He snuck up behind the throne to plant a kiss on her cheek. She laughed, though she made a quick glance towards the door to make sure the person she’d been talking to had left. “Come on, Allen, you know you’re not supposed to be in here…”
“I don’t see a reason why not,” he remarked. “I mean, they’ve got to know about this eventually. The only ones who know about us are Dimas, Thero, and Kadol. Don’t you think it’s about time to make it public?”
She shook her head slowly. “I can’t.”
“Don’t you trust me?”
“Of course I do…”
“Then why don’t you put a name and face to the queen’s love?”
Still, she just shook her head.
…
He had, honestly, intended to stay much longer than a few months. What compelled him to leave was a report from some of the Ravens in the Pasha region. The only detail he knew was that they were going to end up being executed but he, as the bishop, had to be able to do something. If anyone was good enough at half-baking a good reason to prove they’d been falsely accused, it was him.
With the urgency of the message, he didn’t think about everything else. He left almost as soon as he heard it and didn’t give any time to tell somebody that he was heading back or leave a note. Zofie trusted him; she’d be willing to wait until he returned to hear why he left. Or at least, that’s what he thought.
It wasn’t supposed to take long—just a quick in and out. The letters he tried sending to her were returned. Even his attempts at reaching Kadol didn’t go through. More stuff kept piling up outside of Hyasari and the Pasha region, meaning no one outside of a group of Ravens knew where he was. By the beginning of the next year, things were clearing up… and he had an unquestionable summons from the queen.
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Allen, of course, walked through the streets of Hyasari with confidence. He figured Zofie realized that was the best way for them to talk and figure out what he’d been doing all this time. No one did anything to oppose that theory—until he tried entering the castle.
“I’m Allen Karsten,” he tried when the guards didn’t let him in. “The queen sent for me—look.” He showed them the summons.
One of them stepped forward. “That’s rather honorable of you, Mr. Karsten… acknowledging the crimes you’ve committed and allowing yourself to be punished for them.”
“Wait, what?”
But they had already started ushering him away from the castle. Until now, he hadn’t even considered that Qizar had prison cells. Being thrown into one definitely changed his perspective.
He was panicking now. “Hey, can you at least tell me what I did?”
“You work for the White Ravens.” Zofie’s emotionless voice was enough to make his heart drop. When she stepped in front of him, her eyes showed all her emotions; confusion, betrayal, heartbreak… “The heretical group that—that killed my mother… that almost killed me. And one of them knew me more than anyone else ever will.”
“I can—“
“Did you even love me? Was what we had any more than you fulfilling your master’s orders?”
“Of course not. Look, Zofie, this is all a huge misunderstanding…”
She shook her head. “The truth is right in front of me. By order of the Commandments you will be burned at the stake in a couple of hours; love cannot excuse punishment. But…” She walked out of sight and came back with a baby in her arms. “I thought you might like to see, just once, who our love created… Philyra.”
Seeing them together brought so many different thoughts to mind. He could only keep repeating the same desperate pleas as she walked away.
Then, in that final moment of despair when he was taken out of his cell and out to be executed, he considered it all. With one last look at Zofie—overseeing the whole thing from a throne—he decided that he really did deserve this.
And he prayed that even heretics enjoyed the same afterlife under Vriuh as the faithful did.