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So, bracing for the worst, I knocked again. If they still didn't answer, then I'd leave it. This wasn't their problem, and I was probably worrying for nothing. Then the door jerked open to reveal Jamik wearing nothing but his sleep pants, and they were rumpled like they'd recently been on the floor.
"What?" he demanded.
"Talin's out for a session," I explained, "and he just received a letter with the baron's official seal from Sandrest."
Jamik's entire body went still and I watched as his shoulders slowly wilted with the vanishing anger. "Amerlee!" he bellowed.
Then Irila pushed Jamik aside so she could see me. The woman was only wearing a shirt, and from the size of it, I was pretty sure it was Jamik's, so I dropped my eyes to the ground, not needing to make this worse.
"Go get dressed," she told Jamik. "Amerlee's doing the same."
"Sorry," I mumbled.
Irila just laughed, but it sounded a little forced. "You're fine, Anver. I also think we needed an interruption. A letter from the baron, you said?"
I just nodded. "So how bad is this?"
"If it has his seal, then it's official," Irila explained. "What do you know?"
"I know that they're at that session with Thiemo and the Inspiration guy. I know they're all at the club, but I don't know what club. I also know that Drandir ran the whole way here, and Talin's childhood servant-guy was the one to bring it. Drandir said that Branstan looked frantic. I'm pretty sure Talin's said the man doesn't know how to do anything but reply with 'yes, sir.'"
"Shalsa!" Irila yelled. "Clothes, woman. Kids need us."
"So a big deal," I realized.
"Official," she corrected again. "But official from the Baron of Temptation means the sort of thing that gets those kids out of that session. We'll need to send a messenger down there, which means Saval has to be told, and we're just going to make sure we don't get them in trouble, ok?"
I nodded. "Ok." Then I took a step back. "You know where I live. Door's unlocked. It's just me and a sealed letter, and you don't have on pants."
"His shirt's big enough," Irila assured me.
She didn't seem to be too worried. Then again, they'd just been fighting, and I'd broken that up. Clearly, all four of them could put on a polite face when they needed to, so that didn't help much. Worse, I was pretty sure that they'd been fighting about the mandatory assignments - not that I blamed them. That was the sort of thing that guardians would want to protect their desires from, and that their desires would insist on doing to protect their guardians. In other words, the temple felt like it was falling apart at the seams.
Right now, the last thing we needed was another problem for Kinen to use against us, and I was terrified that was what this letter would become. It had the Baron of Temptation's seal, and that meant Tath. We still hadn't dealt with what had happened over the winter holiday, yet things had just kept piling up. Never mind the fact that Zeal was strangely missing. So, as I returned to our suite, I decided to try one more time.
"Zeal?" I begged. "The last time you were here, you were worried about something. Please tell me this isn't bad? Please tell me this is a part of your plan? Please just let me know you're ok?" I begged the silence.
There was no reply.
So my mind started thinking up things that could be official. Had Maela lost the baby? Would they send a letter for that? Yamina had finally given in and accepted a proposal? Maybe Tath had finally decided to do something? But what would he want Talin for? Those two hated each other, and it was no secret that Tath would go to the High Priest first.
Which made me stop in my tracks. Unless the High Priest had also received one of these. Shit! That letter Kinen had sent at the start of the year! What if Tath had finally decided to respond to that, blaming Nari and Talin for subverting Maela and putting him out of commission? Then again, how would he phrase that without admitting what had happened?
Or he had.
It felt like someone had dumped ice over my head. If Tath said that Ela fucked him, yet forgot to mention the part where he'd begged for it, that was a crime. It was called rape. Not even Priests of the Body were exempt from the punishment. They would all be stripped of their lace and removed from the temple, and with Zeal gone, who would stop this? Me? I was supposed to be the fucking Shadow, and I didn't know what to do!
I was pacing the length of the living room when Amerlee finally stepped in. "Where's the letter?" she asked.
I thrust my arm out, pointing to where it laid on the counter. "What if Tath says they raped him?" I asked.
Amerlee's hands paused just as they closed on the letter. "Shit," she breathed.
"What?" Jamik asked as he walked into my suit. "What is it, Amerlee?"
Shaking her head as if to snap herself back into it, the woman turned the envelope over and scanned the back. Her brow creased in confusion, and then she turned a bit. Tilting the paper, she examined something on it, but I couldn't tell what.
"It's the official seal," she finally explained, "but the address isn't formal. It's from 'Sandrest,' with nothing else. No sender, no return address, nothing."
