Page 56 of The Scarlet Star

RYN

“El.”

…

“How do I make his voices go away?” Ryn squeezed her eyes shut so hard, they hurt.

Water trickled around her knees, soaking up the back of her cream-pink dress and drenching the ends of her hair where she sat in silence, listening to the birds and breathing in the sweet fragrance of the Abandoned Temple.

Per-Siana was a kingdom of temples. Ryn hadn’t been inside many before coming to the palace, but she’d passed by them enough. The Mother City temples were made of white stone, sea-blue glass, and gold, and they smelled of Damask roses. Ryn’s neighbours grew the same deep pink roses in their gardens and brought them into their homes on the first day of the second month every year for a midnight celebration. Nyx’s Day.

Ryn wondered if there was ever an “El’s Day.” Geovani hadn’t said anything like that in her history lessons.

For three days since the dance, Ryn had been visiting the High Priestess whenever she could, but there never seemed to be enough time. Her morning visits to the Abandoned Temple had been briefer too, since the maidens had been required to spend three days studying meal etiquette. The whole thing was a disaster. Three times a day, Ryn found ways to embarrass herself at the table next to the maidens who grew up with wealth.

“Did you hear me?” Ryn asked, opening her eyes and shooting the statue a look. “Isaid, how do I make his voices go away—”

“Adassah.”

Ryn’s mouth drifted closed.

There was something remarkable that happened when the God Original spoke her name. It reminded her that even though he was a god, therealGod, he knew her name. He chose to speak to her, despite all his power, the wars he’d won, and his timeless age.

“Well done, Adassah.”

A smile spread across her face. She wasn’t even sure why. It was silly to sit in the middle of the temple in a soaking dress, grinning like a fool.

When she was little, back before her father had changed, she would climb tall trees and her father would shout,“Wow!”at the bottom and clap.

This felt something like that, only better.

“You’re going to tell me how to do it, right? Can you give me the formula, or medicine, or whatever it is to make the King’s voices go away?” she asked. “I’d like to get it over with.”

“He will show you how.”

Ryn raised an eyebrow. “He? You mean, the King will? Xerxes doesn’t know how to get rid of his voices, or he wouldn’t have asked me for help. Also—did you hear that part about how I’d like to get it over with? The King promised me half the kingdom.”

“Focus on me, Adassah. Not on the deal.”

Ryn stood and her soggy dress stuck to her legs. She folded her arms, tapping her toe and splashing water everywhere. “What exactly are you trying to do here? You told me to go to war against the gods. And now I’m going to war against those exact gods tormenting the King, am I not? I’m doing this to save your people. Who are you doing this for?”

“Him.”

Him.

Ryn took in a breath to reply but came up with nothing to say. The statue at the head of the temple didn’t look like a statue all of a sudden. It looked more like a broken young man needing to be put back together. She’d never noticed before that the statue rested upon a dome of stone slightly above the trickling water.

An island.

Ryn let out a sound of disbelief. “I’m tired,” she said as she turned and headed out of the temple. “We can talk tomorrow.”

It wasn’t until she was halfway to her chambers she realized that the tightness in her back and shoulders had ceased. It was like something heavy had been lifted off them, like a breath exhaling that had been held for too long, and she realized she was relieved.

Relieved that after all those around her had wanted her to kill Xerxes, someone finally wanted her to save him.

The field behind the First Temple was covered in golden wheat, blowing in the wind like a lush carpet over rolling hills. The priestesses said the wheat was used to make bread for the poor, but that hadn’t stopped Heva from trampling over it.

“Block!” Heva shouted. Ryn barely had time to stop Heva’s sword before it would have chopped her in half. Heva cut clean through a cluster of wheat beside Ryn, sending the seedy heads scattering over the field.

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