Page 18 of This Monster of Mine

“Whore,” he mouthed.

Pretending to smooth a wayward lock, Sarai presented him with her middle finger.

On the middle right of the dais, a handsome man in ivory robes beamed at the crowd, all gold skin and brown eyes, dark curls wreathing his boyish face. Head Tetrarch Aelius looked exactly like his statue. Statesman, inventor, magus, and the most powerful man in Ur Dinyé. Sarai followed his gaze to Cisuré, who bowed her head in greeting.Like they’re acquainted. But that was impossible. Cisuré would have mentioned something that momentous.

Sarai turned to the only remaining Tetrarch. Her gaze rose to the man directly across from her and stuck there.

Impeccable was the first word that came to mind. Every line of him was crisp, precise—from the sculpted planes of his face to the tanned hand resting on the arm of his seat. Gold-trimmed black robes clung to broad shoulders, a baldric running crosswise over them. A smile somewhere between amusement and boredom played on his lips as he gazed at the crowd, a cruel-eyed god surveying his pitiful subjects. His black hair was swept back from his forehead, dark eyebrows drawing over even darker eyes.

Her breath stuttered. She didn’t realize she was staring until one of those eyebrows rose a fraction.

Shit.Tearing her gaze away, she wiped her clammy palms on her uniform. So this was Kadra. Nothim, she silently prayed to the High Elsar.Anyone but him.

Smiling widely, Aelius raised a hand, and the applause quieted. “Welcome, everyone, to this year’s Robing.” The amplification runes on the arms of his seat flared golden, projecting his voice across the Aequitas. “Many of you have traveled far to witness these defenders of law take their vowsand join the hardest battle of our time: the fight for justice. Today, we have four Candidates ready to commit themselves to this challenge. Please, step forward.”

Sarai nervously followed the others, stopping before the steps to the dais. Draped over the backs of each Tetrarch’s chair were identical robes in their colors: crimson and bronze for Cassandane, ivory and silver for Aelius, indigo and sky blue for Tullus, and—Sarai blinked. There was nothing on the back of Kadra’s chair.

“The Tetrarchy will address what is, no doubt, foremost in your minds,” Tullus took over, crisp diction betraying his military background. “Today, we at last robe four Petitors instead of the three that were custom of late because our fourth Quarter cannot go any longer without a Petitor’s helping hand.” He slanted a sly look at Kadra. “Thus, the decision was made to provide my fellow Tetrarch with the aid he evidently requires.”

Well, then. But Kadra didn’t seem offended at the barb. A corner of his mouth twitched.

“It’ll be you,” Harion murmured under his breath. “They won’t give him a trained Petitor, but you’re fair game.”

Her glare was at odds with the hammering in her chest. “We’ll see.”

Tullus raised a hand. “Please rise as the Petitors take their vows.”

The amphitheater filled with the sound of thousands getting to their feet, and vying for space. Four vigiles stepped before the dais, each unfurling a scroll. Every Tetrarch save Kadra raised an ink pen, the sharp tips dripping ink onto the marble floor.

“Petitors!” Aelius took over as orator. “Do you vow to be as pure as the law you uphold?”

Imitating the other Candidates, Sarai clenched her right hand into a fist, drumming it thrice against her chest. “I do,” she echoed.

Every Tetrarch save Kadra made a mark on the parchment before them.

“Do you vow to be unbending in your service of justice?” Aelius asked.

One. Two. Three. Her fist struck her chest. “I do!”

Another mark. Kadra didn’t move. The vigile holding his scroll shifted nervously.

“Do you vow to be bound in life and mind to this land and your Tetrarch until the gods take you?”

“I do.” She stiffened as Kadra’s gaze brushed her.

“Then, as of this day, so you are and so you shall be.” Aelius turned to the crowd, exultant. “Ur Dinyé! Your new Petitors!”

A deafening cheer accompanied the proclamation. Sarai saw Aelius’s gaze drift back to Cisuré, not even pausing on the other Candidates.Has he already made his choice?

“May the High Elsar watch over this new chapter of your lives,” he intoned.

Sarai prepared to bow but Anek shot her a warning glance. “Not yet,” they muttered.

“May Wisdom and Truth guide you through every Probe. May Temperance calm you in moments of doubt. May Radiance heal your fears, Harvest bless your hearth, and Fortune fill your purses.” Aelius stretched both hands to the sky. “May Wrath banish from your days the Dark Elsar: Avarice, Discord, Famine, Indolence, Pestilence, Deceit, and Ruin. And may the Wretched who follow them never darken your door.”

Her eyebrows rose. “As the Elsar will it,” she chorused with the crowd.

She’d heard that the southern cities were fanatically devoted to the gods, but she hadn’t expected the Head Tetrarch to end with a prayer.Proximity to repeated natural disaster, I suppose.When the heavens tried to burn everything down every week, the gods probably seemed especially near. And angry.

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