“Bullshite,” his least favorite bit. “What are you playing at?” he demanded. “That mess and now we cannot perform rituals, we don’t have the men, and furthermore, we have to lie low in case anyone adds Rupert to that Firenz woman to the Beast and gets us. But before that, you demanded we reduce our rituals, when we should have bloody doubled them, and then you rode to Firenze to quell some magical prophecy we’ve never bloody heard of so we couldn’t even perform them at all.”

“It wasn’t only that. I’m part of a diplomatic envoy,” the priest spat. “I couldn’t demur. History is being made. It would be suspect if I declined. Especially as the Go’Doan know why history is being made with these marital alliances. We will resume our rituals, on schedule, once we recruit a new brother.”

“Why is Rupert dead?” the third man asked.

“We will recruit another brother,” the priest repeated.

“You didn’t answer my question,” the man returned. “Why is Rupert gone?”

Before the priest could answer, his nemesis did it for him. “Because he was fucking some wench and not fisting his own cock with thoughts of that one’s,” he jerked his head toward the priest, “arse.” The man looked to him. “They were found together, naked, after intercourse. You caught him with a woman. And in a fit of jealousy, you killed them both.”

“It doesn’t matter,” the priest muttered.

“You killed one of us,” the man retorted. “It does matter.”

“I don’t answer to you,” the priest clipped.

“We don’t answer to you either,” the man fired back.

The second man joined in, stating, “You realize, Rupert was loyal to you.”

The priest had no response for he had seen with his own eyes he was not.

“We do not like you,” the first said. “We don’t trust you. The only reason we put up with you was because Rupert had great things to say about your magic. Because he told us, without you, it would not be in our generation that the Beast was roused. If it were not for Rupert, it would be you who would no longer have the ability to perform the rituals.”

“You threaten me?” the priest whispered.

The man shook his head. “You find a man. You train a man. Not one you want to fuck. One who will get the job done. And we all renew our vows and the rituals begin again, no. If you do none of these things…”

He didn’t finish.

And yes.

It was a threat.

The priest did not like to be threatened.

“I am currently on my way to Notting Thicket for Prince True’s wedding,” the priest sniffed.

“You better find your way to get your arse here,” the second man demanded. “If you don’t, we’ll carry on without you.”