“What are you doing?” Ruan demanded as soon as Eldred was out of the room.

Varajas simply stared at Ruan like he didn’t understand the question.

Which meant Ruan was forced to argue Eldred’s side, which only pissed him off more. “You can’t—you’re not going to get anywhere by arguing with him.”

“I’m sorry. Did I not leave enough space for you to continue sitting and saying nothing?”

It was the unspoken truth of their relationship—the pattern that had kept them functional for years—that they had always tag-teamed their tempers. When one was spitting mad, the other pulled it in and did whatever responsible thing needed to be done.

So instead of responding to Varajas’s taunt, Ruan took a deep breath and kept his tone in check. “He’s not going to listen to anything we say right now.”

“Of all the thick-headed, asshole—”

“Yes,” Ruan interrupted, because there simply wasn’t time to start a list of all Eldred’s faults. “But he’s here and we’re here and it would be good if we could find a way to help these wizards without getting arrested for treason against the order.”

All the energy suddenly drained from Varajas and he sat down heavily, dropping his face into his hands. “I found them, Ruan. Light help me—I found them.”

They had known things would be bad, but from the way Varajas looked right now, a tight ball of horror began to form in Ruan’s gut. “What did you find?”

“She’s got it locked down with magic. Most people would just walk by without noticing. I did. Three times. But it…it tingled. I could feel something was wrong. Finally I pinpointed it.

“It’s an old estate in the middle of the city. Once you punch through the magic, there’s no real security around it. The gates are locked, but I was able to get over the wall without anyone noticing me. Inside…”

Ruan crossed the small room to Varajas, knelt down in front of him, and took Varajas’s hands into his so he could see Varajas’s face. “What did you see?”

“People. Wizards.” Varajas shook his head, an unspoken denial. “I’ve never seen anyone like this. They were…filthy, but that doesn’t capture it. Like they’d forgotten how to care for themselves in any way. The smell…sores on their skin. And all that was bad, but it wasn’t the worst.

“They couldn’t see me. Didn’t know I was there. I don’t think they were there, not really. I tried to talk to them. Even grabbed one of them, shook him, tried to get some sort of response. There was nothing.”

“How many?” Ruan whispered.

“Five that I saw. But I heard more, moving around inside.”

“And we know this is Sidaine.”

“Yes. I questioned people around the estate. They’ve seen her coming and going. She…” Varajas’s face tightened, his dark eyes smoldering in reawakened fury. “She goes to parties. Attends teas. She’s a part of society here.”

All the while she was keeping…what was it she was doing with those wizards?

“How has she gotten away with this?” Ruan wondered out loud.

“I don’t know.” Varajas pushed to his feet, jerking his hands free of Ruan’s grip. “But it has to stop. I don’t care what Eldred says.” With that, he stalked out, slamming the door behind him.

Ruan was glad he hadn’t seen what Varajas had. One of them needed to be thinking clearly. Thoughts whirled through Ruan’s head—questions, ideas. Two things were abundantly clear. The first, that they had to fix this. They had to stop whatever Sidaine was doing. The second, that Eldred was not going to help them.

Which left only one avenue that Ruan could see. Only one way to move forward without betraying the oaths they had taken to the church.

Ruan had to go over Eldred’s head. He had to get a message to High Father Donatien. And he needed to do it now.