A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows

Author:Foz Meadows [Meadows, Foz]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

22

All the blood drained from Killic’s face, his bruise standing out as starkly as if he’d just been slapped. He stared between us, furious at having been tricked, then turned to me with a look of pure venom.

“You’re a sweet little fuck, Aaro, but the novelty wears off. Your husband will find that out soon enough. I—”

Caethari moved so fast, I didn’t even register it. One moment he was beside me, and the next he had his hand on the back of Killic’s neck, gripping hard as he smashed his cheek into the table. Killic made a choking noise; he tried to wriggle out of the chair, but Caethari held it firmly in place, his eyes black with fury.

“I’d ask you to apologise,” he growled, “but we both know you wouldn’t mean it, and even if you did, words wouldn’t be enough. You disgust me.” He gave Killic’s neck a final, pushing squeeze and then stepped back, leaving Killic to gasp and splutter against the table.

“Barbarians,” he choked out, “you’re all barbarians—”

Someone knocked on the door.

Caethari caught my eye, a silent question as to whether I wished to proceed. I nodded, my body thrumming with more feelings than I could possibly identify, and only then did he move to answer it.

A bemused Ru Zairin entered, carrying a small medical bag in one hand.

“Perfect timing, ru,” said Caethari, switching back to Tithenai.

Ru Zairin frowned, taking in the tableau. “It’s my pleasure, tiern, though your message was rather mysterious.” Thei glanced at Killic. “I take it this is the patient?”

“He’s about to be,” Caethari said, grimly.

Ru Zairin’s expression hardened. “Tiern Caethari,” thei said, voice sharper than I’d yet heard it. “If you are planning on torturing this man, I’m not only ashamed of you, but insulted that you’d think I’d be a party to it.”

“Torture? No. I’m enacting justice.” Caethari’s hands twitched by his sides. “This man, ru, is a confessed rapist. I’ve just heard the proof of it from his own mouth, in addition to which he has tried to blackmail my husband. He is also, however, a Ralian nobleman, and so rather than subject us all to the inevitable diplomatic circus that would result from attempting to bring him before the judicate, Tiern Velasin has suggested a rather more Ralian solution, invoked under tieren’s privilege.”

“Has he now,” said Ru Zairin, casting me a look that was far too knowing by half. I swallowed hard, forcing myself to endure thir scrutiny: Caethari hadn’t outright said that I was Killic’s victim, but under the circumstances, there was little else to explain both my visibly shaken state and Caethari’s fury. “And in what way does this solution of yours involve medical treatment, tiern?”

“Branding,” I said, my voice sounding shocky and hollow to my own ears; I couldn’t imagine how much worse it was to the others. You’re a sweet little fuck, Aaro, but the novelty wears off. “In Ralia, rapists are branded on the backs of their hands. Anyone there who sees it will know what it means, as will most sailors who’ve ever passed through Ralian waters.

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