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Another man further down the line looked up and smiled at her. "Funny, because Obligation feels the exact same way about you. Ati still talks about you, you know?"
That made Nari smile. "I may have to start requesting some cookies for dinner," she teased. "That way the Priests of Obligation will get the extra for breakfast the next day."
"Ask for the cherry drop ones," Polst told her. "Those are my favorite."
"Funny, because they're my favorite too," she said. "I mean, if you just happen to let her know how much I adore her cooking…" Then she winked at him.
"There is that," Polst told her. "I'll consider it an appropriate tithe for the work I did on your suite. When you're ready to rearrange your furniture, let us know. Obligation is not done taking care of you."
"And it's your responsibility to let us," the first man in the line told her. "It's also easier if you just let us have this."
Nari laughed and accepted her plate of eggs and bacon. "Okay, okay," she laughed. "I'll be sure to let you all know when we need heavy things lifted. I'm sure my guardians will not complain at all."
The strangest thing was that no one batted an eye at the fact that she'd called all of us her guardians. They smiled, and the looks on their faces were the knowing kind, but I got the impression that these men were proud to be let in on her secret. I was also convinced that there was nothing that would pry it out of them.
At least we had that going for us.
Chapter 11
Nariana
The fact that Tishlie knew about Kinen sending a letter to Tath bothered me more than I wanted to admit. She was an initiate priestess. There was no reason why Tishlie should even be around the High Priest normally, so how had she heard about what he was doing? It had to be her ties to Ciella. The real question was what that meant.
Was Tishlie actively trying to help us get kicked out? Was she simply something dumb and pretty that Ciella was dragging around beside her? Either option was possible, along with so many in the middle. Granted, the simple fact that Ciella hadn't been removed from the temple when she lost all of her god-lace said more than I wanted to admit.
Kinen felt threatened by the marks Zeal had put on my body. He'd already tried to have my lace removed to prove I was a fake. When that hadn't worked, he'd encouraged our first-year instructors to force me to pick a single Path. Then we'd overheard him in the hall on the night of the Fresh Start.
Kinen had told Ciella that he didn't care if I died. He'd said enough for me to know she was supposed to dredge up some dirt on me. That was his price for keeping her in the temple, and Tishlie was her supposed partner. Not that any of us honestly believed those two had an emotional attachment, but it meant that Anver's ward might be in this a lot deeper than we'd suspected. Especially if she'd been hearing things straight from the High Priest himself.
Add all of that to the little "discussion" we'd had last night, and I was pretty sure I was in over my head. There was only one way I could think of to deal with all of this stuff. Early that afternoon, I told the guys I was heading up the hall to talk to Amerlee and Jamik. I'd promised that I would fill them in on the events of our winter holiday, so I needed to go visit anyway. Naturally, Talin said he was coming with me.
My mentors - the four people who had all but raised me - lived four doors up the hall. I didn't bother getting dressed up for my visit. Talin and I simply headed to their suite and then knocked. It only took a few seconds before I heard the lock release, and then Irila appeared on the other side.
A smile immediately claimed her face, and she pulled the door open wider. "Nari's here!" she called out to the rest.
"Hey, Irila," I greeted her, making my way in to find Jamik on the couch, pinned between Amerlee and Shalsa as he tried to casually read a book.
They were cute like that. Amerlee was lying with her back against the armrest and her legs in Jamik's lap. She had a pad of paper and was taking notes from a book that was much too large to do anything but lie it in her lap. Shalsa was leaned up against his other side, tucked adorably under his arm while she crocheted something in a lovely pale pink color.
"Ok, that's cute," I told them as I headed to the other couch in their room. "Please tell me you're not leaving Irila out of the cuddles?"
"I was cleaning my weapons," Irila said from the kitchen. "Not really a cuddling type of thing. Tea, Nari? What do you want, Talin?"
"Tea for both of us," Talin told her.
But the sight of me was enough to make Jamik close his book. That got passed to Amerlee, who stacked it on top of hers and put both on the table beside them. I was happy they didn't try to sit up, yet I'd just become the center of attention.
"So, I heard something happened with the Baron of Temptation," Amerlee said, giving me a place to start.
I nodded. "Yeah. So you know Kinen waived our status as initiates with the Ranndor household. That meant both Ela and I could have actual sessions while we were there for the holidays, and Tath naturally demanded them. At one point, Ela decided to invite himself, and Tath made it clear that he had an interest, but he tried to resist it."
Shalsa grunted, sounding like she was neither surprised nor impressed. "Is he planning to file a complaint about Ela pushing into his session?"
"Well," I said, knowing there was no easy way to explain this, "it got worse. To make a long story short, the man tried to force himself on me in the library of the residence, with the doors open, intending to make a scene that would shame Talin. Tath made it very clear that was his goal before he tried."
"Nari!" Irila gasped. "Are you ok?"
I waved her off. "I've learned a thing or two about protecting myself from soft and pampered nobles. I'd just pushed him off me and was reaching for a statue to make sure he stayed off when Wraythe and Ela got there."
