she stares at the doorway.
“Medea, are you with us?” Terrance’s voice is laced with annoyance and condescension.
She doesn’t move her head, although her mouth shifts slightly. “The motion passes three to one.”
There’s something in her eyes when she stares at Terrance. Something sharp with teeth. But when I look again, it’s gone. Just like her smile earlier.
“That brings our day to a close,” Julian says.
The senators all variously stretch or slump in their seats. Kerasea releases a long breath.
Now they will bathe, change for supper, and then dine together for three hours as if they didn’t antagonize one another all day. As if they don’t truly despise one another.
The senators move to leave—Terrance and Suh first. I catch Kerasea as she rises from her chair.
“A moment, if you would, Excellency,” I say.
She smiles, this time in a genuine way. I can’t help but notice how it lights up her face, like she glows from within. “Of course, Praetorian.”
But I also don’t miss how Paolo and Medea both watch us as they speak to their pages. Julian also eyes us as he files paperwork. I suppose we are standing half a step too close.
“I’d like to show you something in the baths, if you’d follow me,” I say.
This time of day, there won’t be anyone using them.
Kerasea blinks, confused, and then clears her throat. “Certainly.”
Medea stares at Kerasea and then me before she finally exits the throne room. Suspicion creeps along the edges of my mind. Why would she be interested in our conversation at all? I suppose an alliance between members of the Verity Guild is notable to all the senators.
Of course, there’s another alternative: she thought we would be enemies by today.
XLI.
Kerasea
The baths are a marvel of Elusian magic, drawing hot, cold, and temperate from a time long before we understood engineering. But that’s not why Torren wanted me to come down here. We stand in the frigidarium by the rushing water so that we can’t be overheard.
Not compared to the way I noticed a woman’s hushed voice in his room last night.
My stomach twists, and I look away. I’m being ridiculous. What difference does it make if he had someone waiting for him in his bed? Why would I even care?
“Are you all right?” the Praetorian asks.
“I… Were you speaking to someone in your room last night?” I ask.
Confusion clouds his face, and I already know it wasn’t him. My heart sinks, because then it was Zel, and somehow that’s worse. Who could she have been talking with? The only other woman here is Medea, though there are also servants. Maybe it was innocuous—just her asking for more tea. But I doubt it.
“What did you hear?” he asks.
