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Jemel takes a breath. “I am no longer an acolyte of Zai,” he says as he lets the veil drop.

I am no longer an acolyte of Zai. So heavy a phrase. Jemel can barely believe he has said such a thing. But how can it be anything but the truth?

He feels so lightheaded he thinks he might swoon.

Tobi appears at Jemel’s side, pressing a cup of something hot into Jemel’s hand. “I’m Tobi Darekul. Drink this. It’s bark tea and you look like death might take you any moment.”

It is the strangest reaction to removing his veil Jemel could imagine. “It almost did,” Jemel says lightly as he takes the tea and drinks. He does not know what bark tea is but he is cold and the cup in his hands is warm. But the drink he sips is more than simply warming. It is strangely wonderful. He feels his senses waking up. His aching head is soothed a little. He has not had much to drink since he drank foribunda.

That thought makes him look at Xan, simply sitting patiently beside him. He feels sickened at the thought of how he was in the library with Xan. How wanton. How he had begged Xan to break his vows.

Foribunda only enhances desires. He cannot claim the love draught created a desire that was not there. He gave himself to Xan with his own truth. Whatever Xan’s motivations, Jemel wanted him. He wanted his vow broken. He wanted to commit a sin of the body. He has truly, finally turned his back on Zai.

“Please,” he says to the whole company of the room, who are all looking at his face, “I need him gone.”

He points to Xan as he speaks, his voice is shaky.

Damon looks at him. “Who are you?” he says to Xan.

In stilted, accented Artemian, Xan says, “I am Xan of Pluma.”

“And why are you dressed as an Imperial General?” says Kerik.

“Because he is one,” says Jemel.

But before anyone can respond, a voice calls, “Damon Darekul,” from the doorway.

Jemel looks, but the figure has already moved, racing into Damon’s arms. She is as tall as he is. Trysta.

Xan stands up. He says, “Sister,” in Plumian, delight on his face.

Trysta grins back at him, but holds a finger up, signalling him to wait. She drops to one knee before Damon, bowing her head. “Forgive me, Sire.”

Damon shakes his head, the wide smile of relief still on his face, “Trysta there is nothing to forgive. Please. I am simply grateful you are safe. Although we could have used your skill in the temple.” He raises her back to her feet and embraces her.

Jemel can see tears in his eyes.

Trysta turns into the embrace of Xan who is standing behind her, then back to Damon. “This man is my brother. And he is the reason I am here and whole before you. Him and that pretty creature with him.” She laughs. “Although for a moment I did not know you without the veil. That face you hide is quite special.”

“Show that face and you could have been the most desired creature in the Rose Palace,” says Kerik.

“I could not.” Jemel says tightly as Xan sits back down beside him and Trysta seats herself on the floor before both of them. He is glad she is well and safe, but now she has declared Xan her brother and her rescuer there is no way Jemel will get him ejected as a spy for Atticul. In fact, he thinks it likely, at this point, that all in the room assume Xan is his lover. “I was an acolyte of Zai,” he finishes weakly.

“So why do you wear that veil?” says Trysta conversationally. “That is not usual for the acolytes?”

Doroth answers from the corner before Jemel can speak. Doroth’s voice is weak. Jemel is not surprised. Vindar is dead. Doroth has never seemed close to his brother, never spoke about him in Jemel’s hearing, but Jemel thinks it must have affected him. He says, “I charged Gelen to ensure Jemel kept his face hidden. His face was striking despite the strange way he was born twisted at birth. The real truth was that he grew to be as bewitching as any fae. The fae blood the Scholar carries is close to the surface. It was for his safety”

“You are so fair. You could walk into Vylenor and rule it,” Kerik says merrily.

Vylenor. The ancient court of the Ice Fae. But yes, Kerik must have been there. He has Iceheart.

Damon says, “But before my youngest brother runs off to join the fae court, did you have something you wanted to say about Xan, Trysta’s brother?”

Jemel doesn't know how to explain. He can’t possibly say that Xan betrayed him to Atticul, as Atticul had bid him do. It would mean telling all here that Xan had fucked him. That he begged to be fucked. That he took foribunda on purpose so he would be able to forget the vows to Zai he should have been able to break when he discovered Zai was a demon. Is he meant to say all of that? In this room, full of members of his family he knows well but has never spoken to before.

So he simply shakes his head. He will deal with the situation when he can speak to Xan alone.

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