“What are you doing here, Mari?” he asked as she approached. “All of us are way too lowbrow shit for you to be hanging around.”

“I’ve come for the bloodletting,” she said. She didn’t recognize the man, but it was no surprise that he knew her. There weren’t too many outsiders on Thanet, let alone people like her and her family with the distinct red eyes of a Miquoan. These members didn’t know her father was the mysterious “Coin,” who funneled money into the resistance, but they knew she was a friend. More important, they knew her sister, and the vicious kills she had scored in the few short months they’d been on the island. It was a risk, coming here in the open during broad daylight, but having lived through so many rebellions, Mari was used to a bit of risk.

“You’re cutting it close then,” the man said, and he flung the rickety door open. “The paladin is upstairs. Should be starting soon.”

They wouldn’t start without her, though she didn’t bother to explain that to the door guard. After three months of Endarius ignoring her prayers, this was her best idea at gaining the Lion’s attention. The entire ceremony had been organized by her father. Mari entered the home, and the guard quickly shut the door behind her.

At least a dozen men were crammed into that bottom floor, and they glanced her way out of curiosity or mistrust. Pieces of armor lay scattered atop tables and couches. Freshly sharpened swords hung from two different racks on the wall. There weren’t enough beds for them all, so instead, pillows and blankets were piled into haphazard nests. One such nest was occupied by two husbands, one curled up with his face buried into the chest of the other. Mari felt a pang of pity looking upon them. Had they been chased out of their home? Or were they here as a precaution, fearing the increased scrutiny their pairing would bring from the eyes of the Uplifted priests?

Mari made small talk with those who were awake, sensing their nervousness for tomorrow’s execution, and doing her best to soothe it despite those waiting for her upstairs for the bloodletting. Here in the hidden dark, the symbols of Endarius and Lycaena were more bravely worn. She spotted several religious necklaces, the chains adorned with gold-and-silver butterfly wings. Several men sported Endarius’s red-and-white feathers tucked into their hats or coats, and some lashed those feathers to their swords with strips of leather. There was fear in the air, certainly, an anxious dread at the coming battle, but there was faith, too. Mari smelled it like spilled vinegar. Since arriving on Thanet, she’d tried fasting. She’d tried prayer. She’d engaged in the little rituals the followers of Endarius practiced when no member of the church watched. Nothing had worked, so it was time to try something new.