Page 66 of The Warrior Priest
“Are you sure?”
“He told me so. He also told me the governor is paying these women to come forward now. He’s using them in the hope it will turn the brothers against Rhys. Hopefully it won’t work. His past was known to most, if not all, before he was elected as the new master. Even if there are more women than they realized, it won’t change the fact that Rhys is an excellent leader.”
Giselle’s gaze narrowed as she watched me. “Apparently the high priest is furious with him.”
“I’m sure he was already aware of Rhys’s past, too.”
“Most likely, but that was when the women kept the details to themselves. Splashing it all over the city is not merely embarrassing, it undermines the high priest’s authority. If he lets it go unpunished, it looks as though he condones priests breaking their vows.”
She had a point. The high priest would have to punish Rhys, perhaps via a public apology and a renewal of his vows.
Giselle leaned forward. “Jac, don’t get tangled up in Rhys’s mess. He is not your concern. I know you care for him, and nothing I say will change that, but he has chosen the order. He has chosen the life he wants. You now have an identity wholly separate from his. Protect it and you will blossom.”
Having an independence from Rhys was something Giselle had wanted for me from the moment she’d offered me a position as her apprentice. Seeing her holding court with several men listening enraptured to her every word, wanting to be with her and within her orbit, I knew she wanted that for me, too. It was why she’d chosen not to give Rhys my message the day we’d left Tilting. As much as it still angered me, I understood her motive.
She was right about this, too. Ihadforged an identity for myself that was separate from Rhys. I needed to continue on the path I was already on if I was to have a fulfilling future.
Tomorrow, I would find somewhere else to live. Somewhere separate from Rhys and from Giselle, too. Somewhere that was mine.
“Where will I find you when I need you?” she asked.
“Light a candle in the window of your room here at the Cat. I’ll come past every night, and if I see the candle, I know it means you have a task for me. But I’m not returning to Upway with you, Giselle. Tilting is my home. I plan to stay. My uncle is quite old and can’t live forever, but while he lives, I’ll stay hidden.”
She lifted her tankard in salute. “I approve of your plan, because it’s yours, Jac. I don’t necessarily think it’s wise to stay, but I respect your decision.”
When I arrived backat Rhys’s secret room, the book was leaning against the door, a rolled-up pallet beside it. I placed the book on the small table, then laid the pallet on the floor. I must have fallen asleep instantly.
When I awoke in the morning, the cut in my side had begun to throb again. To distract myself, I went in search of food at the market. As much as I wanted one of Mistress Lowey’s pies, I avoided her husband’s stall. I didn’t want to cause them any problems.
I kept my hood up as I ate a rather ordinary sausage wrapped in flat bread, regretting that I hadn’t agreed to the sauce the butcher recommended. Today would be a good day to find new accommodation, but first, I wanted to sneak into my uncle’s house while he was at his office and search for my pendant.
There would be staff to avoid, but I knew he retained only a few, and all his personal guards would be with him, not at the house. If I was careful, no one would see me. Hopefully my injury wouldn’t hinder me too much.
The way to his house took me near the temple of Merdu’s Guards, although not directly past it. I’d had no intention of getting any closer, but changed my mind when I saw the high priest’s carriage heading in that direction. A glimpse of the high priest’s angry profile through the window worried me.
I gave my sausage and bread to a homeless man huddled in a doorway and ran. Instead of using the main roads, I took a shorter way, careful not to overexert myself and make the wound in my side bleed again. I reached the temple as the main gates opened to let the high priest’s carriage through.
Beyond the open gates, I could just make out the courtyard where the brothers gathered, standing in rows, waiting. It seemed to be all of them, and they weren’t training. They were lined up as if to hear a speech or have a meeting.
I made sure no one saw me enter the quiet street alongside the temple, or pick the lock of the old tower door. I climbed the stairs then crouched low at the crenellated parapet so as not to be seen from below.
I counted over fifty brothers in the courtyard. Rhys stood facing them, while the high priest alighted from his carriage. He moved to stand beside Rhys and signaled to his guards.
That’s when I noticed one of them carried a length of rope. Rhys put out his hands, wrists together. He was going to be tied up!
“Is this necessary?” Andreas barked. He, Vizah and Rufus stood in the front row. None of them were armed. Nor were the other brothers.
Rhys said something I couldn’t hear. Whatever it was made Andreas shake his head, but he didn’t interject again. They all fell silent as Rhys’s hands were bound in front him.
One of the guards placed a set of low steps in front of the high priest. He climbed to the top step and put out his hands, as if calling for calm, but the brothers were already silent. The hush felt wrong in that place of masculinity and athleticism, where I’d previously heard sounds of clashing steel, grunts of effort, teasing words and even raucous laughter.
“Brothers of Merdu’s Guards!” the high priest began. “We gather here for the trial of your master, Rhys Mayhew.”
Trial!
The high priest accepted a document from one of his guards and read. “These women have come forth to claim sexual relations with Master Rhys, after he joined the order. Tatiana Plummer. Cath Goodes.”
Vizah stepped forward, only to be halted by one of the high priest’s guards who pointed a sword at his chest. Vizah scowled. “Those women are from years ago, well before Rhys became master.”
