Martin knelt beside Inessa who was on her knees, trembling. She only had a few tears on her cheeks, her eyes were instead wide in shock.

“Theo, follow Indenuel, make sure he doesn’t hurt himself,” Navir said as they still heard the boy thrashing in the main room.

Theo nodded, then noticed Inessa. Saw the swelling, bruises, and cuts caused by Fadrique’s rings. “Do you need me to heal the girl?” Theo asked.

“I said go, Theo. We’ll take care of her,” Navir said, little emotion in his voice.

Theo nodded before leaving, closing the door after him. Martin took her elbow. The lack of emotion other than shock on her face was beginning to worry him. He sensed a shadow and looked up to see the three High Elders standing close.

“I made a deal with her. She was to destroy the poppies, then I would get her pregnant next month, and that was to be it. She needs no other punishment,” Martin said.

“But you are not the only one she has hurt,” Fadrique said. “We all get a say with what her punishment will be.”

“Haven’t you hurt her enough?” Martin asked.

“We must go about this the correct way. She has clearly kept secrets from us. We must check to make sure she hasn’t sold her soul to the devil,” Navir said.

Martin frowned as he realized what they meant. “She’s not marked. I would have seen the marks if she had.”

Fadrique scoffed. “Like you even look.”

Martin stood between Inessa and the High Elders. “I give you my word as High Elder, Inessa is not marked. Do not humiliate her like this.”

“If she chooses to keep secrets from us, she forces our hand,” Dalius said.

“We have gotten a confession out of her, now we must be certain there isn’t anything else we need to cleanse,” Navir said.

“There is nothing more that needs to be cleansed. You’re not listening to me. I would have seen if she had a mark,” Martin said. Navir pushed Martin out of the way before grabbing Inessa’s wrist and forced her to stand. Martin was ready to push Navir back when Fadrique grabbed his arm, pulling him away. Inessa made no reaction, the shock even ebbing from her face as it looked devoid of emotion. “Navir! Stop it!”

Dalius grabbed Martin’s other hand as he and Fadrique held Martin back. “This is how it’s always been done.”

“Poppy root isn’t corruptive! There is nothing unnatural about this!” Martin shouted.

“But it does unnatural things to the female body, and I must make sure she didn’t use witch-like means to keep it hidden from me,” Navir replied as he began to untie the string in the back of Inessa’s dress.

“She’s not marked! You’re just annoyed she managed to hide this from you! But it’s not worth humiliating her for it! Please!”

Navir loosened the strings in the back of her dress before pulling at the string of her underdress. “Oh, come now, Martin. It’s not like we haven’t all seen her before.”

Bile rose up his throat as he saw Inessa make no reaction to his words. She was completely deadened to the world. Blood ran down her swollen cheek, but she acted as though nothing at all was happening.

“Just the shoulder. If you’re so intent on checking, just show the shoulder.” Martin said in a last attempt.

Navir faced her, again ignoring Martin. Despite Navir’s efforts to loosen her gown material ripped as he forced it too quickly down her arms. Martin turned his head and closed his eyes as tight as possible. He swallowed the bile, waiting for the sound of Navir helping her get her dress back on. They shouldn’t have done this. Not this much. For a first offense, they just needed to check her shoulder. Disrobing her like this was completely unnecessary.

Martin realized he wasn’t hearing it. Navir was not putting her dress back on. They had more than enough time to check. Martin shook off Dalius and Fadrique’s grips and opened his eyes enough to push Navir out of the way before he grabbed Inessa’s elbow and turned her around to give her a semblance of privacy to get herself dressed. “I gave you my word. Why wasn’t it good enough,” he said, his back to his High Elders. Inessa’s head was against the wall, not moving to dress herself.

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“We must follow the rules, Martin,” Navir said.

“You just had to check her shoulder. That’s all you had to do,” Martin snapped as he grabbed the edges of her underdress and pulling it back over her, tying it as best as possible with his trembling hands. He did not want to see their faces. Did not want to see the lingering looks they gave Inessa.

“She should be sent home in disgrace,” Fadrique said.

Inessa wasn’t doing anything to help. She still had the dead expression in her eyes as her dress continued to slip from her arms.

“No. If she never wanted to get pregnant, then getting pregnant is what her punishment will be,” Navir said. Martin eased her dress back on her, trying to tighten the strings, doing his best with the ripped fabric. “I will create a drink to clear whatever poppy root might remain in her system and deliver it to your house tonight.”

Martin nodded, still in no mood to see the High Elders. Inessa stared at the wall, making no reaction as Martin let go, the dress staying on her despite the ripped material and ribbon.

“And then you will sleep with her every night for as long as it takes to get her pregnant,” Navir said, appearing right next to Martin.

Martin finally looked at Navir, shocked. “She’s not…” he glanced at Inessa, who was again making no reaction. “I know when she’s ready to be pregnant. I don’t have to-”

“Every night, Martin. Or else I’ll give her back to Fadrique and he can do it,” Navir said.

The oily smirk coming from Fadrique was enough that Martin found himself touching Inessa’s elbow in protection. Navir glared at Inessa. “It is far more merciful than what she deserves.” Navir turned and headed toward his chair, gathering up his notes. “This trial is over. Dalius, put the meeting notes on my desk. There are things I wish to study from it.”

Dalius nodded as Navir headed out the door. Dalius walked over and picked up the book, keeping it open for the ink to dry. He placed it on Cristoval’s lap before wheeling him out of the room. Martin glared at Fadrique, who was still staring at Inessa with such a look that made it clear the thoughts he had.

“So, is she mine?” Fadrique asked.

Martin glared at him. “You are an idiot for hitting her.”

Fadrique finally tore his gaze from Inessa’s body to look at Martin, humor in his eyes. “She abused the rights and privileges of the concubine law.”

“Indenuel finished confessing how he felt no remorse killing over a hundred men because they hurt her,” Martin said, his voice sharp. “And then you go do something like this? Right in front of him? Do you have a death wish?”

Fadrique shrugged. He moved backward to give him more time to look at Inessa’s body before leaving the room. Inessa was still leaning against the wall, not moving. Martin rubbed his head before moving closer to her.

“Inessa?”

She didn’t answer, simply stared at the wall with her dead eyes. If he had his powers, he could have taken some of the shock away. Martin hesitated before placing a hand on her shoulder, helping her straighten so her head wasn’t against the wall.

“They… shouldn’t have done that.” Martin grimaced at how awful those words sounded. He was in no position to comfort her. “If I had known Navir would have asked you about this, I wouldn’t have suggested you give a report.”

He would have gotten a better response talking to a flower. The blood from her chin dripped onto the sleeve of his white High Elder robes. Martin let go of her shoulder before pulling out a handkerchief, placing it against the side of her face. “Let’s go to Beatriz’ house. She’ll fix that right up,” Martin said, waiting for her to take a hold of the handkerchief so he could lead her out of the room. She did nothing, making no indication that she even noticed him putting a handkerchief there. Martin tenderly took her wrist, placing it against the cloth. “Ready to go?”

Inessa’s eyes were dead. Her body was alive, but her soul had shriveled to the point that it looked like he was staring at a corpse whenever he looked straight in her eye. Martin could do nothing else but take her elbow and lead her out of the room before they left the Cathedral, the downpour still as strong as ever.

***

It took Tolomon and another guard to get Indenuel chained to the table in the dungeon. He was thrashing. Now was the time to figure out if he was physically strong enough to break the chains. Fadrique hit her. He actually hit her! Clearly, he tried to murder the wrong High Elder.

“Indenuel, stop!” Tolomon said as the other guard left. “You are going to hurt yourself and I cannot heal you with this much corruption in your body!”

Indenuel felt the rage consume him. The fact that he was bound to a table while Inessa was hurt was driving him mad. Despite the chains already binding him, Tolomon grabbed his shoulder and head, pinning both to the table. “Martin is there. He stopped Fadrique, and he will heal her. She is fine.”

Indenuel let out an angry breath, saliva dripping down his chin as the metal plate was keeping him from swallowing properly. He glared at Tolomon before looking away, the anger still dangerously high.

Was Inessa fine? Despite the rage, he knew what he saw. Navir and Dalius had reacted the moment his corruptive powers grew. Fadrique was too distracted slapping Inessa. True, Martin might have been distracted too, but what was Theo doing there? Theo was the one that made the reaction, containing the pain inside him. It was a curious piece to this puzzle, with a frightening conclusion. Was Martin able to heal her?