Indenuel was pacing in his cell, again. He kept looking at the position of the sun, trying to guess how long Tolomon’s meeting would go for. Was Tolomon being placed under trial? Did they do this purposefully while he was in the dungeon?

The door opened and Tolomon walked inside, pausing just enough for the guards to remove his chains. Indenuel was there, concerned. He didn’t have chains on before.

“What happened?” he asked before the door even closed.

“What I expected would happen,” Tolomon mumbled before walking farther into the cell.

“Are you getting a reassignment?” Indenuel asked.

“No,” Tolomon said, folding his arms. Indenuel let out a sigh of relief. “But I am to receive fifty lashes, my titles revoked, and my possible death. So not much better.”

Indenuel’s sigh of relief was expelled far too soon. “What?” Tolomon had his hands through his short hair, the worry and concern clear on his face. “But… they can’t.”

“I did just insult the Acting Senior High Elder of God’s Holy Church, so yeah. They can absolutely do that,” Tolomon said.

“What did you say?”

“I called him a repugnant son of a bitch,” Tolomon mumbled.

Indenuel gasped again. “To his face?”

“Obviously,” Tolomon said, pointing to his back. “He never would have sentenced me to any of that if he never heard me say it.”

Indenuel took a moment to realize what Tolomon just said. “That was your plan? Insult Navir like that to give him something to focus on so Tima could get away.”

Tolomon rubbed his forehead. “In a way, yes. But… I got carried away.”

Indenuel shook his head. “You mean you finally spoke your mind?”

Tolomon did not look comforted. “It’s true. I really do think that man is a repugnant son of a bitch.”

Despite the situation, Indenuel felt a smile grow on his face. “I’m glad our friendship is such that you can finally tell me what you really think about the High Elders.” Tolomon tried to smile, but it faltered. “What is it?”

“My intentions to help Tima were pure, but now I…” he trailed off, looking out one of the barred windows.

“It’ll be alright, Tolomon. We’ll figure out some way to counteract this,” Indenuel said.

Tolomon frowned, then glanced at Indenuel. “No, you won’t. You won’t do anything. Are we clear?”

Indenuel folded his arms. “There’s got to be a way to stop them. They can’t do this.”

“There is no way to stop them right now, and yes, they can do this. Don’t worry about me,” Tolomon said.

“It’s fifty lashes, Tolomon,” Indenuel said.

Tolomon shook his head. “Nathaniel will be there, like he always does.” Once again, he ran a hand through his short hair. “I just pray this won’t kill him.”

“No, that’s not going to happen. There must be a way out of this,” Indenuel said.

“I just said it,” Tolomon said, opening his palms toward the ceiling. “The only way out is for Nathaniel to swoop in with his nobility title and take my punishment. Like he has before. And Navir gets the satisfaction of watching our backs get torn apart before we spend the night in the dungeon.” Tolomon leaned his head against the wall. “If Nathaniel doesn’t survive, Rosa will never forgive me.”

***

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Martin was doing nothing. It was well past the setting of the sun, and he remained at his desk, head in his hands, hoping that if he never slept, tomorrow would never come. He had nowhere to go, nowhere to turn. Nothing but himself surrounded in silence to realize exactly what his sins had caused.

And he still held some close. There were some sins he would be willing to sell his soul to the devil himself to keep secret. With how swiftly everything was coming to light, it was only a matter of time before they found out he was Inessa’s father. Navir already hinted a group was traveling to her hometown to search whether the brothel was operating. Inessa never said a fake name, but her mother might. As long as that book still existed, they could still check. They would find out.

Martin stood, as though in a trance, and walked out of his study. No, he couldn’t sell his soul. But he could do the next worse thing. He would light that dastardly book on fire and watch it burn. If he was going to keep it secret, then this is what he would do. Destroy evidence.

He walked down the spiral staircase into the basement.

“I request a large glass of water,” Martin said, not even looking at the guards. They nodded, one of them sending the message. He walked in the reading room, closing the door before finding a sturdy metal bucket and heading into the library, too focused to stop now.

“Hello, Martin.”

Martin’s trance broke, and his gaze shot up to Navir who wasn’t even looking at him. Instead, the man stared at the bookshelf with the Warrior Project on it, his hands behind his back, looking as though he was contemplating something. Martin realized what this looked like, coming in here with a bucket, not even noticing Navir until he was right up to him.

Navir finally looked at Martin and saw the bucket he held. Martin swallowed, feeling a cold sweat break across his forehead. He hoped Navir wouldn’t think too much about this. Martin honestly wished he had destroyed the book the moment he discovered Inessa’s parentage.

Navir returned his gaze to the bookshelf. “At this point in time, the public knows we created a secret law. The King and Queen can, if they so choose, ask for the book as further proof of said law. And if they deem it dangerous enough, they could seize all these books in the library for further study to make sure we haven’t created another secret law.” Martin tightened his grip over the bucket, trying to steady his breathing. “Quite the desperate situation we have on our hands. I am most certain I’ll be talking to the King and Queen soon, and they will ask about it. It would, of course, be so much easier if this book didn’t exist. Then I truly could convince the King and Queen it was nothing more than a fabricated book by the Warrior. This whole thing would be so much easier if this book was gone. Should someone wish to destroy it, they would risk the grievous sin of destroying something from the High Elder’s library. Immediate striking of their membership from the church, should it be proven. Stripped of all titles, except possibly those of High Elder. One such High Elder would certainly not hold nearly as much power once the truth came out. One must be truly desperate to still desire to hide his sins with an outlook like that.”

“Navir-” Martin said.

He rose his hand, and Martin stopped. He finally turned around. “Your water is here. I will go fetch it for you, then I am going upstairs to my study. I will let the others know not to speak of the Warrior Project anymore. Burn it, Martin. You look far more desperate than I, and it works well within my plan. I will cover you as much as possible but understand I will throw you into the fire if it saves me from the same fate.”

Martin looked away. “I know.”

He nodded and left. Martin placed the bucket on the floor before walking over to the shelf, staring at the book. Navir returned to the reading room to place the water there before leaving, and Martin took out the book, flipping through the pages once again. Saw the countless number of women and children who could be saved from their poverty already, if the High Elders admitted to their wrongs. Here was proof, that the children were of a noble blood. It could simultaneously bridge the gap between the poor and noble class, and also collapse them. There were thousands of women in this book, who’s children would all be considered nobles. But that alone could bankrupt the church, causing its fall. They simply could not handle the influx of thousands of noble children.

And no one could ever know about Inessa.

Martin dragged the book and the bucket out into the reading room, tore out the page with Inessa’s mother’s name and dropped the book in the basket. He lit the page on fire, making sure her name burned before dropping it in the basket. He grabbed the water, taking a sip as he stared ahead. There was no turning back now.

He kept the flames low with the water, making sure every page of it burned before letting it out completely. He then waited, sitting on the floor, his face covered in his hands.

He wasn’t sure how long he sat there. He wanted to think that maybe it was because he needed to make sure the rest of the library didn’t catch on fire, but the ashes were submerged in the water at this point.

Martin poured the liquid ash back into the cup and left the library, still in a state of shock. He was a fool if he thought this solved anything. He was simply hiding his sins with more sins, one that might eventually lead back to him if he wasn’t careful. But he couldn’t let that book exist for a moment longer.

He walked into the courtyard of the Cathedral and threw the contents of the cup into the soil. He then met Navir’s gaze through the window of his study. Navir did not react, even as he watched, before slowly bringing a book up to continue reading it. Martin left, handing the empty glass to a guard.

Martin opened the door to his study in the Cathedral and shouted in surprise. Nathaniel was in there, reading a book.