Page 28 of Invocation

Her praise of Avan seemed genuine. Novikke could sense no resentment at all. It struck her as sad that someone could come to have affection for her captors. “But you still wear a collar.”

Zara shrugged uncertainly. “Yes. I’ve worn one my whole life.”

“Doesn’t it get a little tight?”

“No. I’m just used to it, I think.”

Novikke stared at her.

Zara mistook her dismay as self-pity. She smiled sadly. “I know this must all be very frightening for you, but you’ll get used to it, too. It’s possible for humans to live good lives in Vondh Rav, I promise.”

Novikke wanted to protest further, to ask if she wouldn’t rather be in Ardani—or anywhere other than Kuda Varai, really—but held back. It seemed like there was no changing the girl’s mind. “Can you tell me—Avan is Second Priestess? What does that mean?”

“It means she’s the second highest-ranking person at the temple. The First Priestess is one of the most important people in the city. And the Second Priestess…well, she’s quite important, too, as you can imagine.”

“Could she make requests of the Goddess, then?”

Zara raised her eyebrows. “If anyone could, it would be her. Did you have a request?”

“Maybe.” If Ravi was even real, and not just a manifestation of the forest’s magic. “Do you believe in all of that? Their goddess and the temple and everything?”

She looked baffled, as if it had never occurred to her to question it. But of course it hadn’t, if she’d grown up with it. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Novikke shrugged. “You’re not Varai.”

She was quiet for a moment. “If you’d lived in Kuda Varai, you’d understand. I have felt her presence.”

Novikke thought of the presence she’d felt in the forest when that black fog had overtaken them. The unmistakably hostile presence that had threatened to take her away like it had the other soldiers. She suppressed a shudder.

“She’s the patron goddess of Varai,” Novikke said. “Do you think she cares about humans?”

Zara rubbed her arm absently, shrinking. Novikke softened. Maybe that had come out more harshly than she’d intended.

“I meant nothing by it,” Novikke said.

“Officially, she is the goddess of the Varai, and only Varai,” Zara said softly. “But they say that Ravi cares for all living things. That includes you and I, doesn’t it?” She gave Novikke a challenging glance.

“I wouldn’t know,” Novikke said. She really didn’t.

Zara leaned around the corner to watch the elves, frowning with concern.

“Is it true, what he’s saying?” she asked Novikke quietly, looking frightened.

Novikke sighed. “Yes.” She peered around the corner again. The mood in the entryway had gone from violent to somber.

“If you’d been above ground recently, you’d have seen it for yourself,” Aruna said. “Trees and animals are dying. It’s real. It’s spreading. If we don’t do something about it quickly, it will be too late.”

“I’ve been to the heart. I’ve seen no sign of this,” Avan said.

“Then it hasn’t reached the city yet, but it will. If you take me to the heart—”

“I would die before I took someone outside the priesthood there. You disrespect me greatly by even asking.”

“What is that—the heart?” Novikke murmured to Zara, trying to be quiet, but Avan heard anyway and scowled back at her. Zara only gave a tight-lipped shrug.

“This is nonsense,” Avan said. “The forest can’t be killed. The Goddess protects it. You speak of impossibilities.”

“It’s not impossible, I’ve seen it,” Aruna said through his teeth. “It’s happening, whether you like it or not, and we need to do something about it. I had thought that the Second High Priestess would be more concerned about the impending death of everything she knows and loves.”

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