Hell. I wanted to do more. Crack those bones beneath my fingers for even having the gall to touch Penellaphe. “How dare you lay a single finger on the Maiden? Perhaps I was not clear enough for you. Remove your hand from the Maiden, or I will act upon your attempt to harm her,” I warned, and a huge part of me hoped she lacked common sense. “And I can assure you, me touching you will be the least of your concerns.”
A moment passed.
Then another. And, gods, I hoped she didn’t. I really did.
I started to smile.
Unfortunately, the Priestess had a smidgen of common sense. She removed her hand from Penellaphe’s chin. I had to force myself to let go of her wrist. I didn’t want to. I wanted to make sure she couldn’t use those hands to harm Penellaphe or anyone ever again.
The Priestess’s rage was evident as she turned back to Penellaphe. I stayed close, right behind her. I didn’t trust the woman at all. She’d raised a hand to Penellaphe far too casually, too easily for it to have been the first time. It was also clear to me that no one—no guard, and not even Penellaphe—had stopped her in the past.
I couldn’t fathom how Penellaphe, who could wipe the floor with this woman’s face, sat and took it. My anger built as I stared at the top of the Priestess’s head.
“The mere fact that you would even speak such a thing shows that you have no respect for the honor bestowed upon you,” Priestess Analia said to Penellaphe. “But when you go to the gods, you’ll be treated with as much respect as you have shown today.”
“What does that mean?” Penellaphe asked.
“This session is over.” The Priestess rose. “I have too much to do with the Rite only two days away. I have no time to spend with someone as unworthy as you.”
My eyes narrowed as my nostrils flared. This woman wouldn’t know worthiness if it fell into her lap.
“I’m ready to return to my chambers,” Penellaphe announced before I could tell the Priestess what I thought of her idea of worthiness. She nodded at the woman. “Good day.”
Forcing myself to follow Penellaphe from the chamber, I added the woman to my list of those who may find themselves answering for their lies sooner rather than later.
Penellaphe didn’t speak until we were halfway across the banquet hall. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
Disbelief thundered through me. “I should’ve allowed her to hit you? In what world would that have been acceptable?”
“In a world where you end up punished for something that wouldn’t even have hurt.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “I don’t care if she hits like a baby mouse, this world is fucked-up if anyone finds that acceptable.”
Penellaphe halted and looked up at me through that damn veil. “Is it worth losing your position over and being ostracized for?”
She was worried about my position? Disbelief crashed into the simmering anger. “If you even have to ask that question, then you don’t know me at all.”
“I hardly know you at all,” she whispered.
Dammit, she was right. She didn’t know me. Fuck. I didn’t even know myself half the time, but I did know this. “Well, now you know that I will never stand by and watch someone hit you or any person for no reason other than they feel they can.”
Penellaphe appeared as if she were about to say something but changed her mind. She turned and began walking. I joined her, trying to cool my rage.
“It’s not like I’m okay with how she treats me,” she said quietly after several moments. “It took everything in me not to throw the book at her.”
Admittedly, I was relieved to hear that. The idea of her just sitting there and taking it… “I wish you had.”
“If I had, she would’ve reported me. She’ll probably report you.”
“To the Duke? Let her.” I shrugged. “I can’t imagine that he’s okay with her striking the Maiden.”
She snorted. “You don’t know the Duke.”
The way she said that… “What do you mean?”
“He would probably applaud her,” Penellaphe remarked. “They share a lack of control when it comes to their tempers.”
It came together then, though part of me had already figured it out. I just didn’t want to consider it. “He’s hit you,” I bit out, aware of the servants’ nervous glances in our direction as they passed. “Is that what she meant when she said that you’d grown fond of the cane?” I grasped her arm, my mind flashing to those canes in his private office and how she’d been absent for days after meeting with him. And the smell of arnica…？ Fucking gods, I was going to kill the bastard. “Has he used a cane on you?”
She jerked a bit and then pulled her arm free. “I didn’t say that.”
“What were you saying?”
“J-just that the Duke is more likely to punish you than he is the Priestess. I have no idea what she meant by the cane,” she quickly added. “She sometimes says things that make no sense.”
She wasn’t speaking the truth right now, but I knew. Fuck, I knew. The Priestess had hit her before. The Duke had caned her. She was accustomed to these punishments—punishments she didn’t want me to know about.
I went cold inside.
Not hollow or empty.
Icy rage filled me, and only by sheer effort did I stop myself from finding the Duke right then and ending his miserable, pathetic existence. I briefly closed my eyes. “I must’ve misread what you said then.”
“Yes,” she confirmed. “I just don’t want you to get into trouble.”
She was worried about me? Again? “And what about you?”
“I’ll be fine.” Penellaphe began walking again. “The Duke will just…give me a lecture, make it a lesson, but you would face—”
“I’ll face nothing,” I promised. And neither would she. I forced the tension out of my neck. “Is she always like that?”
Penellaphe sighed. “Yes.”
“The Priestess seems like a…” I couldn’t think of anything appropriate to say. “A bitch. I don’t say that often, but I say it now. Proudly.”
A half-smothered laugh came from her. “She…she is something, and she’s always disappointed in my…commitment to being the Maiden.”
“Exactly how are you supposed to prove you are?” I asked, genuinely curious. “Better yet, what are you supposed to be committed to?”
Her veiled head turned to me sharply, and then she nodded. “I’m not quite sure. It’s not like I’m trying to run away or escape my Ascension.”
I glanced over at her as we entered a short, narrow hall full of windows. What an odd thing for her to say. “Would you?”
“Funny question,” she murmured.
“It was a serious one.”
Penellaphe didn’t answer, and my heart started thumping a bit erratically. Had she considered doing that? Running away from her Ascension? If so…
I watched her go to a window overlooking the courtyard. She was so quiet and still, appearing as if she were a spirit garbed in the white of the Maiden. Then she looked up at me.