Antebellum Awakening (The Network Series #2)(61)

He reached up and touched her face with the tips of his fingers. She closed her eyes and leaned into his palm. Their voices fell too low to distinguish, but I wouldn’t have wanted to hear what they said even if I could. My heart stalled in my throat as I crept away, eyes wide.

The High Priestess had a lover.

That was the only way to describe the scene: the look in their eyes, the quiet way they touched each other. The intimate scene I’d just witnessed rocked everything I thought I’d known about the High Priestess.

Should I tell anyone? No, that would violate her privacy. I respected her too much to do that. How long had they been together? What did it mean? Like the Head of Protectors and Head of Guardians, the High Priestess could not have a spouse or a family. But clearly she’d maintained a lover all these years.

I toiled with my questions on my way back to Chatham Castle, still reeling. Would Mildred’s Resistance have details about the High Priestess’s secret lover? No, that would be madness. She’d never allow something like that printed. If I told anyone else what I’d seen, it could turn the Council against the High Priestess in such a way that could threaten her life. Not even Leda could know.

I shook my head, hoping to clear my thoughts. No wonder the High Priestess took pity on my father all those years ago, letting him take position in defiance of tradition. She must have known what it felt like, loving without being able to live it.

No, I decided. This secret would remain my own, like the others I held in my heart.





Betrayer

“Please, Camille?”

“Bianca, you’re mad!” Camille said, peering into a little mirror hanging on the wall as she put the finishing touches on an elegant braid in her hair. “I’m not taking you into Chatham City today. Except to run with Merrick, you’re not supposed to leave the castle grounds and you know it.”

“I just need to get away for awhile,” I said, sitting on the edge of the divan. I’d fallen into a desperate melancholy the past two days, ever since the Council’s vote. Waiting on the High Priestess’s final decision, and keeping her secret tryst to myself, made me irritable and snappish. Even Merrick had noticed my distraction during our practice that morning and stopped our session early. I rubbed the bruise on my forearm from when I hadn’t anticipated an obvious lunge. “Please?”

“What if we get caught?”

“Then I’d get in trouble, not you.”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s what I’m worried about! You don’t need any more trouble. Oh, hullo!” she sang under her breath, peeking out the window to the lower bailey. “Brecken just took his shirt off. I can see his muscles from here. Goodness! He’s so handsome.”

She gave a happy little shudder, as if she’d just taken a bite from a delicious pastry, and sank back onto the window seat to pull her slippers on. She wore a new dress from Henrietta. Pale pink flowers decorated a white fabric with a scooped neckline and rounded sleeves. It was feminine and classy and looked perfect on Camille’s tan skin.

“Please?”

“No,” she said with a firm shake of her head. “You can’t come.”

“Fine,” I concluded with determination. “I’ll just transport ahead of you. I’ll stop by Miss Holly’s Candy Shop first and buy all of the vanilla-flavored caramels before you even get there. Then I’ll give them to the gypsies.”

Camille shot me a glare. “You wouldn’t,” she whispered, her eyes narrowing. I gave her a cheeky smile.

“Oh yes I would and you know it! Merry part!” I called.

“Bianca!”

“I’m already on my way. In fact, it will probably be easier to sneak out without you.” I started walking down the turret stairs.

“Wait!” she said after I’d made it down ten steps, scrambling to catch up. “Fine, I’ll let you come with Michelle and me. But you aren’t allowed to talk to anyone!”

???

Chatham City surged around us an hour later, teeming with witches, dogs, and a bitter smell that made my stomach turn. Tall brick chimneys huffed black soot into the air. A couple of scrollboys stood on the corners of the street, arms flailing.

“High Priest announced tomorrow,” their squeaky voices called in melodic tones, waving newsscrolls at anyone passing. “The Council votes 6-4 against Derek as Head of Protectors. High Priestess to announce Head of Protectors! Cast your bet on the new High Priest and Head of Protectors at Owen’s Pub!”

“This is pandemonium,” Camille hissed, dodging a witch walking unusually fast and nearly falling into the gutter for her trouble. “I don’t know why I agreed to let you come! What if someone from the castle sees you out here? Everyone knows that you’re restricted to the castle grounds. There was an article about it in the Chatterer.”

“No one is going to recognize me. They can’t even see my face when I’m wearing my hood.”

“Fine, be reckless. In the meantime, I need to find a ribbon for the ball,” Camille said, gazing around. “Do you see any shops? Let’s go to Miss Holly’s last. Then I can look forward to it. Anticipation always makes the caramels taste better.”

Finding a ribbon was the last thing on my mind, but I didn’t say so. I followed along behind without any trouble. When ten minutes had passed and no one jumped out of the crowds to point me out, Camille seemed to relax.