Sean gazed over the forest, his attention caught by flickers and flashes of Luster. “Way prettier than where I grew up.”
“I’ve only been to Viterra a few times,” she said. “Autumn and I were given a few missions when we were in the Honor Guard, but I don’t think the Council liked their Sovereigns out in the wilds of Viterra where they could be snatched by Indies.”
He shrugged. “Surprised they let you come for me, then.”
She laughed. “They didn’tletme. When we heard you were found but in danger, I had to go. Meléan’s oath demanded it.”
Huh.Strange that she’d seemed displeased to find him that night, then. “You know, I never even saw an Indy until that day I met you.”
“Your mother was smart. She kept you in a small, calm place where they’d never go.”
Sean thought of all the times his mother made him promise to never leave. It made sense in hindsight, all the secrets. With a deep breath, Sean forced away the image of his mom’s face. “What about your mother? Kywyn said she passed?”
“I was five. I barely remember her.”
“What do you remember?” he asked, taking her hand.
“I remember her laugh. And I remember that she always called mebaby girl. But mostly I remember a day not long before she died. I was sitting in her lap while she brushed my hair, and she said,You will be a beautiful woman.” Bel’s voice grew soft. Thoughtful. “She didn’t say it like it was a compliment, and I asked her why it made her sad that I was beautiful.”
Sean turned to take in her profile, glowing gold in the setting sun. The light struck her eyes like true emeralds, hypnotizing. “What did she say?”
“Beauty is a curse. It causes more damage than it’s worth.” She sighed and dropped her gaze to her lap. “It took me years to understand what she meant.”
“She said that to you when you werefive?” he asked, shock making the question harsher than he intended.
“She wasn’t the warmest of mothers,” Isobel said with a humorless laugh.
“What do you think she meant by it?”
Bel met his eyes. “Meléan’s face—myface—has ruined lives. This face tore apart a pair of powerful brothers. It sparked a war. If Meléan hadn’t been so bewitching, none of that would have happened. But it’s the failure of men that they covet that which is beautiful, that they judge their power by the beauty of the woman standing beside them.”
“That’s not true,” Sean said, feeling the need to defend his sex.
“This is nature, Sean. Females want partners who will protect them. Males want trophies.”
“That is a pretty dramatic extrapolation, Isobel. That war was fought for ideals, not for the love of a woman.”
Her mouth twisted into a bitter sort of smile. “It only takes a spark to ignite a wildfire.”
Sean didn’t argue, though he strongly disagreed.They sat in silence until she kissed his temple and stepped inside. Sean was glad for it. He wanted to be alone.
Most evenings he spent with Cole. Sometimes Anna or Autumn would join them. Isobel was a near constant staple at his side. But as the sun sank below the horizon, Sean craved isolation.
The last couple weeks had been mentally exhausting. The Council meetings proved less daunting than he’d imagined, but they knew surprisingly little about how the Exorcism actually worked. The bureaucracy of thelavaniéappeared to operate similarly to everywhere else—a few people in power made all the decisions without understanding the inner workings of anything.
They controlled every aspect, from the taxes paid to the Crown all the way to the fare provided by the brownies in the Great Terrace. They ran this place like a collective, with shared decision-making for the good of the whole, but they left the maintenance of the Exorcism—thelavanié’s greatest enterprise—in the hands of the pixies.
They said it was what Lhynion would have wanted.
To coordinate the Exorcism in his stead, Bowenn had assigned numerous Shamans—the rank above Cathaire’s.
Currently, randomly rotating pairs were sent into Viterra for a single day, exorcising as many Indies as they could before returning through the mist. Their next rotation could be days or months later and rarely with the same partner—totally arbitrary and without strategy. When they weren’t in Viterra, thelavaniéwere on the training grounds and never trained outside the mist.
Even Sean recognized the inefficiency, but bringing it up only elicited wide-eyed stares at Council meetings. None of the members seemed willing to topple the status quo without guaranteed results.
Eventually Sean would make strides, but for now, he just wanted seclusion.
Because something was off. Beyond the weight of expectation and crippling anxiety, Sean sensed something else brewing, something that didn’t feel as if it belonged to him. Something like…fear.
