I raced through the quiet halls, the sleeping palace exactly as I’d left it. Maryn would awaken soon, and when she did, there would be a full-blown inquiry followed by retribution for my unexplained absence. I wasn’t sure what all Gregorios had told her, but given the urgent secrecy of my mission, I imagined very little.
That didn’t matter now. What mattered was ensuring Rahzlyn’s survival. Any answers surrounding our burning questions could only come if she lived.
Felaf rose from her bed with alarm as I crossed the threshold of her chamber. She rubbed at her eyes through the darkness, quickly adjusting to it. “What the fuck, Raithe? Where have you been?”
“No time to explain,” I said, not allowing myself more than a second to note her surprisingly sparse living chamber. Since Hector’s death, all of his things had been cleared out. It seemed Felaf hadn’t bothered to replenish it beyond the necessities. “Gregorios needs us.”
After granting her the courtesy of at least changing from her sleeping garments, I stood with Felaf beside Rahzlyn’s sprawled, naked body.
“I don’t understand what’s happening.” Felaf shook her head with a puzzled brow. “She and Cyrene maketwoChosen princesses in a given astrological year. This can’t be right.”
“It is,” Gregorios assured on his knees at Rahzlyn’s side with a washcloth and basin of bloodied water. He must have washed her limbs of the dried blood and whatever remaining glitter stuck to her from Serpentine.
A body was a body—yet I still bashfully looked away.
“Shouldn’t we follow protocol and take her down to Gertah?” Felaf asked regarding the palace’s physician, who had a whole bed station set up for those consecrated by Scorpio.
“No time. Begin.”
We each sliced a blade across our palms. I hovered my hand above Rahzlyn’s legs, allowing my blood to ooze into her newly formed gashes. Felaf did the same with Rahzlyn’s torso and chest, Gregorios her arms and neck. We cut even deeper formore blood. The seer then let his blood drip between her parted lips.
Lips that had attempted to seduce me as part of an apostate scheme.
“This has to be a mistake,” I blurted.
Felaf whipped her head at me. “You’re the one who brought her here. There’s no denying what’s happening to her, so why?—”
“Because she’s anapostate.”
Felaf gripped my shoulder with her uncut hand, demanding I look her in the eyes. “That is a bold and dangerous claim. What aren’t you telling me?”
“Whatever you discovered about her can wait, Raithe,” Gregorios urged.
It couldn’t. “I found her in a compromising situation. She bears the same brand as Helene and the apostate we captured weeks ago. Look at her feet for yourself.”
She did, too curious to ignore my declaration. Her face fell. “Well, shit.”
“I told you. She’s one of them.”
“We don’t know for sure if that’s what it means. Right now, it’s just a correlation?—”
“I know it is.” I faced Gregorios. “I found a whole Geminian syndicate of them. Andshewas there, in the midst of a plot to steal the Geminian king’s talisman.”
“Raithe,” Gregorios warned as he lifted the throw blanket off the back of the chaise and draped it over Rahzlyn’s body. The Blood Healing was finished, and now it turned into a waiting game. “That’s enough for now.”
This was too important to hide from them. They both needed to know who we were dealing with. “That has to be why your dream sent me to her.”
“Because, it turns out, she’s our next princess,” Gregorios clarified. “And future queen who may break our curse.”
I shook my head. “She’s the key to the apostai, not our savior.”
“Wait, what dream?” Felaf questioned. “Geminian king? What are you talking about?”
I ran a hand over my face, realizing this meant we would need to trust Felaf withallof Gregorios’s truth. I’d spoken too quickly in my haste to reveal Rahzlyn’s true nature.
Felaf spotted my hesitancy, and I could have sworn she saddened in response. “What do you two know that I don’t?”
“Gregorios?” I prompted, deferring to him. It was his secret to share, not mine. If what came next required us using Rahzlyn to get to the apostai, or breaking the Treaty again, I didn’t believe Felaf was ready—or willing—to go along with it.
