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Ben sighed and rubbed his face. “I know. Believe me, I know how it feels to have divided loyalties.”
Genie reached out and touched his arm again. “Have you made up your mind? Is the night of the vote when you will finally act? If so, I want to be there.”
Unease prickled Cassia’s neck.
Ben shook his head. “No. It’s too dangerous. You must be gone before the vote. I don’t want you involved in this.”
“You need my help.”
“I need to know you’re safe.”
“None of us are safe, Ben. Do you really think I’ll abandon everything we’ve worked for now, at the most important moment?”
Oh, Goddess. What were they planning?
“It’s more dangerous than you know,” Ben said. “The night of the vote…things will happen that could end very badly.”
“If they end badly for you, all the more reason I should be there.”
Cold suspicions that belonged to Cassia Basilis tangled with Cassia Komnena’s affection for these two. She found it so hard to believe Genie or Ben would do anything that could truly endanger the Council.
But there was no doubt Genie was a new politician in the Segetian mold. And because Ben adhered rigidly to his moral compass, he was capable of desperate action in the name of his convictions. A dangerous characteristic, if his convictions ever misguided him.
He took Genie’s hands in his. She drew nearer, tilting her face up toward him. He bowed his head.
“Genie…” he murmured.
“Ben,” she whispered back.
“It is not your duty to protect me,” he said. “It is my duty to protect you.”
Her hands tightened on his, drawing him closer. “I don’t want you to treat me like a child. I want you to treat me like a woman.”
“You deserve to be treated like a lady.”
“Oh!” With a little growl of frustration, she let him go and tossed up her hands.
“What did I say? How have I managed to make you angry again?” He looked as downcast as he had on the tournament field. “Is this about the title I failed to win?”
“Of course not! How can you even ask me that?”
“Genie, I don’t understand you half the time. It’s as if I can do no wrong, and then I can’t do right. What do you want from me?”
“Have you heard nothing I’ve said to you since I arrived?”
“You made one thing clear.” His voice hardened. “My deeds are all that matter to you. I will act, Genie. I’ll show you what I’m made of.”
“And I will be there—not to watch, but to play my part.” She turned on her heel and deserted the room.
Ben knelt before the shrine of his god and bowed his head, murmuring prayers in the tone of a man struggling with his conscience. Then Eudias entered the shrine chamber, and Ben leapt to his feet as if he’d been caught sinning rather than praying. With a nod to the mage, the knight beat a hasty retreat, leaving Eudias staring after him.
Cassia emerged from the wall, and Eudias turned to her with a frown. “Do you have any idea what troubles him?”
Cassia hesitated, recalling her own words to Lio about caution. Her habit of parceling out secrets only to those who needed to know them had returned to her in full force since their return to Tenebra.
Ariadne slipped inside the shrine chamber and joined them before the shrine of Andragathos. “Why do you look so worried, Cassia?”
She decided to take a risk. If something dangerous was about to happen at the vote, it could help for their mage allies to be forewarned. She repeated the conversation between Ben and Genie.
