Chapter 16 Basten
Basten
“What the fuck are you doing alive?” I bark at Matron White, all of us packed so tightly in the vestibule I can smell everyone’s breakfast on their breath. “I watched you die.”
Folke and Kendan both jolt in surprise. I don’t know what Matron White told them about what happened in Bremcote, but apparently, she left out some key details.
Did she tell them Sabine is fae?
She pins her judgmental eyes on me as she touches the key emblem dangling from a gold chain around her neck.
“By the blessing of Immortal Iyre,” she says. “I fell into the earth—right into our cellar, where my fall was broken by burlap apple sacks.” Her lips purse. “I got my share of burns while getting out, but at least I got out. I cannot say the same for any of the others.”
Kendan rests a hand on his forehead. “Anyone care to explain what you’re talking about?”
Matron White slides me a smug smile. “Do you want to tell them, or shall I?”
I groan inwardly, shifting my weight from one foot to the other to buy time. After the shock of seeing the old bitch alive, my first concerns go to Sabine.
I heard her footsteps on the castle’s second floor. Is she okay? What is she going to do when she learns of this?
“What did the Matron tell you?” I ask Kendan.
He exchanges a look with Folke, both of them wary. Slowly, Kendan explains, “She showed up here just a few hours before you did. She said there had been a fire at the Convent of Immortal Iyre.”
“That’s it?” I ask, keeping my eyes firmly on the Matron. “Nothing about Sabine?”
My heart slams behind my ribs. In a few words, the Matron could ruin everything. She knows how dangerous Sabine is. How unpredictable.
The Matron smiles thinly at me. “I’ve been eagerly looking forward to sharing the miraculous news.”
I narrow my eyes, not trusting her for a second.
“Miraculous?” Folke echoes.
Her wrinkled cheeks pull into a wide smile as she lifts her hands toward the heavens in reverence. “Immortal Solene has risen, and it is my great honor to spread the joyous news. All this time, she slept within the convent’s young ward, right under our roof!”
Folke chokes on a breath, coughing. He pulls out his flask and takes a sip. “Wait. Your ward? You mean Sabine?”
He whips his head around to me.
Slowly, still tense as an iron spring, I nod.
Folke spits his whisky back into the flask and fumbles to screw back on the lid. “Fuck!”
“Oh,” Kendan says, looking stunned. “Oh.”
“We weren’t planning on telling everyone just yet,” I mutter in Matron White’s direction through clamped teeth.
I’m still waiting for her to reveal that Sabine burned the convent and killed every Sister inside.
Tried to kill the Matron, too.
But the old hag just keeps her hands raised in that annoying fucking reverential pose.
Lord Kendan hasn’t said a word. I can’t read how he’s taking this news in his heart’s beat. It’s faster than usual, but not the rat-a-tat of fear. More like…intrigue.
I sigh. I guess the jig is up.
“There are six woken fae in Volkany,” I explain.
“King Rachillon is Vale. He stabbed Sabine with a knife, and she came back as Immortal Solene. But she’s still Sabine,” I snap defensively.
“She’s both. The goddess and the girl. She can glamour herself so she looks human.
And she’s the only one of the gods with any semblance of morality. Iyre included.”
The Matron ignores my slander of her patron goddess as she clasps her key charm again.
Folke taps me on the shoulder, urgently, and jerks his head toward the corner.
I join him there, still wary to take my eyes off the Matron for a second.
“It’s true?” he asks, voice hot and urgent.
I nod.
Folke’s eyes go wide as he strokes his beard, muttering an unrepeatable word of awe. He leans in close and drops his voice. “What’s it like, eh? In bed? Sleeping with a goddess? Hot as fuck?”
I groan, throwing him a look to see if he’s serious that’s the first place his brain went.
He wiggles his eyebrows insistently.
“Folke. You’re an ass.” I pause, drop my voice, too. “But yes.”
He grins, white teeth gleaming, and slowly nods as though he knew it all along. He offers me a swig of the whisky, but I roll my eyes and head back to the others.
“This news,” Kendan says in a measured, thoughtful voice. “Could be exactly what we need.”
“What?” I snap.
Matron White nods eagerly, ignoring me. “Indeed, Lord Kendan. My thoughts went to the same place. We can use Solene’s powers to retake the city from King Rian’s forces.
There are already rumors that the fae have risen.
Thousands flock to our churches daily; we can easily whisper in a few ears that Sabine was loyal all along.
That in fact, she is Solene, Guardian of Nature, sent to protect our kingdom with brimfire. ”
The thrill in her voice makes me finally understand why she isn’t outing Sabine for murdering her own fellow nuns.
And why she’s ready to praise the woman she once abused.
Matron White cares about power more than vengeance.
It turns my stomach, her gluttony for control dressed up as piety. But…at least I can trust her ambitions.
Kendan starts counting off on his fingers as though already making plans. “We’ll meet with the rest of the opposition and strategize about how to use this news to our advantage. If we play our cards correctly, we can bring every priest, Sister, and congregant to bow at Sabine’s feet.”
“Whoa. Slow the fuck down.” I throw out my hands like I’m herding cats.
“Sabine’s powers are still unpredictable.
” I give Matron White a pointed look. She should know the truth of that statement as much as anyone.
“She’s still learning. Better to introduce her true nature to the public gradually.
A spotlight could stir her fey in dangerous ways. ”
Kendan nods. “We’ll need to meet with her straightaway.”
“Not this old bitch.” I jab my thumb in Matron White’s direction. Her right eye twitches with irritation, but she keeps her mouth shut. “Keep her the hell out of Sabine’s sight. If Sabine knows she’s in Old Coros, she might just bury the entire city. I’ll figure out how and when to tell Sabine.”
Matron White bows her head, obedient—for now.
But I see it in her eyes. She’s already calculating her next move.
And I’m running out of time.