Farah brightened, but asked, “Can he be trusted?”

“I do not know. I know Lorenz trusts him and Mars trusts Lorenz. So I take heart in that.”

She nodded before she said, “But it does not seem much to take heart in when so much is being lost.”

“The priests of this Rising in the temple in Fire City fled after the attack. Some of them have been tracked down and they await Mars’s return in the necropolis. But they do not await their interrogations. Lorenz and Guard are already interrogating them.”

Her brows went up.

True kept speaking.

“Sadly, however, it seems, thus far, it’s proving most of them are underlings, not those in authority. But it’s clear with Carrington’s placement in this very castle that these plans have been brewing for a long time. And we’re getting a picture that perhaps there are some zealots higher up who are calling the shots and doing it poorly. And now that plans are being carried out, their followers are finding they’re not quite as loyal as they believed, what with men in pieces in Fire City, or walking into the tar pits. Or what they will see happen to Carrington, which will be grisly, and the other traitors publicly hung.”

“So you don’t think they will feel some triumph at what they achieved today?” she asked quietly.

“I think citizens of this city still line the streets silently in mourning for their queen,” he answered. “I think as gruesome as it will be, there will be cheers at Carrington’s execution and the traitors will be led to the gallows with the Dellish spitting on them as they go. I think today, Chu capitalized on the fact nineteen archers expected to be captured, but their leader alone tried to escape. And Chu made it very clear to those in that torture chamber that they were sacrificed while their leader expected to get away.”

“Oh my,” she said quietly. “That was very clever.”

“Yes. And Chu had further instigated a situation where there was no small amount of animosity of those underlings toward the priests who Chu also made it clear were higher ups who in some way got them in their present position but were saying not a word to get them out of it.”

“That is promising,” Farah noted.

He nodded. “Thus, I think anyone of this Rising will watch this and wonder how deep their loyalties lie. I cannot tell the future, sweets. I just feel all that was lost today in my marrow. My mother’s life and Alfie’s legs will not go unavenged in every way I can avenge them. That is what I know.”

“And I will be queen on the morrow, the shortest reign of princess ever, most likely,” she remarked, probably to lighten the discussion.

“You will be,” he said softly. “However, the declaration may come tomorrow, but our official coronations will wait until after this current business is sorted. Mother’s pyre burned, her ashes at rest. Carrington and the traitors dispatched. It will be a few weeks.”