Page 169 of Insolence
“Say it, Elodie!” she shrieks. “Tell me the truth for once!”
“Thatisthe truth. You’re a demun. A Succubus.” Groping for my shirt and draping it over my naked chest takes nearly all of my remaining strength. “You made me your Thrall the first time we— The night our soul-tie was forged.”
An eerie clarity overtakes her aura, followed by pulsing crimson outrage. “How did they come back to me, Elodie? My memories?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do!” She moves closer, looking like she wants to kick me. I’m afraid she wants tokillme. “How, Elodie?!”
“I really. Don’t. Know. Whatever dark magic Deirdre tampers with isherbusiness. There aren’t exactly manuals to reference about it, all right?”
A noise halfway between a growl and a roar tears through her. She spins and walks away. Falls out of my line of sight andsnaps, “Yousaidyou didn’t know me. Told me multiple times I wasn’t a demun!”
“And I planned to come clean eventually. When it was safe. I swear.”
“‘Eventually,’” she says, and I can picture her sneer. “Mygods, do you ever love that shitty word.”
“Yeah. Well. ‘Eventually’ was the best I could do at the time.” Adrenaline hitting my bloodstream is the only reason I can haul myself into a sitting position. The room sways around me. “This hasn’t been easy, you know. The way you came here and foisted yourself on me. Forced me to make a promise I didn’t know how to keep. At every turn I’ve been scrambling to protect you from yourself. Been gods-be-damnedterrifiedof losing you again.” Fingers clumsy, I fuss with my shirt. “How could I have told you anything about being a demun when there was a chance you’d discover what happens to the betrothed?”
A sharp intake of breath comes from behind me.
“On the autumn equinox”—the words are muffled as if her fingers are clamped over her mouth—“after the Binding Ceremony. My gods, they’re taken to holding pens underground. L-locked inside—”
“At which point they’re sacrificed to the bloodthirsty, bastardized version of the goddess,” I finish. “One by one. Painfully and in front of the Five while Deirdre syphons their life-force and stores it. As ordained by the Indigo & Veridian Accords.”
The silence that fills the Observatory speaks for itself.
Neither of us elaborates that, despite the misdirection the sisters employ prior to the lottery, acolytes who don’t qualify for apprenticeship meet the same fate. Sacrificed the evening of the following year’s lottery.
Thankfully a rare occurrence. But then again, most years Maida and I aren’t passing a gods-be-damneddemunoff as a mage.
If Tiss remembers what happens to the betrothed, then she remembers that bit too.
Every woman in the realm knows these things.Especiallychangelings like us. It’s the reason behind the ritual. The reason Maida and I are scrambling to figure out an alternate plan in case Tiss doesn’t pass the exam.
“It seemed cruel to tell you upfront what’s going to happen to them. Possibly toyou.” I thread my limp arms through the shoulder straps of my brassiere. Thank the gods this one’s front fastening. “It isn’t savory knowledge to have when you’re fucking powerless to stop it, believe me. And Ireallydidn’t want to jinx anything before Maida and I had a solid plan in place to get us the hell out of here.”
I run my hands over my face. Her claiming bite throbs on my shoulder, the intimacy it forged between us a distant memory by now. “Goddess. This isn’t at all how I wanted to have this conversation.”
Tiss scoffs, fresh disgust hurtling at me. “We wouldn’t be having it at all if you hadn’t insisted on playing games.”
“None of this is agameto me.” I twist around, my gaze cutting to her. “You appeared out of thin air! Made a life-altering decision for both of us without so much as asking me!”
“Out oflovefor you,” she says, moving to stand in front of me.
“I understand that was your intent. But the impact was thoughtless, selfish, anddangerous. Not to mention your lack of self-control ever since. What the hell else was I supposed to do? What other options did you leave me? How could I divulge things when I didn’t understand who you were anymore?” It all tumbles out. Conflicted thoughts I’ve barely dared toacknowledge drop out of me like so many merciless stones. “The prioress willkillme if she finds out the ritual didn’t work on me. That I know what happens to the betrothed. If you know the rest of it, then you know that much.”
Tiss throws her hands up. “And how would she find out? I’m not about to say anything!”
“Not on purpose. But you’ve already demonstrated how emotional you are. You’re impulsive. Unpredictable.”
“And I’ve accepted responsibility for it! I’ve been working to regulate my emotions. Didn’t you just tell me howproudof me you were?”
“Of course I’m proud of you, Tiss,” I sigh. “But it also hasn’t been that long. Recently it seemed like you’d been reflecting on your truly wild behavior. After you said you saw some of yourself in how Sadrie treated you, I thought you sincerely intended to change. I’ve been starting to trust again, but—” It feels like dragging a cinder block through mud trying to get my brain and mouth to cooperate. “Well. Now I’m thinking about all the things youhaven’tsaid. Behavior you still haven’t acknowledged. I’m not so sure anymore.”
She blinks, arms dangling limply at her sides. For a moment I think I see tears in her eyes. I’m waiting for her to explode again. Or break down weeping.
When her tone collapses to a quiet pitch, it’s more chilling than any hysterics. “Please just tell me how I managed to get a white fucking sphere, priestess.”
