Mistaken Consequences

Chapter 6: Ten weeks: Part II

"You seriously couldn't have left any of them alive?" Bitsy glanced at her with a frustrated expression as the pair watched their subordinates deal with the bodies.

Kepler's team had managed to catch a few attempted escapees when they'd arrived but, based on their sloppy attempts at magicking their way out, they weren't likely the trained leaders of this group. Vera had already sent them back to the Temple with a handful of Magistrati and Hamish to act as guards.

"It was a dangerous situation. I was more concerned with survival than leaving any of them alive to question," she fibbed.

Bitsy snorted. "You didn't kill a single disciple last May. And you kept your dog on a leash then."

Vera turned slightly, showing her smirk. "I knew I could beat you in a fight."

Bitsy sniffed. "Yes, well...you had help."

Vera suppressed a smile and turned back to the massacre before them. Her smile quickly faded, turning into a frown. "There was a werewolf among them." She hadn't wanted to tell Kepler about the rogue wolf, but as long as the Knight's lockers were still missing, the idea of the hides bonding with outsiders would give credit to her appeal to keep the Knights alive. Each one that died was a potential weapon in the hands of an unknown enemy.

Kepler's jaw clenched. "The one who lost her head, wasn't it?"

"One of ours put her down," Vera agreed.

Kepler eyed her, clearly seeing through to the point of Vera's comment. "Yes, you were...lucky to have them," she praised with a strained voice.

Vera had to try not to smirk.

It was easier when Kepler's attention redirected to the dead magic users once again. "None of them," Kepler said again in disbelief.

Vera scowled. "We've established this. It couldn't be helped."

"It's just not what I've come to expect from you." Kepler turned her attention closer on Vera. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Vera glared at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You look pasty." To her horror, Kepler reached for her forehead. Vera quickly leaned out of range. "If you're getting sick, it'd be understandable if you lost focus."

"Kepler!" Vera scolded as the woman tried to feel her forehead again. "I'm not sick." Pregnant, yes, but not sick. She was not ready for Bitsy and the rest of the Council to learn that fact, however.

Kepler held her hands up innocently. "Okay, I'm just asking."

"I'm fine!"

Vera was less fine by the time she finally got back to the Temple. Her stomach was protesting the many hours without food by protesting the very idea of food. Thankfully, the Temple was mostly empty so when she decided to make a detour to the ladies' room rather than heading straight for the reliquary, she wasn't too concerned about being caught. She just needed to splash some water on her face and give her stomach a minute to stop roiling anyways.

Unfortunately, her decision to make the detour was apparently all the permission her body needed to try to end the churning of her stomach by gagging instead. She ended up running the last few steps to the door, not even bothering to lock it behind her as she threw herself down in front of the toilet and started heaving into the bowl. The sour taste of bile burned her throat as nothing came up, her stomach too empty to produce anything more than acid.

Vera didn't hear the door open so, for a moment, she feared it was Bitsy when somebody gently pulled her hair out of the way and held it loosely at the base of her neck.