I roll my eyes, but continue. “On a personal level he wouldn’t want a witch to be hurt or killed, but the idea of her…well, this Red Woman can investigate the Vencrin like no one else can.”
Father arches an eyebrow. “Investigate the Vencrin? How do you know that is what she is doing?”
I’m sweating, dripping with anxiety. It’s imperative I word everything clearly and fluidly. “It’s obvious she is against them. As Mom said, only Vencrin members have been taken down.”
“Even so, I need to make sure. The Dome Guard will test her with a truth spell.”
I shake my head, hard. “Why is that the only way?”
“Because it’s the law.”
“A bad law. To have only Dome Guard able—” I stop myself, realizing what I have said, how much my voice has risen. It’s Father who separated himself from court and trial, giving the Dome Guard the power to cast truth spells and pass judgment.
His expression falls. “It’s a balance of power, Adraa. Look to Moolek to see what happens without it. Without our power checked. With believing the forte system defines someone’s worth. Soon one starts believing they are Godlike.” He holds up the poster. “This woman isn’t noble because she is powerful. In fact most of the time in life it’s the exact opposite. She must be checked.”
His green eyes convey only sternness. The fact he must use them on me now hurts. But I’ve hurt him too.Bad law.Heat rises to my face, the napkin rips in my lap, but I don’t say a thing. I agreed with the truth accords, praised him for it at the time. Then I discovered my own truth: Even those meant to save us can be corrupted. Even the Beckmans of the world can slip.
Father compares the Red Woman to Moolek’s power-hungry inequality? No. Blood no. I’ve seen the streets; I’ve seen the bodies in the clinic. My secret is the only way, as is my silence.
Because I know under my mask I will always protect our people.
Father’s voice evens out, trying to infuse peace back into dinner. “For now, Adraa will help with the preliminary investigation and eliminate suspects with the Guard. I’ll have the Guard question the Red Woman at the earliest opportunity. Best scenario, she is brought to the palace. Maybe you would like to question her too, Adraa?” He smiles in encouragement at the opportunity he has bestowed, trying to mend our disagreement, not understanding how it condemns me.
I can imagine the scene: me being dragged into the throne room and Riya or Zara scouring the palace. I shudder. “Sure.”
Gods, I had a lot to answer for.
My father’s plan fails of course and not because I don’t cooperate with the Belwar Guard. Or even because of the simple fact they are searching for someone right in front of them. No, it fails because, like my dad, they distrust the Red Woman. As soon as I finish the meeting I fly to Azure Palace, needing to vent and update Kalyan. We naturally wind up on the training field, as we do most days.
“So I think what you’re telling me is we are screwed. We now have not only the Vencrin but also the Belwar Guard after us,” Kalyan says.
“Pretty much. The Belwar Guard won’t kill us, though, hopefully. That is if the right ones get to us. So, there’s that.”
“Pavria.”Kalyan shoots a blast of air at my chest. I slink to the left, casting my own yellow magic to intercept his gust. I don’t know how Kalyan can talk and fight/train with me at the same time, but he can.
I take a moment to gather a breath as I kneel on the warm dirt of the Naupure training field. My right side cramps, squeezing and tugging at me. “We need to move up our timeline.”
Kalyan tilts his head and I know what he’s thinking. Watch. Plan. That’s what is decided this time around.
But he can only rein me in so far. My birthday still lingers in warning like a piercing scream. Twelve days. Or maybe I should be worrying about the approaching fight with Beckman. Three days. “We’ve taken too much time as it is.”
He finally nods. “Okay. Tomorrow night, then.”
I nod. Pause.“Hilloretaw!”I shout, and try to catch Kalyan by surprise with a stream of water.
“Vicalayati. Vikara. Himadloc,”he says calmly, and the water swivels in the opposite direction, turns to ice, and falls to the ground, breaking in the dirt.
He ignores the shock and annoyance clearly written on my face. “And you are sure you can’t get the Guard on our side? None of them seem to believe you?”
“What should I have said? ‘Hey, believe me that the Red Woman only means to help Belwar. I know this because I’m her.’ Should I have given them my entire mission file too?” I step closer to practice hand-to-hand combat, throwing two punches Kalyan blocks easily.
“No,” he huffs. He throws a counterattack and I duck. “But we need them on our side, otherwise we’ll never know who and how many are corrupted by the Vencrin.”
I twist around him and step away. “That’s the problem. I didn’t know whom to trust. I went in, I tried to convince them. It didn’t work out.”
I throw the same punches again and then mimic a kick to his groin. He jerks backward reflexively and raises his eyebrows, giving me an expression of mock dismay.
“What? Just because you will probably be fighting a man doesn’t mean he won’t use that.”
