Page 44 of Sanctifier

Ru raised her eyebrows slightly.

“…Some of it was Simon’s.”

Ru reached for the plate of cookies, which Pearl had brought with the tea things. Slowly, deliberately, she picked one up and took a bite.

“Simon’s idea,” she said at last.

Taryel sighed. “The god thing—”

“You’re an imbecile,” Ru interrupted, “if you think you can blame any of this on my brother.” She chewed her cookie violently. “Do you believe you’re Festra then? Are you enjoying this? Did youaskto wear that stupid crown?”

Taryel sipped his tea, then set it daintily on the table between them, cup clinking against saucer. A muscle feathered in his jaw.

“May I have a cookie?”

Ru slid the plate out of his reach. “You’ll be lucky to leave here in one piece, let alone with a cookie. Talk.”

“Fair enough.” He pushed black hair out of his eyes, meeting her gaze. “I’ll start at the beginning, then. I’ve been living here, at the palace, for the last month. Don’t look at me like that. I told you in the woods, there was nothing I could do while you were at the Tower. I wasn’t myself for a long while. After I told you the truth of who I really was, I wandered in the shadows… I hid from the world. I knew I’d failed you at the moment you needed me most.”

A painful lump formed in Ru’s throat. “You lied to me. You abandonedme,” she said in a near whisper. “And now you’rehere, playing god, like it didn’t matter. Did that rescue attempt mean anything? Or was it just a way to confuse me?” She hated the way her heart threatened to break all over again. Just as it did every time she thought of Fen leaving her alone in the Shattered City. Alone with the Children and Lord D’Luc.

“Of course it meant something. I would have run with you, Ru.” Taryel’s voice was low and hoarse. “I know how this looks. I know you hate me. My heart—”

“You don’t have a heart.” The words were cold, but Ru needed him to know how he’d hurt her. She needed him to understand how alone she’d been, even in the place that had once been her home.

He sat back, running a hand through his hair. “Unfortunately, I do. But you know that.”

“And I’m itskeeper,” she said bitterly. “I don’t know what that means, Taryel. Listen, I don’t want to talk about the night you left. I want to know why you’re here, now. Why you’re playing this part. And why onearthmy brother is caught up in your schemes.”

“I finally came to Mirith because I believed it was the only place where I could be useful to you. To put an end to things.I came to your brother because I knew he was the only person with enough influence and information to help me.”

“Help you do what?” Ru asked, though she guessed what he would say.

“Stop Lord D’Luc and Lady Bellenet.”

“Then you knew she was pulling the strings from the start? And didn’t warn me?”

“It wasn’t like that,” Taryel said, fingers white-knuckled as he gripped his teacup. “When I finally found the wherewithal to make myself useful to you, I went to Simon. He already suspected Lady Bellenet of working with Lord D’Luc. Possibly even issuing orders from here in the palace. We only confirmed it recently, when Simon wrote to you. We didn’t want to frighten you needlessly. We thought you’d be safest at the Tower, that we could figure out how Lady Bellenet was controlling the regent, put a stop to it, and you’d be none the wiser. But things have… spiraled out of control a bit, with Festra and everything. That’s why I came to you in the forest. We knew you’d refuse to run, but we had to try.”

Ru took a breath to steady herself and reached for another cookie. “Well, congratulations to you both. You’ve successfully accomplished nothing.”

Taryel rubbed his face with both hands. “Don’t look at it that way. This fad, this religion that’s swept the palace… it’s given me access. I played along from the start. Lady Bellenet made no secret of her belief that the Destroyer was Festra incarnate. And when I came to her, told her who I was, and confirmed the true nature of the artifact, she treated me accordingly. Put me on a pedestal before the court, allowed me to demonstrate my powers. And when the court was suitably enthralled, she began to let me in on things. Took me to dinners and balls as her right hand. It was a way in, a direct line straight to the source.”

“And after all that,” Ru said, incredulous, “you still have no idea how she’s controlling people? Changing them? All of the professors at the Tower are gone, you know.”

“I know.”

“Then you also know it can’t be undone.”

He swallowed visibly. “I do.”

Ru couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “So for an entire month, you and Simon have been working to uncover the mystery of Lady Bellenet’s powers, and all you managed to do was give yourself a fan club.”

“When you put it that way it sounds a bit…”

“Laughable? Pointless?” Ru’s mind whirled. The entire palace had known about the artifact, this secret she’d been trying to keep from Lord D’Luc for a month. She wanted to smash the plate of cookies into Taryel’s remorseful face. “Why didn’t you write to me immediately and let me in on this plan, you pair of meat-brained dolts?”

“I didn’t want to frighten you,” he murmured.

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