“Do not bother, Anointed One. Their devotion to this Vagrant… it goes beyond the pale. They’re fanatics, every last one of them. Even calling them ‘fanatic’ might be too kind. It feels like they’ve been branded into a death cult.”

“Even fanatics can be broken,” Sinshei said. A little shiver ran up his spine. So often he viewed the God-Incarnate’s daughter as a spineless kitten, but every now and then he glimpsed a hint of fangs. The idea of torturing these people, of breaking their faith in the Vagrant, excited her.

“They don’t need to be broken,” he said, putting the thought aside. “Not to serve their purpose.”

“So I heard.” Sinshei stepped to her left so she put herself directly between Magus and the stairs leading out of the prison. “Word has spread throughout the city like wildfire. You’re planning a mass hanging. My priests tell me the gallows is already under construction.”

“What of it?”

“You’ll hang forty of Vallessau’s wealthiest and prominent members solely for being together at a party? We have no evidence against any of them that they conspired against the empire, nor that they provided aid to the Vagrant and his insurgence.”

“I don’t need evidence,” Magus said. “Not when I have an informant feeding me information from the rebellion’s highest tiers of leadership.”

Sinshei’s eyes narrowed, and he caught her digging her fingernails into the bunched fabric of her dress.

“You possess such a valuable traitor? Why was I not told?”

He smirked at her.

“I trust no one in your church, Sinshei, not after the disgrace that was the paragon ritual. Of course I kept this information to myself, lest the men and women at that party flee prior to our arrival.”

The Anointed’s painted cheeks flushed red.

“Even if you have secret knowledge of their guilt, you already admit it is not knowledge you can share with the populace. Execute them here, quietly and in secret. Let rumors spread throughout the city of their guilt. To hang them before a crowd is too great a risk.”

“I am no fool, Sinshei. I know the risk, but with that risk comes the potential rewards. A mass execution of the Vagrant’s faithful? The meddlesome bastard won’t let that happen unchallenged. He’ll interfere. He must. And when he does…” Magus grinned. “Then we show the wretches of this city they have put their faith in the wrong man.”

“This is a mistake,” Sinshei insisted. “You move too quickly, and like with the Joining Laws, you underestimate the resolve of a people—”

Magus slammed his shield to the stone, cracking it with the sharpened edge. The noise blessedly interrupted her rambling. He crossed his arms over his chest, directly challenging Sinshei to show him, truly show him, how sharp her kitten’s fangs could be.

“The hangings commence tomorrow,” he said. “Unless Thanet’s Anointed One objects?”