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Reese was shepherding her toward the door. “You can tell her in the morning.”
“She needs to hear this.”
Madeleine didn’t quite pull free of Reese’s hold, but she did stop and look back. “What is it?”
“The attempts on your life,” Harlo began.
Now she and Reese both spun around to face him, wearing matching expressions of apprehension. “What?” she demanded.
“I’m afraid they might continue. For almost as long as this continent has existed, there have been fanatical groups who suspected the truth about the god’s requirement. And who made it their mission to try to—eliminate—the sacrifice.”
“I thought those were myths,” Heloise said.
“Sadly, no. I thought—we all thought—the group had been eradicated years ago. But it seems someone has revived it. These fanatics call themselves Reversionists. They have some fevered notion of returning the world to the way it was before the god reshaped it. And they think to do that by killing you.” Harlo gave her a long, troubled stare. “You must be very careful.”
“I have my guard.”
“I doubt a solitary person will be enough to protect you. As each of their attempts fail, they grow more emboldened. You need a cadre of soldiers. I can have a detail of temple guards sent home with you tonight.”
“Thank you,” she said, but Reese spoke over her.
“No,” he said. “I don’t trust Harlo’s men.”
Harlo gave a twisted smile. “I understand why your opinion of me has fallen so low, but I assure you, Madeleine’s safety is as important to me as it is to you.”
“Oh, I don’t thinkyouwant her dead. But I’m guessing some of these zealots come from within the temple ranks.”
A low murmur of uneasiness went through the dinner guests, and Madeleine felt a chill along her spine. “Why do you think that?” she asked.
Reese nodded at Harlo. “Who else knows about you? The priests—”
“Only a few of the priests,” Harlo interrupted.
“And this lot.” He gestured toward the Council members. “It might be one of your cousins or your closest friends scheming to do away with you, but I’m betting fanatics are more likely to be bred in the temple.And,” he added, raising his voice when Harlo attempted to speak, “the patri knows it.” He glanced down at Madeleine. “That woman who attacked you the night of the party? Harlo told you she died by her own hand, but I heard she was killed by someone in the temple.” Now he looked at Harlo again. “Because someone in the priesthood didn’t want her interrogated.”
“Harlo, is this true?” her father demanded.
“It is true she died while in custody,” Harlo said. “And we’re not sure how.”
Her father swore loudly and violently enough to earn disgusted looks from Lara and Heloise, but Reese ignored him. “So you see why I don’t trust the patri’s guard,” Reese concluded. “I have hand-picked soldiers in my employ. I’ll put them at Madeleine’s disposal.”
“Thank you,” she said in a strangled voice. She really wasn’t sure she could handle one more revelation today. “Can we go home now?”
Reese’s arm tightened. “Of course.”
She ignored both her father and Tivol as they called her name again, and she looked straight at Harlo. “I will come to you in the morning and give you what I can,” she said. “And after that—after that, I will decide what I owe you and what I owe the world.”
She thought it was as good an exit line as she would be able to devise. Without another word, she headed toward the door, Reese beside her and Jayla falling in step behind them.
She had no idea what she had just bargained for. She had no idea what she would do next. She thought it hardly mattered if the god turned his blind wrath on her. As far as she was concerned, the world had already fallen apart.
Chapter Twenty-six:
Pietro
Pietro was lying in Stollo’s arms when he said, “I need to visit the ruined lands.”
Stollo rolled to his back and laughed. “Now that’s a first,” he said, his voice full of good-natured mockery. “I’ve had lovers praise my skill, and I’ve had lovers carefully explain to me why our night of carnal bliss meant absolutely nothing. But I’ve never had one tell me, after only one night of passion, that he wanted to go journeying to the far ends of the world.”
