Page 39 of This Monster of Mine

Ungodly?Four years had evidently introduced more than Aelius to Cisuré. She hadn’t placed much stock in the gods back in Arsamea.

At Cobhran Tower’s gates, Cisuré raised her armilla. A half-sphere of golden filaments materialized around the structure, tendrils of sizzling light racing across it in jagged patterns.Lightning. So these were Aelius’s wards. Her skin crawled. Anyone who ventured too close would be fried alive.

Cisuré pressed blood into a rune on her armilla, and the barrier split down the center, a rush of cool air filling the gap so they could enter. She knocked on the birchwood double doors.

“Ready?”

“Havïd,” Sarai muttered, earning her an elbow in her side, as the doors noiselessly parted to reveal an airy, white-walled atrium.

Unlike Kadra’s midnight mansion, Aelius embraced light. It streamed through wide windows and an expansive glass roof, bouncing off the reflective tiles. At the atrium’s center rose an ethereal tree, laden with white-petaled blossoms. A breeze from an open window spread their scent across the room.

“Magnolia,” Cisuré breathed. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

Astounded, Sarai nodded. A short hallway stretched ahead, so pristine that she felt her worn boots were committing a crime with each step. Beyond it she could make out the faint outline of a banquet table and …

“Is that a dais?” she whispered. “You’d think this was a trial.”

The other girl’s smile froze. “He’s a fair man. You’ll see.”

Sarai’s magnolia-induced daze faltered. Unease skittered across the back of her neck. “Is there something you aren’t—”

“Ah, she’s here,” a voice called.

Her stomach plummeted. They had reached the end of the hallway, which opened into a receiving room. The banquet table she’d spotted earlier rose front and center. Towering vases hugged the walls, vivid splashes of flora within, but her gaze stuck on the figure—figures—seated at one end of the table.

Aelius. Tullus. Cassandane. Three calculating gazes met her as she tottered forward, with all the grace of a deer wandering into a hunter’s gathering.

Ambush, her intuition screamed in warning. At the edge of her vision, Cisuré melted into a corner, a guilty flush across her cheeks.

Betrayal rose sharp in Sarai’s chest.Why didn’t you tell me?

Aelius’s brown eyes crinkled as he gave her a wide grin. “Welcome to Cobhran Tower.”

Unlocking her frozen knees, she bowed low. “Tetrarch Aelius, Tetrarch Tullus, Tetrarch Cassandane. I’m honored.”

“Please sit.” Aelius indicated the high back chair across from them.

It screeched as Sarai pulled it out, the seat leaving her legs dangling above the ground. Feeling ridiculous, she clasped her hands in her lap and attempted a smile. The men immediately reflected one back at her.

A frisson of tension slid down her spine.Mirroring.A social trick she had employed with many a drunk in Cretus’s tavern. But these were powerful people, busy ones, if Kadra’s workload was any indication. Theywouldn’t fritter their time away with people like her unless they wanted something.

“I hear Kadra’s putting you through the wringer.” Aelius gave her a commiserating smile.

How had he heard that when she’d been reading in Kadra’s tower all day? “I expected the job to be hard work,” she said carefully.

“Of course. This must all be very new to you. But you performed extraordinarily well at the Robing.”

“I just … did my job.”

“Oh, we all saw it.” On Aelius’s right, Tullus popped a grape in his mouth, eyeing her chest with interest as he chewed. “How is Aoran Tower? Not a patch on Cobhran, I imagine.”

She cringed internally. The Robing had proved there was no love lost between Kadra and Tullus. “I’ve spent my entire life in Arsamea, Tetrarch Tullus. Compared to it, both towers look magnificent to me.”

“A born diplomat.” He seemed to be trying to see through her robes. “Wouldn’t have thought a hick town possessed any of those.”

“And yet, Arsamea has yielded two Petitors.” Cassandane broke in. She looked ill at ease. Sarai had the strange feeling that the other woman didn’t want to be at this gathering either. “You must have had a thorough schooling.”

“I taught myself. Runes, Probing, and all.” She’d be damned if Arsamea received any credit for her labor. Aelius’s eyebrows rose, but he thankfully didn’t ask for the specifics. She couldn’t very well admit to practicing on sotted tavern patrons.

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