Page 84 of This Monster of Mine

“Your scutum!” Admia screamed. “It exploded! I know iron dust when I see it. You’ve been lying to everyone!”

“Don’t play the innocent. No one forced you to buy one.”

“My husband is dead because of you! Don’t you fear the gods?”

“Why should I?” Helvus’s grin held malice.

In a movement too fast to follow, he unsheathed and threw a dagger that embedded itself in Admia’s gut. A croak left her as she stared at the hilt protruding from her, then her eyes hardened. One hand snuck to her pocket. As Helvus laughed, she tossed a pouch into the fireplace behind him.

He raised an eyebrow. “Really—”

The fireplace exploded. Blood and organs splattered the walls, Helvus’s scream echoing through the atrium. “You—” His roar emerged as a gurgle when Admia crouched over him.

She spat on his head. “There’s the rest of your iron dust.”

Sarai braced herself against the ground, gasping from the effort of pulling it out. Several yards away, a rattle left Helvus, his jaw slack in horror. His eyes fluttered once, twice. Then shut.

Eyes darted from her to Helvus in a dizzying dance. She willed herself to get up, to explain, just as a roar shattered the graveyard silence.

“What the fuck?”

She stumbled to her feet and found Tullus behind her, Harion in tow. “Tetrarch Tullus, I can explain—”

His hand cracked across her face, knocking the breath from her. She staggered back, winded, as she clutched her burning cheek.

“How dare you?” Tullus spat, craggy features mottled with rage. Behind him, Harion looked delighted. “Who gave you the right to Materialize memories?”

“Enough, Tullus.” Aelius appeared in the entryway, a pale-faced Cisuré in tow. Without looking at Sarai, he snapped his fingers at those tending to Admia. “Stop. Toss her in prison.”

She sucked in a panicked breath. “Wait, Tetrarch Aelius, please. Admia is absolutely guilty ofhomicidium, but Helvus has committed an awful crime—” The words died when he glanced at her.

Gone was the affable Tetrarch. This was a stony-faced man in ivory robes who looked like he’d enjoy throttling her.

“Petitor Sarai, you just violated every oath you took at the Robing and humiliated a dying man in his own domus by airing out the delusions of a murderer.” He looked bitterly disappointed. “I was wondering at your lack of cooperation. I see Kadra got to you.”

She blanched, speaking so fast the words tumbled over each other. “Helvus warped your invention. He added iron dust to the core because that made them cheaper to produce. Isawthe dust at Admia’s home. Helvus—”

“That’sGuildmasterHelvus to you,” Tullus interjected, eyes glittering. “We’ve never heard of a single complaint with the scuta. What you saw was a plot to damage his reputation, and instead of punishing the perpetrator, you joined her.” His voice dripped with scorn. “Evidently, an untrained Petitor can be worse than none at all. Future Robings will feel the consequences of your actions.”

Terror swallowed her. “Tetrarch Tullus, I swear on all the High Elsar—”

“Another word, and I’ll charge you withcalumnia.”

Blood fled from her cheeks, pooling in nerveless hands that shook hard enough to rattle her. The charge punished officials for maliciousprosecution with a thousand lashes. Certain death. She stared from one hard-faced Tetrarch to the other, and the bottom fell out of her stomach. They didn’t believe her.

“Probe me if you must,” she whispered. “Even now, hundreds of thousands of scuta are—”

Tullus’s hand wrapped around her neck and slammed her against a bloodstained marble column. She choked, chest going concave.

“You still don’t understand your place,” he growled. “I’ll fucking show you.”

His fingers tightened. She could feel her windpipe closing. Spots danced in her eyes. Scrabbling, she tried to pry herself free. Cisuré made a plaintive sound of distress and stepped forward, but Tullus halted her with a furious look.

This can’t be happening.She’d expected censure, would have accepted it. But not once had she foreseen such merciless disbelief. Her legs gave out, Tullus’s death grip on her neck preventing her from sinking to the floor. Her lungs screamed. She fought, vaguely aware of footsteps ringing across the atrium, a figure at the edge of her dimming vision.

“Let her go.” Kadra’s voice was forbidding. “Now.”

With a derisive laugh, Tullus released her. Slipping on the blood below, she struggled for balance and air and was about to lose both battles, when Kadra gripped her shoulders. She sucked in harsh breaths, rubbing the raw circumference of her neck.

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