I wonder if it’s washed away at least a little. I am curious to see it for some strange reason I can’t quite explain.

He meets my eyes. “I did this so I would remember.”

I remain silent waiting for more.

“I did it so I would never forget all the lives that were lost, half of my own family wiped out in a matter of moments. I did it so I would always remember that when I walked away, I became indebted to them. I did it so I never forget that I owe them. That vengeance is due them.” His fingers tighten. “And mine will be the hand that deals that vengeance.”

I swallow, feel my shoulders cave a little at that because what I felt just moments ago, what we had when he made love to me—and it was love making—it’s gone. And I’m the one who reminded him of his hate.

“Go to your room, Ivy.”

The phone in his hand buzzes. He shifts his gaze to it but doesn’t pick up.

“You lied for me,” I say, realizing that the only way The Tribunal would think I was pregnant would be if he told them I was. “Why?”

His cheeks hollow out as he draws in a deep breath. “What you did is a crime punishable by death in the eyes of The Society.”

My knees waver, goose bumps rising along my flesh.

“There is the law and there is our law.”

“The Society’s law.”

He nods. “I was offered three choices for your sentence.”

My heartbeat accelerates.

“Death by poison. Fitting.”

“Santia—”

“Death by hanging.”

He catches my arms when my knees give out and walks me backward to sit me in the chair he’d sat in the night I’d slept in his bed.

“And a loyalty test which I’m not sure you would survive.”

“What is that?”

“The Tribunal has fairly archaic methods when it comes to punishing those who betray us. You probably know this.”

I shake my head but remember that scaffold in the small courtyard hidden by the towering walls of The Tribunal’s building.

“Torture. Something medieval. While I bear witness.”

“But...You can’t let them—” the words are barely audible, my palms sweaty, fingernails digging into the leather of the chair I cling to in order to control the trembling.

“The benefit of this final method is threefold when you think about it. It will ensure you provide the name of the person or persons who supplied you with the poison as well as confirm your loyalty—”

“By torturing me.”

“And it will test me as well. My loyalty to The Society as I stand by and watch my wife punished.”

“But…”

“Not that they’d forego the methods necessary to draw a name from your lips if I were to choose either of the other options.”