Indenuel woke up naturally, somehow holding Inessa’s hand, and he couldn’t think of a better way to wake up. He assumed Nathaniel had left, but it must have been after he and Inessa had gone to sleep. Nathaniel was true to his word, and once they were at home, had completely taken over, making their own mini celebration for Tolomon. Inessa was there too, and they drank wine and laughed as Nathaniel and Tolomon shared stories without nearly the detail he’d heard at the Graduate party. Rosa came soon after, and Indenuel and Inessa left to go to bed.
Indenuel stared at the ceiling, trying to think about the past few days. It had been such a crazy storm of activity that he honestly couldn’t believe it had only been a few days. Stopping the High Elders from contacting the Graduates, then the High Elder’s retaliating with hate. He realized they needed to plan their next move, but he didn’t know how. The hate was going to be dangerous, and they needed to counter it with something. He could not let the High Elders win.
Inessa rolled over closer to him, smiling as she let out a breath. “Morning,” she said.
He kissed the top of her head, holding her close. “Morning.” She stayed cuddled with him for a little longer before she gave another sigh.
“Starving?” Indenuel asked.
“Absolutely.”
He smiled before letting her go to get dressed. Indenuel got himself dressed too, both meeting at the door before leaving the room.
Tolomon was there at his door, giving them both a bow, which Indenuel returned. “Are you alright?”
Tolomon nodded. “I’m better.” Indenuel couldn’t help himself and walked over to his friend, hugging him tightly. “Thank you, Indenuel.”
Indenuel didn’t know what to say. What could he say to the man who saved his life so many times he had lost count. “Just trying to return the favor.”
Tolomon smiled as he broke away and they walked down the stairs toward the dining hall. Inessa opened the door, and Indenuel was surprised to see Nathaniel sitting there, looking through some papers. He looked up and smiled, noticing Tolomon. “I didn’t expect you down here.”
“There’s some things I wouldn’t ask you to do,” Tolomon said as two plates of breakfast were set in Indenuel and Inessa’s spots. Tolomon quickly tried the pieces of food before nodding. “It’s safe. Nathaniel? Could you protect Indenuel and Inessa for me?”
“With my life,” Nathaniel said, setting the papers down.
“I won’t be much longer.”
“Yeah, you might need her to decide that,” Nathaniel said.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Tolomon said, already out the door.
Indenuel was halfway finished chewing his first bite of eggs before he realized what they meant. Nathaniel was still here. Rosa had come last night, too. He met Inessa’s gaze who was smiling. She must have caught on, too.
“How is the Graduate program?” Indenuel asked.
“We’re about ready to start the three-month program for the older Graduates. We might have to borrow some rooms from the palace. That building is far too small,” Nathaniel said, looking through the pages. “I’ve finally gone through everything, though. I have a full understanding of what happened, and more importantly, already have ideas of how to change it just enough to keep it effective, but not devilish.” He set his papers aside, picking up his cup of coffee. “But you two? How’s marriage?”
“So great,” Inessa said, reaching over and squeezing Indenuel’s hand.
“Wish I could enjoy it more,” Indenuel said.
“That’s a life skill to learn,” Nathaniel said. “You’ve got to enjoy what you can when you can.”
“Spoken like a soldier,” Inessa said.
Indenuel finished his breakfast, leaning back. “Do we know when we’re going to make another play?”
Nathaniel took another sip. “Cleaning up the corruption from the Graduates was our huge victory. And it still is, if I’m being completely honest. Things look rough right now, but there aren’t that many secrets the High Elders have left. I’m actually surprised the High Elders haven’t tried something again. Not only that, but I have something to discuss with you two.” Indenuel waited, still holding Inessa’s hand. “We could hit the High Elders right where it hurts by having my father help out with plans. He’d be a powerful ally.”
Indenuel’s face fell. “You want him to join us?” He stopped himself from spewing his usual insults of Martin having no spine, because he had to remind himself this was Nathaniel. Despite everything, Martin was still his father.
“Yes. I wholeheartedly agree to this. We need someone who wouldn’t be surprised by the High Elders secrets, because he knows them,” Nathaniel said.
Indenuel rubbed the bridge of his nose, grumbling. Inessa squeezed his hand. “You forgave him once.”
“Yes, well,” Nathaniel said, in a way that caused Indenuel to focus on him. “Before you decide, you should know his final secret.”
“Ugh, he has another one?” Indenuel mumbled, picking up his juice.
“He does. One that’s caused him the kind of grief that made him rethink many of his actions. He wants to redeem himself, and I believe he’s genuine,” Nathaniel said.
“Must be a bad one, then,” Inessa said.
Nathaniel waited until Inessa finished taking a drink of her own juice, then waited a moment more, enough for Inessa to pause while slicing her ham. She frowned. “What is it?”
“Your mother gave a fake name to the men she slept with,” Nathaniel said.
Inessa kept slicing her ham. “She did. It was for her protection. I thought she might have slept with one of them, but Martin said he never found her name.”
Nathaniel leaned forward, clasping his fingers together. “He lied. He couldn’t bare telling you the truth.”
Inessa’s smile dropped. Indenuel felt nauseous. “Which one?” Indenuel asked.
“My father,” Nathaniel said. Calm, considering the circumstances. “We’re half siblings.” Indenuel recoiled, dropping his utensils onto the plate as nausea crept up his throat. He closed his eyes and shook his head, trying to orient himself to this absolutely disgusting reality. “He burned the book once Indenuel showed it to the people. He couldn’t have you figuring it out. He wanted to protect you.”
He wondered if it was shock that caused hardly a reaction from Inessa. She simply sat there, staring at Nathaniel, surprise the only thing Indenuel could decipher from her face. Indenuel, on the other hand, was struggling with the desire to punch Martin, and settled with pounding his fingers into the table instead. “That’s disgusting,” Indenuel said.
“He didn’t know,” Nathaniel said, turning toward Indenuel.
“Doesn’t change a thing. If your father actually had a spine, it never would have happened in the first place,” Indenuel said. Nathaniel’s reveal made him forego his previous interest in keeping Martin in a good light.
“He never touched her when he found out. At least, that’s what he told me.”
“It’s true. I remember when I told him about my mother. He went so far as to avoid me completely, except for… for when he gave me over to you,” Inessa said, once again taking Indenuel’s hand.
“I knew there was a reason why he gave you to me. I knew it. It wasn’t from the goodness of his heart, it was to keep your parentage secret for as long as he could.”
Nathaniel finished his coffee, setting it down before shaking his head. “I think you’re putting way too much into this. Perhaps that was a reason, but it wasn’t the reason. The reason was to give you an excellent incentive to get the mark off your chest. And my father was right to hand her over to you as soon as he could.”
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Indenuel shook his head. “He’s the reason the book is burned?”
“He is, yes,” Nathaniel said.
“We could use that against hi-”
“No,” both Nathaniel and Inessa said.
Indenuel simply could not comprehend it. “You’re defending him? Still?”
“I feel sorry for him,” Inessa said. “He never wanted to do this.”
“Sorry? You feel sorry for that path-” Indenuel clamped his teeth down to keep himself from talking about Nathaniel’s father like this. About their shared father. Indenuel covered his face for a moment, wondering how they could take this so calmly. “If he actually never wanted to do it, he would have stopped it.”
“It’s over and done. We shouldn’t threaten him with confession, we should encourage it. He’ll come to it on his own,” Nathaniel said.
“You’re letting him keep this a secret?” Indenuel’s voice rose in pitch. “You realize he’s capable of keeping this a secret for another twenty-five years!”
“He won’t. He’s already told me and gave me permission to tell both of you. He is already doing much better with this one than the other secret. I will not force him to confess when he’s not ready, and I will not let you threaten him into it. He’s learned his lesson,” Nathaniel said.
“Learned his lesson?” Indenuel asked. “You cannot be serious! This is valuable information we could-”
“We do nothing without my father’s permission,” Nathaniel said.
“This is disgusting. How many other women like Inessa’s mother lied about their name?”
“A lot, from what I hear,” Inessa said.
“And how many more concubines might be in Inessa’s situation?” Indenuel asked.
Nathaniel nodded. “That’s a good point. One I’m sure my father already knows. He could come forward and confess to the King and Queen privately with this.”
“Privately? You don’t think we should-”
“Rub it in the High Elder’s faces? Create further animosity?” Nathaniel asked. Indenuel didn’t have much to say to that.
Inessa took Indenuel’s hand. “I know how each of the High Elders are like when they’ve had their pride hurt. They will take it out on their concubines. The less we enrage the High Elders, the better. My concubine sisters need all protection they can get.”
Indenuel shook his head. “Inessa, after everything Martin did to you-”
“He’s trying to do better. There’s a lot of pain the High Elders can cause, and if there’s a peaceful way to go about this, we should take it,” Inessa said.
Indenuel rubbed his head, then looked at Inessa again, trying to see if he could see any of Martin in her. Maybe their nose was the same. And their eye shape. It was too difficult to see, what with Martin being an old man. An old man that slept with a young girl. Slept with his own daughter. Indenuel took a deep breath, trying to calm himself even though he still had a strong desire to punch Martin in the face. Punch him as many times as he could.
He realized that him, as the son of Senior High Elder Cristoval and she, daughter of High Elder Martin, had accidently formed one of the strongest nobility marriages in Santollia, let alone the fact that Indenuel was the Warrior, the first prophecy of the Divine Ages.
“Wait…” Indenuel said, frowning. “We don’t need Martin. I know a High Elder secret.”
Nathaniel looked concerned. “There’s a lot of fear in the city, Indenuel. The best thing to tackle that is hope.”
Indenuel was confused until he realized Nathaniel meant about the Gods’ death. “Oh, no, I wasn’t talking about that.” Though, he realized that was a powerful secret, too. By announcing to the world that the Gods were dead, it would take away so much of the High Elder’s power. Eventually they would have to come to that, but it wasn’t what he was thinking. “I know what the next prophecy will be.”
“The… next prophecy? There’s another prophecy?” Inessa asked.
“It’s about the Savior’s mother,” Indenuel said.
Nathaniel nodded, smiling. “The Savior always brings hope. That’s a good idea.”
Indenuel didn’t have much to say about that. He remembered Garen’s added information, and realized the stain glass window of the savior hadn’t given him hope in a long time, but he didn’t tell Nathaniel or Inessa this.
They talked while Inessa and Indenuel finished breakfast, then moved to the sitting room, planning their next move. They had been there for a while, figuring out what Indenuel needed to say in a paper that was starting to sound like a sermon. It was getting close to lunchtime when they heard a commotion coming from the stairs that sounded an awful lot like Rosa and Tolomon in a fight. Nathaniel’s face dropped. “Uh-oh.”
“It is impossible, Tolomon. You’re asking me to lie to Nathaniel and I’m not going to do it!” Rosa said.
“It’s not that hard. Just keep acting like you never found it.”
Both voices were not exactly soft, and Indenuel realized he really didn’t want to know what the two of them were talking about as the door burst open. Nathaniel was already on his feet, looking concerned. “Is everything alright?”
“No, Tolomon is-”
“Rosa!”
“We talked about this last night. No secrets between the three of us. Ever,” Rosa said.
“Which I agree to,” Tolomon said. “In our joint lives. But this is my personal life.”
“Your personal life counts too. You can’t keep doing things on your own. Supporting each other is essential in marriage, no matter what it is.”
“Alright, what’s happening?” Nathaniel said.
There was so much about this that Indenuel was seriously afraid of knowing, wondering if he should find an excuse to take Inessa and leave. Rosa held up the paper, giving Tolomon a good long stare. Tolomon sighed, then grabbed it, almost annoyed. “I’ve been found guilty of indecency. The High Elders are giving me fifteen lashes later today for it. I hid it, because I can handle fifteen lashes, and I don’t want you rescuing me again,” Tolomon said.
“Oh, thank God,” Indenuel said. This revelation was better than literally anything that he was terrified of it being. Rosa looked at him confused, but Tolomon simply gave him a blank stare. Nathaniel took the letter, frowning as he read through it. Indenuel realized it was the letter a servant handed Tolomon at the banquet last night.
“Huh. I was wondering why the High Elders were being strangely silent,” Nathaniel said.
Tolomon took the note back. “I’d like to emphasize that I can handle fifteen lashes just fine. Better than you can handle seven. Please just let me take this one.”
“Indecent. When where you indecent?” Inessa asked.
“I touched your waist when I pulled you out of the High Elder’s trials,” Tolomon said.
Inessa looked perplexed. “You did? I don’t remember.”
Tolomon shrugged. “All that matters is a nobleman reported me to the High Elders and they found me guilty, and if I don’t show up, I pay a fine I can’t afford and get thrown into the dungeon.”
“And when were you planning on telling the rest of us?” Indenuel asked.
“Never,” Tolomon mumbled. “I was going to have another Graduate here guarding you two as I left after Nathaniel and Rosa, and I was just going to get it done and come back. No one would have known.”
“Oh really?” Rosa asked, hands on her hips. “And when I came back tonight, or even tomorrow? What exactly did you plan on saying to me when I saw your fresh wounds?”
Tolomon hesitated, then frowned. Like he hadn’t realized, or gotten used to the idea, that Rosa would be back.
“This is unnaturally harsh,” Nathaniel said, folding his arms. “Isn’t that the max lashing a person could get for indecency?”
“They’re always harsh on the common class,” Tolomon said.
“Something tells me my father doesn’t know. That or I’ve got a letter waiting for him at home. He’d warn me about something like this,” Nathaniel said.
“I could have a message sent to Martin from you,” Inessa said.
Nathaniel nodded. “Yeah, do that.”
Tolomon took a deep breath, then held it, closing his eyes, before letting the breath out and opening his eyes again. “Fifteen lashes is not a lot for me. Not a single one of you should save me. Alright? I’ll be fine.”
“You may be fine, but the High Elders are still pushing the boundaries of their power, and that is what we need to stop,” Nathaniel said.
“I need you to swear you will not get yourself hurt,” Tolomon said.
“You mean not provide a way to make you hurt less?” Nathaniel asked.
“Yes. That.”
Nathaniel shook his head. “Seven is not that-”
“Nathaniel,” Tolomon said, a warning to his tone. “The High Elders are pushing their power, yes. And they might keep pushing it. I don’t mind taking this one, because there might be a time I do need your help.”
Nathaniel gave him a scrutinizing look. “Fine. That makes sense. I hate it, but fine. Rosa and I better get back.” He picked up the sermon, handing it to Indenuel. “That should be long enough.”
“I have a feeling the High Elders will come and stop me long before we reach the end of this, anyway,” Indenuel said, reading over the planned sermon.
Nathaniel glanced between Rosa and Tolomon. “Are you two…” He pointed to the two of them. Rosa and Tolomon paused, then glanced at each other.
“We’re good,” Tolomon said.
“Really? I don’t recall fighting after our first night.”
“Nah, this went about as I expected,” Tolomon said. “She’s incredibly stubborn.”
“So are you,” Rosa said.
“Which is why I love you,” Tolomon said.
“And I love you. Any servants about?”
“Nope.” He kissed her, and Indenuel shook his head, still marveling.
“Um, Nathaniel?” Inessa asked.
“Yes?” he asked, gathering the other papers up.
“Thank you. For… telling me. Does Addy know?” Inessa asked.
“No, she doesn’t. Father only wanted me to tell you and Indenuel, and I’ll respect his wishes.” Rosa and Tolomon broke away.
“Oh. Well, thank you. Maybe I could tell her. I think we should bring Addy with us when we go talk to the Oraminians. She’s really smart. If she were a man, she’d be on track to becoming a High Elder herself, honestly. As it stands… I’m sure she’ll figure out a way to become one in the future,” Inessa said.
Nathaniel chuckled. “I hadn’t thought about that. She does know the political game quite well. She could help us out a lot.”
Inessa rubbed her upper arm, glancing at Tolomon and Rosa before focusing again on Nathaniel. He smiled, opening his arms to her, and she walked over, giving him a hug. Rosa and Tolomon both stared, confused.
“Turns out their half siblings,” Indenuel muttered. “They… share a father.”
The realization hit them both at the same time. Rosa screwed up her face in disgust she was trying to stifle, and Tolomon shrugged as though that wasn’t the grossest thing he’d seen the upper class do.
“I’m disgusted by what my father let happen with the concubine law and the Warrior project, but I don’t blame you in the slightest,” Nathaniel said, breaking away. “In fact, I’m honestly quite thrilled you’re my sister.”
Inessa smiled. “Toward the end, I considered all of you like family, and now you really are. I’m honestly so happy.”
Indenuel could not understand. There was still the fact that Martin had slept with her. It was disgusting. It always had been, and now it was made worse.
Nathaniel turned to Indenuel and gave him a hug. He was still careful as he hugged him back.
“Honestly, you can hug tighter if you need,” Nathaniel said.
“I truly do not want to hurt you,” he said as Rosa hugged Inessa goodbye.
“Well, I appreciate the sentiment,” Nathaniel said, still hugging him. “And Indenuel.” The warmth disappeared from his voice. “Do not hurt my sister.” There was a threat to it he’d never heard from Nathaniel, and honestly never wanted to again.
“Yes, sir,” Indenuel mumbled.
Nathaniel patted his back, breaking away from the hug. “Good man.”