Page 106 of Trial of Bronze and Blood
She looks up at him, and he finds something in her eyes he never expected: pleading.
“If he somehow knows I’m from the Faithless—that I’m not who I say I am—then I’m no longer safe here. And neither is Sabina.”
Marcus gets to his feet, wiping his hands hard on his tunic. Anger floods his chest at the sacerdos, at his audacity to punish Dru in the maze despite her giving the correct answer—at planting fear in her heart when she has enough to worry about.
His nostrils flare, muscles restless. “I’ll take care of it.”
At that moment, the physician bursts into her chamber and sets to work on Dru. Marcus steps away to give him room and heads for the door. The physician hands her a vial of something, which she downs immediately.
Marcus watches her from the threshold, hands clenched behind his back. Once her eyes close from whatever the physician gave her, he turns and leaves, hardened determination marking his steps through the palace and out its doors.
He makes his way down to the temple first, in case Sacerdos Matteo has chosen to search for enlightenment for his attempted murder there rather than the brothel. Rage boils his blood, something he can’t quell with inaction this time. Not when the sacerdos might know who Dru is and tried to kill her for it.
As praetor, he’s trained himself to look at situations logically and without bias. Now he knows that’s an impossible task when Dru is involved.
The doors to the temple hang open, and Marcus marches straight inside. One of the other priestesses, whose name he can’t remember in his rage, greets him—he doesn’t hear her.
“Is Sacerdos Matteo here?”
She shakes her head. “No, Praetor Marcus.”
A voice breaks into his rage—a voice he knows. “Marcus?”
He peers around the priestess to find Alessandra hobbling out from behind the bronze Viverna. Her blue robes hang a bit looser on her today, though she appears to be in good spirits.
“Alessandra.”
“You’re looking for the sacerdos? I watched him walk into the nearby tabernae with Venatus Magister Blaise.”
He flexes his grip around the hilt of his dagger at his hip. “Thank you.”
“Now, hold on.” She puts a hand out before he can walk away. “I didn’t give that information away for nothing. I’m coming with you, and you’re going to tell me why you’re looking for him.”
Too angry to argue with her, he waits until she’s at his side, and they set off together.
Once they leave the temple, he explains, “The sacerdos set Dru up in the maze. Lied by telling her the answer she gave to the last riddle was wrong and then dropped her into a pit with a lion.” He huffs out through his nose. “She nearly died.”
“Ah, that’s why she was covered in blood and nearly collapsed in the arena.”
“Yes.” He clenches his jaw. “Dru caught him coming out of a brothel the other night, so he decided to take vengeance.”
“Brothel? Vengeance?” She chuckles. “So much for being a man of the gods.”
They near the closest tabernae to the temple, Marcus’s heart pounding furiously inside his chest. “That’s typical for Imperium sacerdotes, actually.”
Ducking down through the rounded threshold to get inside, he searches the patrons for Sacerdos Matteo. Alessandra taps his leg with her cane and points to the far left corner.
“There.”
He follows the end of her cane to find the holy man sulking in the corner. Blaise sits opposite him, jabbering on about something. But Marcus sees nothing else besides the sacerdos.
“Don’t do anything you’ll regret,” Alessandra murmurs.
“That’s exactly what I intend to do,” Marcus bites out, rushing at them.
Sacerdos Matteo barely has time to look up and recognizeMarcus before he grabs the man’s robes at the neck and pulls him up from his chair, pushing him against the wall. The sounds of the other patrons—including Blaise—scurrying out barely penetrate his ears.
“P-P-Praetor Marcus,” the sacerdos stutters. “Is there a problem?”
