A tinge of regret in his tone sends spikes of fear into my stomach. I thought he’d be vicious and victorious, but instead, he’s resigned to do his duty. And that makes him so much more dangerous. He is correct—with the poison book and the glasses, the Senate would allow him to interrogate her over my objections. I’ll have to stand by simply because we aren’t in my temple.
Because I brought her here.
“I understand,” I say.
I step closer to Zel. She looks up at me, hopeful that I can intercede, but I can’t. Not here. I lean down to kiss her forehead, and then I linger with my lips near her ear.
“Run,” I say. “Don’t stop until you get to the divining tower. Shut yourself inside and wait for me.”
I drop my key into her skirts. She hesitates, and for a second it looks like she won’t save herself. But then she takes off out of the room. I remain, staring at the Praetorian, daring him to make a move.
I just broke our alliance, but it wasn’t going to last forever.
XLV.
Torren
Zel is gone, but I have bigger issues than a servant girl right now. I’m busy facing off with the High Priestess of the temple of truth.
All five-three of her is draped in a silk-and-crepe dinner dress, but she is anything other than soft and delicate. Kerasea stares at me, the embodiment of power and resolve.
“You just impeded my investigation.” I state the obvious to break the silence in the chamber.
“Bring me before the Senate, then,” she says.
She doesn’t shrug, but the sentiment is in her voice. She has no regret, no nerves or shyness. I am staring at a woman who is very much a leader in the republic—not the girl she played at being during this conclave with her blushes and sighs.
I don’t know whether to respect her or be furious, but I’m glad we have dropped the pretenses.
I glance at the door. I could run after Zel and still overtake her, but the truth is, I don’t want to. I wasn’t looking forward to questioning her under pressure. However, the evidence I found was too much to ignore. I would’ve done my duty despite my reservations, but now I have to handle the High Priestess.
A rush of excitement flows through me, and I recognize the rare feeling—it’s meeting a worthy opponent in the ring.
I decide to shift into a more conversational stance, letting my shoulders relax while I choose my next move.
“The priests to the god of protection will intercept the girl and bring her back,” I say. “No one is to come or go from the conclave.”
“I didn’t send her to the capital,” the High Priestess responds.
“Where did you…”
I trail off and think about where else she would’ve told Zel to go. It would have to be somewhere out of my reach, somewhere Kerasea holds sway. There are multiple temples of truth in every province, but Zel would still run into the same issue of leaving the conclave…unless she didn’t leave.
“The divining room,” I say.
She nods, respect glimmering in her eyes.
The tower is technically an offshoot of her temple. It’s based on a thin reasoning, but the Senate and the Ministry of Justice would side with her if I tried to take the girl from holy ground.
Let it never be said that Kerasea Vestal isn’t clever.
Amusement fills my chest, and the corners of my lips rise. I force the smile from my face. I shouldn’t feel this. I shouldn’t be anything other than furious that she stymied my investigation and broke our alliance over a servant girl.
“Who is Zel to you?” I ask.
This time she does shrug. “An innocent girl.”
I have no choice but to respect that. It’s the same as I feel about the cook, only I didn’t expect Kerasea to have a sense of justice and certainly not feel a sense of obligation to a servant. I don’t know many nobles who would. ButisZel innocent? I still have the book in my hand. Kerasea is correct in that all of this is too much evidence to have in one room. If Zel were actually responsible, these items should’ve been burned, disposed of, like the bodies. They were saved specifically to implicate a suspect, but it is still my duty to investigate.
