Page 87 of The Scarlet Star

“Kill for us, and you will have great power. All your needs shall be satisfied.”

“Kill! Kill!”they all chanted.

The pain erupted, and Xerxes screamed. He fell back against the wall, damp with sweat as icy water crawled over him. His mind spun, his flesh turned gray, and his belly ignited with hunger.

He lifted his trembling hands to find them beastly.

23

RYN

“Why? El, why?”It had been the quiet whisper of Ryn’s soul for days. At first, it was through weeping, and then she’d screamed it. Afterward, she sat quietly for a long time, letting the warmth ease her crushed soul.

“I don’t want to do this anymore.”It was her first claim.

“Matthias’s family must be devastated.”

“Why am I alone again?”

Even the water in the temple had turned warm. It was part of the reason she didn’t want to leave. Because if she tried walking the palace halls again, she wasn’t sure she could face the cold.

“You have a purpose.”

“Matthias is more alive than he’s ever been. You’ll see him again after your long journey home.”

“You will never be alone.”

A quiet splash told her someone was approaching. She peeled her eyes open and found Geovani lowering to sit at her side.

“Still no sign of Heva,” the old woman said. Her green skirts absorbed the water quickly, saturating her knees. “The priestesses are praying for you, Adassah. I hope you feel it.”

Ryn nodded. It had been a warm embrace and a deep peace during her lowest hours of mourning.

“We’re praying for Heva too. I’m hoping and believing she’ll turn up.” Dark rings of exhaustion rested beneath Geovani’s eyes. She shook her head slowly. “Something is shifting in the atmosphere. I sense a great war of body and spirit coming this way fast.”

A light pull came over Ryn’s flesh. She had to admit, she felt it too. She’d been feeling it all day.

“I hope I’ve been a sufficient mentor to you, Adassah. I suspect you’ll face even greater trials than what you have until now. But so did every Adriel who saidyesto El in our history. Those‘yeses’resulted in great change.”

The old woman’s words stirred within Ryn’s bones. Ryn wanted to be brave. She didn’t want to be a little girl too scared to leave her island, too broken to move from her place in this temple where she sat alone and cried. She knew now that the waters around the island had never been poisoned. That she’d simply believed a lie she’d been told. That she could have swum to a new shore any time she wanted… and that was perhaps whatEl had been trying to make her realize all along. That looking at an impossible situation through El’s eyes made it possible.

When men with great influence lied, a whole nation could fall under a spell of blindness. And the blind were the most difficult to convince, the most difficult to change when they’d grown comfortable in their dictated values. But Ryn thought of the blind beggar on the Navy Road. El’s power had changed him and allowed him to see.

“The false gods have noticed you,” Geovani went on. “But we knew they would, didn’t we?” The High Priestess stood and brushed water from her skirts. “They’ll retaliate. All seven of those devils and their underlings will try to stop you from now on. Things are going to get worse; there will be signs like never before.”

“Let the gods try,” Ryn said. “I’m ready.”

Geovani nodded with a smile. “Go to your room and rest while you can.” She extended a hand to Ryn. It was just a gesture, but as Ryn stared at the old woman’s wrinkled hand, she realized she’d been stuck in this spot for a long time. She saw how important it was that she move.

She took Geovani’s hand, and the woman pulled her to her feet.

Ryn stared out at the night, watching the white dragon rule the sky, a mighty illusion of strength in the heavens above. Her bedroom was unlit, but the moonlight angled in, glowing over her floor. She didn’t feel like wearing a nightdress, so she dressed herself in Heva’s spare set of clothes and armour. Shehugged the clothes to herself when they were on. They smelled like her guardswoman; a blend of powdery soap and the grassy wheat fields outside the First Temple.

She thought about how she’d yelled at Xerxes in the Hall of Stars. That terrible moment when she realized Matthias was gone from this mortal world, and she’d blamed the King. He was the most powerful person in Per-Siana. He should have been able to save one person.

At least those were the thoughts that had channelled through Ryn after that dreadful end to the senses trial. But over her hours of reflection, she grasped what a foolish assumption that was. Xerxes had his hands tied more than anyone else.

Maybe Adriels were always blaming the King because it was easy. When things went wrong in the city, it was his fault. When they were hungry, it was his fault. When they were being persecuted, it was always the King’s fault.

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