“That was the same year that…” She hesitated. Maybe she shouldn’t bring it up. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt Darling any worse.

“That what?” Maris prompted

There’s no way Maris doesn’t know about it. He knew everything when it came to Darling and Drake had told her that the photographs and videos of Darling had circulated far and wide. So she forced herself to say the name that burned in her throat. “Nylan.”

Maris’s nostrils flared in anger. “How do you know about that? I know Darling didn’t breathe a word of it.”

Just as she thought—Maris knew him better than anyone. “Drake told me.”

“I swear that I, who profane violence, am going to cut that boy’s tongue out one day,” he said under his breath. “Why would he tell you about that?”

“He was explaining why he’d hated Darling when he was younger. Why he refused to believe me when I told him Darling was straight. He said that he’d seen proof otherwise, and he used that as his example.”

Maris mumbled under his breath in Phrixian—a habit he always had whenever he was really mad about something. “Just please tell me that you didn’t ask Darling about it.”

She cringed. “I did.”

More Phrixian.

Trying to soothe him, she touched his arm. “If it makes you feel better, Darling is grateful to you that you’ve never mentioned it to him.”

“It doesn’t and why should I?” He prissed daintily. “Drake is an idiot. I now have irrefutable proof of his supreme fatuousness. It was obvious to anyone with a brain what had happened.” He hissed like a cat. “Which explains why Drake didn’t get it… From the moment I heard about the scandal, I knew Darling would have to be beyond desperate to go to that pervert.”

He set the water bottle down on the tray next to Darling’s bed. “You can’t imagine the disdain and ridicule Darling’s been subjected to because of it. There were so many jokes that went around—jokes that were sickening. I was in militia training the first time that video was shoved in my face. I was so angry, I clocked the moron who was laughing when he showed it to me.”

It had to be bad to motivate Maris to such an act. “People can be extremely vicious.”

“Believe me, Zarya, I know. I am a gay man, remember? They’ve let me have it plenty.”

He jerked his chin toward Darling. “Some of the old jokes are still floating around and are retold anytime he makes an official appearance.”

“Such as?”

He turned a pale shade of green and made sure that Darling wasn’t awake before he whispered to her. “I’m only telling these to you because you will hear them, and I want you prepared for the sheer, brutal nastiness of it…” He lowered his voice even more. “What’s the difference between Darling Cruel, the wind, and a vacuum?”

She drew her breath in sharply, dreading the answer.