Page 42 of Sanctifier

CHAPTER 14

It took Ru’s brain several moments to catch up. She stared sidelong at the tall figure, as dark on that throne as death himself. But this wasn’t one of Ru’s fancies, some dire thought in the late hours. This was the court of Navenie. And Taryel had been declared agod.

Ru recalled Simon’s words, gathering what she knew and attempting to understand it as she stood frozen on the dais. Taryel had never been part of Lady Bellenet’s plan. Until recently, she had known him only as Fen Verrill.

While Ru hung caught in a moment of uncertainty and shock, the throne room reacted far differently. Shouts and cries broke forth through the din of applause. Courtiers embraced one another, faces wet with tears. Some tossed flowers up at Taryel or fluttered handkerchiefs desperately in his direction.

Good lord, Ru thought. Lady Bellenet’s power, and the aristocracy’s eagerness to leap from fad to fad, meant the courtiers had all unwittingly joined a religious cult.

Ru remembered the way she had felt when Lady Bellenet spoke of the night sky, of something more in the after. She had yearned in just the way Lady Bellenet had wanted, precisely because of Ru’s deepest desires. Perhaps, in the age of science,there was a new vacancy that ached to be filled with faith. Centuries ago, the people of the Continent had been devoted to various gods. Their temples were strewn across the landscape, some in ruins and others well-kept. Ru had spent weeks in many such places, handling the remains of lives and faiths long faded.

But this was not faith. Lady Bellenet did not speak of salvation or joy, she spoke of an imminent genocide. Her gilded words were lies. And the winter’s solstice was less than two months away.

Anger choked Ru as she thought of the beautiful books she had grown up reading, the Cornelian Tower, dirt under her fingernails, cracked vases at her fingertips. Theorizing and experimenting and uncovering more,more. Ru was proud of her kingdom, of the light it was shedding on the world. Mirith was the most scientifically advanced city in the kingdom — maybe on the continent.

And Lady Bellenet wanted to destroy it. All of it.

Ru hated her suddenly, more than she hated the artifact and Lord D’Luc and even Taryel.

“We must praise Ruellian Delara,” Lady Bellenet said, as the crowd continued to hang on her every word, “the Keeper of his Heart. For it is she who speaks to our god, who loves him, who keeps him. It is she who will throw up her arms and bring down the light that shall cleanse our souls, that shall sweep us asunder, that shall carry us across the bridge to paradise.”

Ru shifted, her unease ever growing. This was no longer the charismatic speech from before; it was a fanatic’s chant. The Children gazed at Ru glassily. The courtiers were utterly swept up in the spectacle, almost frenzied in their fervor. Ru wildly considered making a run for it, but every exit would be manned by the King's Guards.

And Gwyneth and Archie… if they were here, she couldn’t leave them.

So she stood and listened, trapped and utterly useless. Taryel was a god, and she was expected to end the world in his name.

Everyone in this room would be dead in two months. And Ru would be left standing at the center of a blackened crater that stretched across a continent.

Bile rose in her throat as sweat broke out on her upper lip. The artifact’s comfort had subsided almost entirely, and her breaths came faster and faster despite her attempts to relax.

Not now, she pleaded with herself.Don’t panic or faint in front of the entire court.

But as Lady Bellenet continued speaking, her words becoming more and more feverish, Ru increasingly lost control of herself.

You can’t throw up in the throne room, she thought desperately.

Fluidly as a cat, Taryel stood up from the throne. There was a break in Lady Bellenet’s chanting, and as the eyes of the court shifted to focus on him, he said, “My poor lady is overcome by the power of Festra. Such is the strength of his love. Shall I accompany her to her bed, so that she may rest?”

The court erupted in wails and cheers. “Yes!” they cried. “Take her to bed!”

Taryel moved to Ru’s side, his voice low. “The court thinks we’re lovers,” he muttered. “At the very least, pretend you like me.”

Ru allowed him to put his arm around her, turning her gently away from the crowd. Every logical thought in her head hated this; wanted him gone. But her nerves betrayed her. The feel of his body against hers was horrifically perfect.

“How beautiful,” Lady Bellenet’s voice rang out, as Taryel steered Ru back into the shadows behind the curtain. “The Keeper and her god joined as one. As it should be.”

As soon as they were back in the sitting room, Ru doubled over, retching. Nothing came out but spittle, and she clutched her stomach, eyes streaming.

Lord D’Luc, who had been lounging on one of the sofas, sprang to his feet at the sight of them. “What have you done to her?”

“Nothing, you thick-skulled lout,” Taryel shot back.

“I’m fine,” Ru croaked, wiping her mouth with the back of her sleeve.

“You’re visibly not,” said Lord D’Luc.

“She’s fine,” Taryel said. “No thanks to you.”

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