Page 176 of Grave Situation

“He’ll know fear before he dies, and that’s enough for me.”

I glance sideways at Jaimin and quirk a brow. His face is set, and I know having so many zombies close by makes his skin crawl, but he rallies and nods slightly.

“Oh, Arimen,” he chides sorrowfully. “I thought you cared for us. We care for you.”

Arimen’s eyes widen, and a stricken expression crosses his face before he hides it. “I was your hostage!”

While they distract everyone, I reach out with Wasianth’s power, carefully probing the zombies around the estate. As I suspected, most resonate with Domys’s soul energy, but some have a different tune. Luckily, they seem to be gathered in clumps. The academic part of my brain wonders if zombies raised by different necromancers are kept separate for a reason, but ultimately, it’s not important. I reach out to Leicht again and tell him where the other necromancer’s zombies are.“Could you ask the other dragons to take care of them once we act?”I don’t know if their necromancer will be able to tell what’s happening and give them new orders at this distance, but either way, I want them gone.

Next, I reach out to Sweetie.“Once we’re through the trees, wait for my signal. I’m going to need a distraction.”

“Can I throw you?”

I wince.“If you have to. Try to be gentle, though.”

Her eye roll is almost audible.

“I don’t understand why you want the godsborn here,” I say loudly, nudging Sweetie to bring me up closer to the priests, alongside but back a little. “He’s going to kill you.”

The high priest turns to give me a scathing look. “He will not. He is my god. It would have been easier had we been able to take possession of the stone and seek him out ourselves, but he will still accept our obeisance and lead us to a new age of the temples. With a living god among us, no longer will we have to kowtow to filthy mages and cower from dragons!”

“Ouch,” I mutter. I’m really going to enjoy the look on his face when he realizes how wrong he is.

The trees begin to thin, and I catch a glimpse of the manor house—the house I grew up in—up ahead. My chest tightens.Don’t worry, Tia. I’m cleansing this plague from our home.

Coryn catches my eye, and I know he’s ready for whatever comes. I can’t see Peiris, but I’m confident they’ll have my back. Jaimin subtly moves his horse closer to Arimen.

We break out of the trees, and the spring sunshine makes me squint. The road is fully visible from the house here, but in a moment, it dips slightly—barely enough to notice when you’re on it, but enough to make it hard to see from the house.

“Now.”

Sweetie stretches her neck out to bite the flank of the high priest’s horse, who immediately shies into my uncle’s horse, distracting both of them as Leicht begins his descent. Sweetie and I fall back, but not too much, and I see the delicious moment when Leicht’s shadow falls over them all and my uncle looks up.

Terror looks good on that mean face of his.

Then he does me a huge favor, and in his fear, he summons the zombies surrounding us forward to protect him. They can’t, of course—not against a dragon. But that leaves us free to fall back, gather together, and arm ourselves.

Leicht snatches Uncle from his saddle with such artistry that his terrified horse is untouched, and as he swoops away, the zombies collapse to the ground, corpses once again.

Uncle Domys is dead.

The priestess shrieks and urges her horse to run for the house—to what end, I don’t know—but Peiris kindly circles ahead and herds her back toward us. The high priest is staring at the pile of zombies with his mouth agape.

“That’s what happens when a necromancer dies,” I say coolly. He turns to look at me with real fear. “I’m not at all sorry to inform you this isn’t going to go the way you expected.”

“Wh-Wh-Wh?—”

“What do I mean?” I study them both, then draw on Wasianth’s power. “From this moment, any priest who was complicit in this plan, any who placed greed above the needs of the people, who chose to chase power instead of heeding the dictates of their gods—those priests will be stripped of their ordinance and cast out from the temples. All who meet them will know on sight that they transgressed against the will of the gods.”

The words resonate through the world, and the high priest’s eyes widen as he realizes I’m the godsborn.

“Holy Wasianth,” he gasps.

“Tell me now, did you give the order for the Sanctuary to attack us? Be honest, and I won’t kill you.”

He swallows audibly, then stammers, “Y-Y-Yes, holy one.”

Before I can reply, steel flashes, and Coryn’s sword cleaves his head from his body. Blood sprays as it bounces with a sickeningthunk, and the high priest’s body topples, startling his horse into bolting.

---