Chapter 42
XLII.
Torren
I’d hang whoever designed this palace by their ankles if they weren’t long dead. There’s no clean line of sight as I run out of the frigidarium. I race through the changing room and then the entry hall of the baths, but the door swings open to the palace before I can get a look at who it was.
Curse the Elusians’ grave.
Someone was eavesdropping on Kera and me. Someone may have heard that I suspect the Senate murdered the cook, could have seen how close I was to taking the High Priestess in my arms and kissing her.
I need to find them and silence them—no matter who it was.
My sword bangs against my hip as I enter the hallway off the baths. I look to the left and to the right, but there is no one. The halls are empty.
Son of a jackal.
Someone is either hiding in one of the servant rooms, the armory, or they made it to the stairs.
Footsteps sound around the corner. I back up a step as I grab my sabine, silently pull my sword, and hope the person mistimed their reappearance.
I swing back to strike just as an old servant woman comes around the corner.
She grabs her chest and falls against the wall, dropping a basket of knitting as I halt my motion.
I stop the sword just in time.
“Where are you coming from?” I ask.
“The kitchens…s-sir,” she stammers.
Kerasea comes out of the baths. She freezes, taking in the scene of me with my sword out and the servant I nearly killed.
I place my weapon back in its scabbard. “You are dismissed.”
“Thank you, sire. Excuse me, sir,” the old woman says, breathing hard.
Kerasea helps her pick up the yarn and then waits until the woman hobbles back into her quarters. With one leg slightly shorter than the other, and being probably seventy, there is no way that woman outran me.
Kerasea shifts closer and leans in.
“Should we search the rooms?” she whispers.
We? Kera stares at me, her eyes earnest, and I’m right back to when I nearly kissed her by the waterfall.
I was so drawn to her, but then she seemed uncertain and I stopped myself—just barely.
I imagine us sweeping the rooms together, me kicking in the doors and her with her dagger out, but she is not Julian.
I would have to protect both her and myself.
No, I need to get her to safety. Someone was bold enough to follow us. I have to protect her first.
“Let me get you back to your room,” I say.
It physically pains me to abandon a hunt, but I have higher priorities.
I tell myself that no damage was done even if someone managed to overhear the entire conversation.
There is no way to prove that the cook confessed.
It would be my word against theirs. And I didn’t actually kiss the High Priestess; I was only tempted.
But who was it?
It had to be someone fast enough that I couldn’t outrun them. That means it wasn’t Suh, Terrance, or Medea. It could’ve been Julian, as he’s beaten me in a footrace before, but he’d have no reason to flee.
I highly doubt Paolo is faster than I am, but it could’ve been Foreau. He left the conclave, and if he’s setting up the Faith and attacking Julian, he would have a motive to follow us. If he is bought by Arthago, he’d have a reason to eliminate us all.
As we take the stairs, I realize that now, more than ever, I have to find a way to access his rooms. I’ll get the opportunity to search his chambers during dinner tonight or the conclave tomorrow.
Kerasea and I reach the third floor, and although I keep a sharp eye, there’s no sign of danger.
“I’ll need to speak to Zel again after dinner,” I say.
I’d like to interview her now, but we don’t have long before we need to appear at supper. And it’s imperative I pretend everything is still fine.
Kera shakes her head. “She couldn’t have outrun you…”
Her eyes move in a way that reveals she doesn’t trust her servant. I tuck away her suspicion in the back of my mind.
“I know, but something was amiss with her last night, and you know it,” I whisper.
She bites her lower lip as she grips the embellished sleeves of her robe. “I know, but don’t…hurt her.”
Sweet divine. That’s what she’s afraid of—me dismantling a teenage girl?
“I’m not the monster you think I am,” I say.
“I don’t think you’re a monster.”
Kerasea speaks plainly, and something about it strikes at my heart. Probably because I am, in fact, a monster. I’d just rather not be.
She stops at her door, and again, we’re far too close. I shouldn’t have reached out and touched her in the baths, but I couldn’t seem to help it. I got so distracted that I didn’t notice the shadow until it was too late, and this is the worst place to be caught unaware.
I need to keep my distance for both of our safety.
She opens her door and walks in. Kera hesitates just for a second and then closes the door behind her.
After waiting a moment, I force myself to go to my room and strip off my armor. I don’t dwell at all on how she waited before shutting the door. As if she was thinking about inviting me in.
No, I need to stop.
I take a bath at legion speed, and the cold water focuses me. Then, once I’m dry, I dab on sandalwood cologne, glad I already shaved this morning.
I’ve just put on my suit pants when someone knocks five times in rapid succession. It’s Julian. I open my door, still shirtless.
“Ready to face the wolves?” He smiles. Then his grin disappears as he realizes I’m not dressed yet.
“Always,” I say.
He steps into the room in yet another white jacket. They’re all cut differently but immaculately tailored. He has a full room of expensive clothes in his villa.
Jules closes the door behind himself. I shrug on a white dress shirt, still wondering who was listening in the baths. Foreau does make a certain amount of sense, yet it doesn’t ring true.
“I know that face,” Julian says. “What’s wrong?”
“Someone followed me earlier, and I didn’t catch them.”
I finish the buttons and grab my blue suit jacket. I had to bring six suits to the mountain because the elite would be scandalized by me repeating an outfit. The suspicious deaths of the clerk and senator are just fine, but gods save fashion.
“That’s…unlike you,” Jules says slowly. “Followed you where?”
“To the baths.”
He raises his eyebrows. “Someone followed you while you were following Kerasea?”
I frown at him. “Talking with her. You heard me ask for a word before we left the throne room. Did you see anyone leave after us?”
“All of the pages, but the conclave was done for the day, so that’s hardly incriminating. Medea, but she couldn’t have outrun you.”
Medea. Her sentry might have been fast enough, but the same could be said for the other sentries.
For now, I have other matters to discuss with Julian. “I’ll need your help tonight after dinner,” I say.
Julian smiles. “You need my help…moving another body?”
I purse my lips. He won’t like having to haul the cook back up ten floors. I wonder if Kerasea can do her divining outside, but then I remember that she needs the eternal flame.
Ten floors it is.
At the look on my face, he groans. “Gods, I was joking! Who this time?”
“The same.”
He slowly closes his eyes and sighs. I don’t blame him, as moving a frozen corpse isn’t anyone’s idea of a good time.
“I need a new best friend,” he mutters. “Do I even want to know?”
“No.”
He groans. “No is right. At least I’ll enjoy dinner first. Let’s go.”