Page 64 of The Warrior Priest
He paused, one hand on the door handle. “We will be. One day.” He opened the door.
“Wait.” I cleared my throat. “I have questions.”
He closed the door but remained standing in front of it. He still didn’t look directly at me. “I’ll try to answer them, but there are some things that are best left unanswered.”
“They’re not personal questions.”
Some of the tension left his shoulders. “Oh. Right.”
“Not everything is about you, Rhys.”
His gaze narrowed, but at least it finally fell on me. A faint smile touched his lips.
“The city is calmer since I left,” I said. “Did my uncle have anything to do with that?”
“Only in that he lost some of his power. Funds were removed from his office and funneled into civil projects instead. Those projects employ a great many people. People with wages tend to have less need to steal basic necessities.”
“Did you have anything to do with his corruption being exposed?”
“I thought your questions weren’t about me.”
“Sometimes they’re about you. I heard Merdu’s Guards have rounded up the worst offenders and gang members, something the constables couldn’t do. I presume that was done on your order.”
He shifted his weight. “I was…wandering about the city,” he said carefully. “Removing the gangs was an unintended consequence of my…wanderings.”
Once Rhys realized my uncle hadn’t captured me, he must have searched for me in the dens of known gangs, thinking I’d been taken as some sort of slave. Rhys may have merely threatened my uncle, but I suspected he acted on his threats to get the gang members to talk. Knowing my absence had driven Rhys to such lengths sickened me. Giselle may have explained the reason for not giving him my note, but I couldn’t forgive her yet.
Rhys shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “The city should be safer for you to move back, but you need to keep away from your uncle. Even if he is removed from office over his corruption, he is still a threat to you.”
“I know he was aggressive today, but he won’t kill me while he thinks I can unlock the power he believes the pendant holds.”
“And when he realizes you can’t? He won’t simply release you, Jac.”
“I would have escaped by then.”
“He found you once. He could find you again. All he has to do is find Giselle and follow her until she leads him to you,ifyou continue working for her.”
“I don’t think he followed her this time. For one thing, he would need to see her to follow her. When and where did he do that? Secondly, he sent Giselle a letter some time ago, wanting to hire her to find me. That proves he doesn’t know I work for her.”
“It proves he didn’t knowthen.”
I sighed heavily. “Rhys, Giselle isn’t working for him. She could have tricked me numerous times and handed me over to him. She hasn’t.”
He turned to go. With a hand on the door handle, he paused, and presented me with his profile. He still couldn’t look directly at me. “There’s one more thing. You heard the governor threaten to ruin my reputation today, but that’s not a new threat. He has been saying that ever since I…made inquiries while looking for you.”
“If you want me to speak to the priests in your order and assure them we’re just friends, I’ll do it.”
“It’s more than you and me. He has been paying women to say they’ve been with me. Several have already come forward. He’s using them to undermine my authority and have the brothers question my dedication. He’s trying to destabilize the order to diminish our power.”
“It won’t work. The brothers chose you as their leader. They know how dedicated you are to Merdu’s Guards. Anyone who knows you can see it.”
“I’m dedicated to the order. Not so dedicated to all its rules.” His fingers drummed on the door handle. “The problem is, I can deny some of the women’s claims, but not all. I have been with…a few.” He cleared his throat. “Before.”
The reminder that he’d taken lovers while in the order always pinched my heart. He’d been happy to break his vows for them. Apparently, he wasn’t tempted enough by me.
“Jac?”
I looked up and saw that he was watching me with a frown.
