Page 133 of Insolence
A pair of Temple Guardsmen crowd the Archive’s entrance now. They’re rounding up the two betrothed women. Strangely, they’re neither angry nor appalled; perhaps a bit amused.
My gaze darts to the prioress, who throws her head back in laughter. She’s still standing at the large bonfire, still sipping her goblet of wine, still being fawned over by her retinue of sisters, and loving it.
“You see the problem, though.” Ghisele’s words slither right through me, halting me in my tracks. “Can you say that you trust her? Can you say with certainty that she won’t lie about it or brush you off if you go to her?”
I whirl around, feeling like she’s infringed on my mind along with my aura and most private emotions.
“There it is.” Her grin is too sly, too cunning.
“If you intend to arrive at a point, I beg of you.Enlightenme.”
“I may not knowpreciselywhat a Succubus is, but I know what it’s like to be in Elodie’s thrall. So do you, it seems.” She examines her fingernails, affecting nonchalance before her focus sharpens on me. “From the looks of it, you’re at an advanced stage of ruin when it comes to her. Are you not?”
I’m immediately, acutely aware of the invisible thread connecting us. Humming from across the courtyard, it’s as if I’m tethered by the gravity surrounding her. Ensnared by a force I don’t understand.
Offending betrothed in tow, the guardsmen pass us while I grope for something to say.
One of them mutters to the women—something that sounds like“keep it underground”but that makes no sense at all.
I do a double take.Is that blood smeared on her neck?
She’s out of sight before I can be sure.
“So tell me,” murmurs Ghisele, oblivious to anything other than snapping my last frayed nerve. “Look me in the eye andsay with complete certainty sheisn’tusing dark magic to compel you. Tell me she doesn’t have you at her beck and call. Better yet, convinceyourselfthat she doesn’t have you doing tricks for her and nibbling from the palm of her hand.”
My stomach twists, and clamminess breaks out under my arms and at the small of my back. I’m unable to argue, unable tobreathe. Somehow this small conjecture, made by someone I don’t trust on the best of days, has brought everything into crisp definition.
“Please, tell me youaren’ther Thrall, Itissa.” She steps closer, eyes flashing like polished jade. “Go ahead and tell me I’m mistaken.”
A rage-induced flush scorches me from head to toe. I blow out a shaky breath.
She peers down her nose at me, a smirk twisting her pretty lips. I can’t determine what I’m more furious about: the ridiculous accusation or the inconvenient fact that it’s not actually that ridiculous at all.
“I don’t know,” I say, at last.
Yes, you do,whispers another Itissa, from some deep, abiding place in my bones.
That’s when the first firework goes off, exploding immediately outside the dome’s confines in a riot of purple pinwheels. I jump, letting loose an involuntary shriek.
More shrieks and yelps go up from the others, while everyone rushes to the center of the courtyard. Between blasts, the clock tower is tolling midnight.
I’m following Ghisele in a daze, letting myself get swallowed by the mayhem. More fireworks hammer through the air, an echo of my pounding heart. Not even their whining screams over the river valley can muffle the chaos barreling through my brain.
Cordelia and Sadrie find me, sweeping me into warm hugs, one after the other, followed by Maida. Wishes of Happy FirstNight and kisses are exchanged, but I’m an imposter to the festivities, a fraud wearing someone else’s skin.
A spate of bone-rattling blasts elicits more shrieks, followed by wild laughter from the prioress and sisters. The Temple Guardsmen drift to the center of the complex, craning their necks to watch the spectacle.
Someone’s asking where the fireworks are coming from. I think it’s Cordelia.
“Karsyn.” Maida’s answer comes as if from a great distance away. “Climbers pick their way up the mountain to set them off.”
I drift away. For a brief, still moment, only silence blares in my ears. The courtyard’s occupants hold their collective breath between blasts, gaping at an otherworldly aurora overhead. Sinuous bands of emerald, crimson, and amber swim in the dome’s arcane material.
Behind me, Maida explains that the fireworks got close enough to interact with the dome’s magic. She explains how the dome protects the temple complex from rogue fireworks while letting the wind through.
I’m not sure if she’s speaking to me until Cordelia answers, “Of course. Otherwise we’d suffocate with all the woodsmoke.”
When I turn around, both of them have moved away. My eyes land on Elodie across the courtyard. She’s watching me with a keen interest that tugs between us.
