The Carnelian Way

20.2

The dip of the mattress woke her. A cool hand stroked across her hair and face like she were a cat, and like a cat, she stretched and yawned. She opened her eyes to meet sapphire blue ones, rimmed with red, smudges of shadows below them.

"You look so much like her when you sleep."

Rina shot back toward the middle of the bed. "Your Magnificence!"

Mai clucked his tongue and gripped her shoulder, holding her in place. "No need for that. Just Mai."

"What are you doing here? I was waiting for high-magister Ro and..." Her words faded at his grimace.

"The last thing I'd do is let the likes of Ro get her claws into you, and..." He paused, his forefinger brushing a line from her temple to cheek. "I miss my family, and asleep, with that hair, you reminded me so much of Elia." A sad smile spread on his face. "Yet now, with your yellow eyes on me, I see Arkis too."

Rina closed her eyes. "I let you down today, Your Magnificence."

"Mai—and how?" he said, his voice kind as he corrected her.

She resisted looking at him, but he drew her eyes all the same. "I ignored Magister Pilo's instructions and stood on and did nothing as my friend tortured a man."

Mai's mouth warped. "That man, Cassander, is dirt beneath your feet. Any man who forces himself on a woman is—" Mai hissed something in a language Rina couldn't understand, though the words sent something ice-cold scuttling down her spine. "Cassander will be punished. But sadly, so will your friend." He held up a hand as she made to speak. "I brought each of you here to show Eurora, most importantly the Magisterium, that your people could be trusted—to allow you to learn how to use your gifts and create beautiful things. Sara tainted her gift of healing by breaking a man. No matter what the reason for her actions, they were unforgivable."

She wanted to beg him to pardon Sara, but he was right—Sara had stooped to Lord Cassander's level, perhaps further. However, Mai was merciful, and his judgement would be—

Propping herself up on one elbow, she asked, "Will you judge her?"

His lips quirked. "Do you want me to?"

Rina furrowed her brows, then looked down, fiddling with the bedspread. "That's not for me to ask."

"Didn't you do exactly that?"

One of his hands rested on the mattress. His fingers inched toward hers, pale against the wine-red material, then they stilled, the tip of his forefinger an inch from her own. Her fingertips warmed. Glancing at him, she watched as his lips curled back, revealing straight white teeth with those slightly elongated incisors. The vein at his neck pulsed. She felt its rhythm reflected in her jaw, and her mouth became wet. He tilted his head, as if in invitation, and a part of her questioned if he did it on purpose.

She yanked her hand back. "No—but I hope you do."

"Why?"

"Because you are not only Mai the Magnificent—you are Mai the Merciful."

He scoffed and said, "Propaganda," then stood and walked from the bed. "Come, enjoy the view with me."

The faintest tug pulled at her chest, urging her to follow. She moved her hand to the carnelian crystal sewn under her skin, pushing Fin's pendant aside as she did. She considered Mai. The man before her appeared like... Well, just a man. Almost frail with that translucent alabaster skin lit by the afternoon sun. She swung her legs over the bed, aware of a building ache in her bladder, and eyed the corridor to the guard robe longingly—how to tell a demi-god of her very-human needs.