The Sleeping Prince - Melinda Salisbury Page 0,101
I was talking about when I said the alchemists were looking for you.”
“She doesn’t know?” Sister Hope looks from Dimia to Silas, then to me.
“Don’t,” Dimia snaps, glaring at Sister Hope. “Don’t.” She turns to me. “I didn’t know they were looking for me, I swear. I didn’t lie about that. I’ll explain why I deceived you. But when we’re alone. Please. Please.”
Her hands are clasped before her, her eyes beseeching, and I nod, once.
Dimia – Twylla – closes her eyes in thanks and then turns back to Sister Hope. “Well? Why were you looking for me?”
Sister Hope’s mouth twists as though her words taste sour. “That is your mother’s right to tell you.”
“My mother?”
“She’s on her way here. She was before we knew you were here, as fate would have it. She can explain; it’s her duty.” There is something dark in Sister Hope’s expression, something scathing and angry, and it’s matched in Twylla’s face, a deep line forming between her brows.
Her words have reminded me of my own duty. I look at Silas, raising my eyebrows, and mouth “My mother” to him.
He nods and turns to Sister Hope. “Errin’s mother has been taken to a facility in Tressalyn. She has a kind of depression, brought on by grief. I was helping her. Who is available to secure her release and bring her here?”
“No one.” Sister Wisdom, silent until now, speaks up. “What concern is this of ours?”
Silas raises his brows. “It’s my concern.”
Sister Hope looks at him. “We don’t have the resources to send across Tregellan right now.”
“Then I’ll go myself.”
“Silas.” A warning.
“I promised her…”
“And what are your promises worth, Brother Silas?” Sister Peace says in a low voice. “You cannot keep your vows, clearly.”
“Enough!” Sister Hope snaps, making us all jump. Silas looks down at the table and I glare at Sister Peace, who in turn fixes me with a calm, brown-eyed gaze. Not an alchemist. In fact, none of the Sisters seem to be. “Leave us,” Sister Hope orders the alchemists on the other benches.
They don’t protest, rising immediately and filing out of the room. Nia, at the back, shoots me a glance of pure hatred. What is her problem with me?
“Do you have any idea of the damage you could have done?” Sister Hope turns on Silas, her teeth bared, when we and the remaining Sisters are left. “Bad enough to tell an outsider our secrets. But to tell her. You could have ruined everything – you still might have. Only time will tell.”
“Father told you our secrets. You were born an outsider too. I’ve hardly set some kind of precedent.”
“You know that’s not what I mean.”
“Will someone please explain to me what’s going on?” I say finally. “I’m sorry if you’re upset by my … our … I didn’t know he was a monk when it started and I meant no harm, truly. No matter what happens, you don’t have to worry, I won’t betray you. Believe me, I know how to keep a secret. In fact, I should tell you now—”
“What?” Sister Hope turns on me, eyes blazing. “What secrets are you keeping, Errin?”
From the corner of my eye I see Silas shake his head. “I just meant I’m not a coward. I wouldn’t endanger you. Any of you. Not for anything.”
“What if you were captured? What if you were locked in a dark room, and denied food and water until you spoke?”
“Mother,” Silas warns, but I stop him.
“I’m no stranger to hunger,” I say. Sister Hope’s lips quirk and I have the feeling I’ve walked into a trap.
“Of course. But what if you were whipped?”
I raise my eyebrows. “I had my spine snapped by a golem a few hours ago, I’m hardly afraid of a whipping now.”
Again that twist of her mouth: amusement, distaste, I can’t tell. “What if your nails were peeled off with pliers?” she says. “What if your fingers were broken, one by one, with a mallet?” I feel the blood drain from my face. “What if you were branded with hot irons?”
“Stop…” I whisper.
“What if they didn’t do it to you at all, but to Twylla, or one of your friends from Tremayne, while you watched? What if they did it to my son? Or your mother? What if right now there are people seeking her out, knowing she’s the link to break you? What would you do to save your family, Errin? How far would you go?”
“Stop it!” I scream, and the sound rings in the cavernous