Page 76 of Sanctifier

He turned away again. “A wise choice.”

But she couldn’t leave it there. “You can tell me. No more lies between us, remember?”

“Don’t look at me like that, Delara. Like you care.” He turned to look at her again, a man in pain, armor shed. She had never seen such an empty gaze, such a wretched soul in such elegant trappings. “There is nothing to tell,” he said. “We’ll return to the cavern tomorrow.”

On the wayback to her rooms, her thoughts clouded by the conversation with Lord D’Luc, Ru was startled by a young pageboy dashing toward her. He skidded to a halt before her, bowed, and held out a folded slip of parchment.

“Miss Delara,” he gasped out, “Regent Sigrun wishes to see you urgently.”

Turning to share a slightly bewildered glance with Lyr, Ru unfolded the paper and read it. It was as brief as summons came, and exactly as the footman had said — Regent Sigrun requested Ru’s presence immediately.

“Follow me,” said the pageboy, color high in his cheeks from the exertion, “if you’d be so kind.”

And so it was that Ru found herself in the regent’s office for the second time. A clock ticked solemnly in the corner. The regent sat at her desk just as she had before. And, just like before, Inda perched on a nearby chair, scratching notes with a quill.

“Thank you for joining me on such short notice,” said the regent, waving a hand at the tea things that were laid out on a rolling cart. “Sit.”

Regent Sigrun’s face remained impassive, her eyes glazed as if from sleep.

As it always did, the sight of Sigrun made Ru feel sick. She reminded Ru of the helplessness of her situation, an ache of dread in her gut that would not relent.

But there was nothing she could do; not yet. So Ru sat and poured herself a cup of tea. Her fingers shook slightly.

“Your control of the artifact,” said the regent, not wasting time with niceties. “How is it progressing?”

Ru wanted to remind the regent that Lord D’Luc wrote up daily reports, and why didn’t she simply read those, but it would achieve nothing. Ru understood the real reason for these meetings with the regent — it was a chance for Lady Bellenet to assert her control over Ru.

“Slowly,” Ru answered. “I’m sure you’ve seen the reports. I have not yet succeeded in obtaining a reaction from the stone.”

“None whatsoever?” asked the regent blandly.

Ru thought of the night before, the way the artifact had not coerced her to be with Taryel — almost as if her acceptance of him, at long last giving up her resistance, had been what the artifact had wanted all along. But it was impossible to know if her theory was sound, not without tests and experiments.

“No reaction,” Ru replied.

Inda scratched away with her quill as if Ru had uttered an entire essay rather than three words aloud.

Meanwhile, the regent rested her face on one curled fist, like a stiff simulacrum of a person. “Your brother Simon,” she said.

Ru’s mouth went dry. “What about him?”

“He has befriended Taryel Aharis. We have seen them together in shadowed corners. What is the nature of this alliance?”

“I’m not sure what you mean,” Ru said, forcing herself to pause and sip her tea. To ignore the unsteadiness in her fingers, the thrum of her heart. “They met last time I was at the palace. As you’ve said, they’re friends.”

“I see,” said the regent. “What is the nature of said friendship?”

Inda glanced at Ru with an unsettlingly hollow expression, then went back to her note-taking.

It was like sitting in a room of puppets and knowing exactly how their strings were pulled. Ru tried not to shiver with dread. “As far as I know, they discuss… philosophy. Music. Art. Whatever it is minstrels and gods have in common.”

“I see,” said the regent.

Inda wrote furiously, dipping her quill into the inkwell with sharp little thrusts of her fingers.

There was a long moment in which no one spoke. Ru twisted her fingers in her lap. If Lady Bellenet’s gaze had fallen on Taryel and Simon, did she suspect them of working against her? Did she suspect Ru? Her gut was in knots, her palms sweating.

“What was I going to say next?” said the regent suddenly, tilting her head.

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