“Genevieve,” I call out, but don’t get a response. I enter the room, and it takes my brain a moment to process what I’m seeing. Genevieve has been tied up and gagged, and both Mazus and a man I recognize as Silas Kalmeera are standing over her. Mazus must have known my plans and aerstepped here immediately.

“So glad you could join us,” Mazus says, a haughty glint in his eyes. Silas just sneers at me.

“Neme… rrrrnnn!” Genevieve tries to yell through her gag, though it comes out as a muffled grunt.

“Let Genevieve go. This has nothing to do with her,” I say, raising my knife.

“Oh, but you see, it does,” Mazus says. “As soon as Silas offered Genevieve a place in the family again, if only she would reveal what the two of you had discovered, she spilled all your secrets immediately.”

Genevieve’s eyes go wide, and she struggles against her bonds, and my heart feels like it’s dropped to my stomach. Words I cannot decipher come out as murmurs from her gagged lips as she fiercely shakes her head side to side. I look back and forth between her and Mazus, completely lost. Why send me the books if he didn’t want me to discover something? Why bribe Genevieve to reveal our research in books he lent me? I want to run, but I need the books, must risk everything to bring them back to Laurel. I lunge for my pack, scooping it into my arms and drop it behind me. In response, Silas holds a knife to Genevieve’s throat.

“Don’t move, girl, or I’ll slit her throat,” he growls. “Now that I know what an abomination she is, having intimate relations with another female, I’m looking for any excuse to exterminate her.”

I’m taken aback by the vitriol in his voice. While I intellectually knew that Velmarans looked down on relationships between females, experiencing their hatred firsthand is an entirely different experience. Genevieve’s amber eyes stare up at me, shining with tears and shame that breaks my heart. She struggles against her bonds again, but Silas only presses the knife deeper into her neck. A bead of crimson blood tracks down her throat.

“In Velmara, females serve one purpose—to produce strong heirs,” Mazus lectures calmly, as if we are old friends and he’s politely answering a question I’ve asked him. “Any deviation from that is met with punishment. As a member of a powerful noble family, Genevieve has already brought shame upon her family by being deemed unworthy of marriage.” Silas growls in agreement, and Genevieve drops her head to her chest in defeat. “When the Head Librarian reported your relationship to me…” Mazus and Silas both look at Genevieve in disgust. “I immediately informed Silas, who determined it was time to end the shame she has brought upon the Kalmeera family.”