Page 77 of The Rebel's Prize

"Do we know who the other sanctii was?" Lucien asked.

"I'm not sure anyone ever asked. The man who attacked Cameron was killed, which snapped their bond and sent the sanctii back to their realm. What happens there is not our business."

"But if this is all one larger plot, perhaps there is reason to want to talk to that sanctii. Or at least find out who they were bonded to." Lucien frowned. "I'm trying to remember if the dead man was ever identified. I'll have to check the notes from the investigation. But regardless, isn't the fact that a sanctii helped in that attack enough of a connection to at least ask?"

Imogene hesitated. "I don't know."

"Then what harm is it to ask?" Chloe said. "At worst, they refuse us."

"Very well. But not here." Imogene jerked her chin back at the mages flying the navire. "Somewhere private. And well warded. Ikarus and Octarus may understand us asking, but I don't want every sanctii on board suddenly annoyed with us."

No. That wouldn't be good. "The wardroom? We can enhance the wards if we need to."

"That seems as good an option as any," Lucien agreed.

* * *

It took a few minutes to reach the wardroom, tell the private on duty he wasn't to let anyone else in, and then reinforce the wards to Imogene's satisfaction.

The hum of the magic was loud by the time they had finished. Chloe tried to block it out and turned to Imogene. "Do you want to ask Ikarus first, or should I ask Octarus?"

"Best we do them together." Imogene's expression went blank, and Chloe followed her example and called Octarus.

He appeared a few seconds before Ikarus. The two sanctii exchanged an inscrutable look before they turned their attention to the humans. In the lamplight, they looked more like pieces of night come to life than usual, the flickers of light over their gray-and-black skins blending them with the shadows in the room.

Were they conversing silently? No way to know. Ikarus, she noticed, placed himself between Octarus and Imogene. Extra protective due to the baby, perhaps?

She widened her eyes at Imogene, making a little "go on" gesture at her. Imogene had been bonded to Ikarus a lot longer than Chloe had with Octarus, and it seemed safer to approach this subject over the lens of the more stable relationship.

"We have a request," Imogene said.

"Yes," Ikarus said in his graveled voice.

"We need to know about memory magic. We thought maybe a sanctii might be involved. It's possible that memories are being added, not just taken away. That seems like the reveilé. Is it something a sanctii could do?"

This time the two sanctii exchanged a look that was too long to be anything other than them discussing it. Chloe waited quietly, watching Octarus.

"Should," Octarus said eventually, dipping his head toward Ikarus.

"No," Ikarus grunted.

Octarus grunted back, the sound a rasp of displeasure. [He will say no,] he said in Chloe’s head.

Just as Ikarus said, "We cannot ask. This is forbidden."

"Is the magic forbidden, or talking about it with humans?" Imogene asked.

Ikarus folded his arms. "Forbidden." He clamped his mouth shut, brow wrinkling, clearly not willing to say anything else.

[Stubborn,] Octarus said.

[If he won't, can you ask Elarus?] Chloe said. [She seems to do things other sanctii don't.]

For a start, Elarus was female. The only female sanctii currently bonded in the empire. They rarely came to the human realm, but Elarus had sought Sophie out. For what reason, Chloe had no idea. But she'd seen the male sanctii defer to Elarus on numerous occasions, and, if she had to guess, she would say Elarus outranked them in some fashion. If the sanctii had such things as rank.

[No,] Octarus said.

[So Ikarus isn't just being stubborn. There is some sort of, what, protocol?]

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