Page 103 of This Monster of Mine

She shook her head with a laugh. So these were Aoran Tower’s secrets. An unsettling ribbon, some tools of torture, and a few orange trees.Aelius and Tullus would be apoplectic if they knew.

Circling back to the metal gates marking the start of Kadra’s wards, she found Cato sitting outside, cup of tea in hand.

He looked up at her, concerned. “Sarai, how are you feeling?”

She tensed even as she reminded herself that he couldn’t have heard her searching the tower. “Much better. Where’s Kadra?”

“At the Grand Elsarian Temple. Something about questioning the Master Cleric.”

Why had Kadra suddenly decided to interrogate Ur Dinyé’s highest religious official? “I’ll head out too.”

“Are you sure you’re well enough?”

She nodded reassuringly. “We’ve two Tetrarchs to ruin.”

Cato hid an odd smile in his tea. And as she left to saddle Caleum, she could have sworn she heard him chuckle that Kadra wasn’t going to know what hit him.

Ur Dinyé’s largest house of worship to the Elsar was a mile past the Favran Tower Gate, steps from the Aequitas. Carved from the same ascetic white limestone as the courthouse, the Grand Elsarian Temple’s cluster of domes rose almost as high as Aelius’s statue. Oak doors barred entry into the temple. Her breath caught at the black-robed figure before them.

Remember, nothing has changed.

Surprise lit Kadra’s eyes. He caught her reins as she dismounted. “You should be resting.”

“I’m feeling better.” The words left as a croak, and she cleared her throat. “Much better.”

Like Cato, he didn’t seem convinced. “You don’t look it.”

“Lovely—” Before she could finish being affronted, he clasped her wrist and placed two broad fingers against her pulse, eyes narrowed in calculation.

Havïd.She willed her pulse to cooperate.

A notch appeared between his eyebrows. “Your pulse is fast,” Kadra pronounced grimly. “You should be in bed.”

Torn between horrified amusement and sinking to the ground in humiliation, she settled for a strangled smile. “I’m fine.”

He studied her for a moment before releasing her hand. As he did, his thumb brushed an absent stroke across her wrist. She quelled the rising heat in her.Nothing has changed.

She gestured at the Temple. “Why the Master Cleric?”

In response, he withdrew the letter of Livia’s that had confounded them from his saddlebag. “Gaius told me you were searching for ‘pre-Tetrarch walls.’”

It hit her. “He was referring to the Temple?”

“Oldest walls in Edessa.” Kadra’s lips rose a fraction when she rubbed her hands in excitement. “And it has a library.”

Of course. “They were looking into whether the scuta actually called on the gods for protection,” she realized.

The doors creaked open. A young cleric-in-training bowed. “Master Cleric Linus will see you soon. Please wait within,” he stammered and fled at Kadra’s nod.

“Will Linus give us anything?” she wondered, following him in. “I imagine the temples must be benefiting from the story around the scuta.”

“I’m sure we can make him talk.”

Sarai almost felt sorry for Linus. She watched with slitted eyes as Kadra crossed the temple’s threshold. Catching her perusal, he raised an eyebrow.

“They say evil can’t pass the High Elsar’s doors.” She shrugged. “I was expecting you to burst into flames.”

“Expecting?” He gave her a dark smile. “Or hoping?”

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