Gregorios nodded. “Would you mind trying again, Novah? Tell us about the brand you were marked with.”
Rahzlyn’s eyes drifted to meet mine again. “I… It was from a…” Her hand shot to her throat. “From a… stars dammit, I can’t finish my sentence. I’m trying, I swear, but I can’t say anything about it.”
I crouched down to her level, studying every inch of her. My intuition was awfully quiet. From the raw display of shock on her face I didn’t believe this to be an act, much as I wanted to.
“Whyonlyyou, Raithe?” Felaf questioned. “If what you’re saying is true, that this brand is magical somehow…”
I shook my head. “I’ve never been alone with an apostate.” My eyes shifted back to Rahzlyn. “Until my search led me to Serpentine. To the Black Rose.”
Felaf paced, her boots scuffing against the terrace’s tiles. “How does that make sense? Unless you also?—”
I unlaced my boots and kicked both them and my socks off. “No brand.” I showed her. “If you’re worried it’s hidden elsewhere, I can take off the rest of my?—”
“Definitelynotnecessary!” Rahzlyn squawked.
“Agreed,” Gregorios murmured. “Blood Sight could prove it.”
I extended my wrist out for him to slice into. After he drank directly from the source, Gregorios’s eyes dazzled like the cosmos. “Nothing has changed since drinking it last month. I can see his near future.” He paused. “Interestingly, Novah is nowhere to be found in it.”
Gregorios normally did not share what he saw through Blood Sight. I’d once asked if knowing the future would change the outcome, and his answer was entirely cryptic. There were times I appreciated his discretion, and others where I craved certainty.
Still, I trusted him to tell us if there were things we needed to know.
“How is what you’re saying even possible?” Felaf asked me.
“I don’t know. But I got some members of the apostai to speak to me. Jere, a baroness’s son,” I said pointedly at Rahzlyn. “He probably assumed I also bore the brand. Inside Serpentine, other members spoke freely to me. My guess is that is how they can tell if another wears the brand. The brand is likely what distinguishes them as true apostates.”
“If what you say is true, this is a huge breakthrough,” Felaf observed.
“You know where Serpentine is,” Rahzlyn said slowly to me. “Which means you know wheretheyare.” She spoke of Allory and Markus. “We can go back. We can apprehend them, and bring them here.”
Felaf nodded eagerly. “Brilliant. We’d have to notify King Zephyr first. He could help?—”
“King Zephyr was supposed to be there too,” Rahzlyn said carefully. “He was who I was supposed to… you know…”
“Seduce and steal from, replacing his talisman with a fake one,” I finished for her. “That’s what she revealed when we were alone.”
“I heard,” Felaf said.
Interesting. It seemed the brand only worked for people within the same walls as its wearer, but guardians were still capable of overhearing at a distance.
It dawned on Felaf what Rahzlyn had been trying to convey. “If what you say is true, then… would that make King Zephyr an apostate, too?”
“He’s a sympathizer,” Rahzlyn admitted. “That’s whattheytold me, at least.”
Felaf frowned. “Then why would you have been tasked with stealing his talisman?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t given a lot of information. I only wanted to save my brother.”
“King Zephyr wasn’t even there that night,” I said. “Even with dulled senses, I would have known if another Chosen was present.”
“Dulled senses?” Felaf questioned.
“Masked identities and hazy rooms,” I clarified vaguely enough for Felaf not to question further. Until Gregorios learned more about the bracelets, I didn’t want to reveal their existence.Especially if Rahzlyn knew there were two in the palace in case she tried to get her hands on them. “Is there anyone else besides Markus and Allory that you can identify as the apostai?” I asked Rahzlyn. I wondered if she knew about Kole—or if he was someone she’d lie to protect.
“No,” she said adamantly. “I told you all I know.”
“You’re certain?”
