The pearl button felt heavier than a cannonball in Kaia's pocket.
She walked back to the guest wing with her hands clasped demurely in front of her, her steps measured and perfectly aligned with Victoria's. To the palace guards they passed, the Taryn sisters looked like paragons of Northern virtue, refreshed and cleansed by the Midday Service of Reflection.
In reality, Kaia's thighs were still trembling so violently she was surprised her knees weren't knocking together, and Victoria was vibrating with paranoid ambition.
"You prayed well," Victoria noted, unlocking the door to their suite. "You were trembling. A true physical manifestation of spiritual dread. The Empress noticed. It reflects well on me."
"I am overflowing with spiritual dread," Kaia agreed, her voice a little raspy.
