Page 129 of Outcast’s Vow

“I’m trying to find a way out of all of this, Sylvie. You don’t need me to tell you that Leopold wants Baptiste’s head. Help me.”

I take a long breath.

“He’s truly disappeared, Father. He hasn’t communicated with me at all.”

Father nods.

“Okay. We can work with that.”

“What was the gift?” I ask him tentatively. “What was he offered?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“What did he refuse, Father?”

“I’m not having this conversation, Sylvie.”

“I swear it’s the only thing I’ll ever ask of you.”

Father regards me for a long minute. His eyes, so full of machinations and schemes, seem empty and void of ideas.

Finally...

“Physical pleasure. It was physical pleasure. Of the female kind.”

“And he didn’t take it?” I ask tentatively.

“No.”

“Okay.”

Okay. Okay. Okay.

I don’t know what to feel. The office spins.

He didn’t do it.

He refused the women. He didn’t touch them.

Instant, sharp relief floods my body. But then... the guilt...

I sigh. I thought the worst of him. I thought he betrayed me. Instead, he disappeared and cut off contact. To protect me.

And now there’s the dread of what happens next. And again, for the hundredth time today, I’m falling apart.

“There are consequences that Baptiste must face for his decision,” Father says. “You heard what Elder Anguish has said, Sylvie. We have no choice but to punish him.”

“These are just made-up games,” I say unevenly. “They mean nothing. You are the Supreme Elder, so there are no consequences if you deem it so.”

“It doesn’t work like that,” Father says darkly, shaking his head pitifully. “This is the Castaways. We are built on traditions that you don’t easily break. Baptiste knew what he was doing.”

“And now he’s gone,” I retort. “He’s walked away. He’s no longer in the Castaways. He’s expelled, as Leopold said. He doesn’t need to face anything.”

“And Leopold still wants blood,” Father explains. “But I can stem it if I act swiftly. If I don’t, then I face a civil war. I can’t handle this and the Masked Killer.”

“What are you going to do?” I ask.

Father glares at me.