Page 89 of This Monster of Mine

“How did he work before me?”

“After trials, he’d sequester himself to record judgments into the evening. He barely slept.” Gaius shook his head. “I don’t know how he did it.”

She didn’t either. His work ethic was inhuman. She tipped her head to one side. “You’ve known Kadra eight years?”

“More or less. Why?”

“Good. You can clear this up. How many more throttlings lie in my future?”

He blanched. “Petitor Sarai, Tetrarch Kadra would not have intended for Tetrarch T—”

“Tullus aside, I haven’t forgotten Ennius,” she cut in, and he quieted. “When I became a Petitor, it wasn’t with the understanding that I’d be burning a man alive. Or that I’d be completing sixmonthsof trials in six weeks. Is there a reason Kadra’s trying to kill me?”

“I’m sure he’s ensuring that you gain experience in a variety of—”

“Throttlings? Tutorials on how to torture a man?”

Gaius wisely refrained from saying anything else. He drew her through a network of corridors, pointing out the bunks the vigiles used between shifts, a well-stocked pantry, and casks of wine that looked like theysaw regular use. Slicing a few strips of smoked meat, he kept up a dizzying stream of chatter on everything from the state of affairs in Kadra’s Quarter—generally calm—to more of Helvus’s misdeeds.

“You’ve done a lot of good,” he assured her. “We tried to put Helvus away for years, but Tetrarch Tullus kept springing him out. His reputation’s finally gotten a hit because you Materialized that memory.” He gave her an approving look. “Even Tetrarch Tullus can’t waive a charge ofhomicidiumafter that.”

She accepted a slice of meat. “Tullus waiveshomicidiumcharges?”

“Oh yes. Manufactures some extenuating circumstance and the wealthy scion’s free to go. There isn’t anyone with coin who doesn’t aspire to his patronage.” He frowned. “Didn’t Tetrarch Kadra tell you?”

“He didn’t,” she said slowly. “Does Kadra have his favorites?”

“Never. Bit of a closed book, except perhaps where you’re concerned.”

She paused mid-bite. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Gaius widened his eyes. “You live in Aoran Tower.”

“There’s nothing exciting about my being privy to the interior of his tower.”

“The forbidden has always held an allure,” he insisted. “None of us ever imagined the Tetrarch would show interest in—”

“I’m honestly sick of how much you all gossip.” She fixed him with a glare. “Six months’ worth of trials in six weeks, and you think I’ve the time to fuck him.”

Sheepish, he raised his hands in surrender. “We assumed—”

“You assumed wrong.” None of it meant anything. Kadra had proven it yesterday.

Gaius turned the corner into a familiar hallway, and she realized they were back where they had started. The water clock by the pillars dripped slow. Dawn was still an afterthought in the inkblot sky.

A frisson of unease snaked through her. The door to Kadra’s office loomed large at the end of the hallway, the shuttered jaws of a wolf. Sheswallowed, recalling the less-than-flattering epithets she’d flung at him at Helvus’s. Gods, she’d called him ahavïdsadist.

Wholly unaware of her turmoil, Gaius grinned. “So are we forgiven for yesterday?”

It took a moment for his question to penetrate, but when it did, she shot Gaius a glower that had him stumbling back. Tugging down her collar, she presented the mottled violet lines circling her neck from Tullus’s grip.

Red painted Gaius’s cheekbones. He stared at the courtyard, then at the tiled floor, as though either could tell him what to say.

“Games, tests, your Tetrarch might think highly of them, but I don’t.” Her voice was icy. “Human life, humandignity, shouldn’t be toyed with.”

She left him there, the beginnings of something apologetic on his lips. Dread filled her as she closed the distance to Kadra’s office. Her knock sounded too loud in the hallway’s silence.

“Enter.” His voice sliced across her brittle confidence.

---