Page 87 of Sanctifier

Gwyneth’s finger, clamped tightly around Ru’s, began to tremble.

Ru opened her eyes again, blinking, her vision dappled with green and yellow motes. Then her breath caught. Lady Bellenet, at the center of the chapel,glowed. She radiated light as if she had become a star herself. Every Child in the room had become oddly colorless; their skin faded to grey. Ru thought for a wild moment that she could seethroughsome of them. As if they were transparent.

As if the lady had leeched some core force from them, a life-giving energy.

Despair clawed at Ru’s throat. How could Ru find some weakness, some way to empty Lady Bellenet’s well, when her well was seemingly endless? With every Child she made or remade, the woman glowed more brightly. There was but one explanation that Ru could think of — Lady Bellenet’s power became stronger every time she used it.

This was how she bolstered her power. There was no faith or love in this communion. It was control at its most basic. Lady Bellenet fed from the Children like a hungering creature, stealing their devotion at the moment of highest worship.

And here Ru was, standing in the midst of it with her friends, the only three Children who had not given communion.

CHAPTER 32

They needed to leave. Immediately. Ru was certain of nothing else, only that if they were caught witnessing this, she wouldn’t be able to protect Gwyneth and Archie.

“Let’s go,” Ru hissed in Gwyneth’s ear. She tried to keep her voice steady, but her nerves were on fire, her gut in knots.

Archie heard her whisper, his expression questioning.

Ru jerked her head back toward the exit, her eyes wide with unspoken meaning.

“How is shedoingthat?” Gwyneth murmured, looking stricken.

“I don’t know,” Ru said, already inching her way backwards. “But we need to go.”

Ru’s heart hammered against her ribs, terror at being recognized by Lady Bellenet. The walls seemed to be closing in around them, the scattered candle flames blurring brightly to fill Ru’s vision. The Children’s voices were rote, chanting, like animated corpses. Staring, empty eyes gazed out from beneath countless identical hats.

Ru did not realize she had been moving, backing out of the sanctum, until the double doors swung closed in front of her. It was like a music box slamming shut. The muddle of her mindbegan to clear, her blind terror fading in the absence of Lady Bellenet’s bright presence.

She turned to Archie and Gwyneth, who looked frightened but curious, academics to the core.

“What exactly did we just witness?” Archie asked.

“Later,” Ru breathed. “We’re not safe here.”

They nodded, trusting. A surge of warmth rose in Ru. Her friends’ faith in her was stronger than she deserved. They hurried across the vestibule to the exit, three sets of footsteps on marble.

And then, echoing in that empty room, a fourth set of footsteps joined the sound — hurried and deliberate.

It was too late to escape. Too late to rush through the door and flee. Inda slid in front of them, stoic and hard-eyed, blocking the way.

Ru stopped short, reaching for her friends’ hands with shaking fingers.

No one spoke.

Like a rodent in the sights of a snake, Ru’s muscles seemed to atrophy. She could neither move nor speak. Then came a soft creak of footsteps, and three more figures descended from the balcony into the vestibule.

Hugon D’Luc was flanked on either side by Ranto and Nell. He strode almost lazily, knowing his quarry had nowhere to flee. “Delara,” he said, “how kind of you to join us.”

“The pleasure’s hers, I’m sure,” Archie said.

Gwyneth exhaled sharply through her teeth.

Hugon ignored them. He came to stand in front of Ru, the Children a few steps behind. He studied her face, his brow creasing slightly, as if trying to discern her motivations by expression alone. Apparently coming up empty, he said, almost reluctantly, “I suppose now is as good a time as any for you to learn the depth of Festra’s devotion to his Children.”

Bile rose in Ru’s throat. Would he force them to succumb to Lady Bellenet’s powers, turn them into automatons like the empty shells who shadowed him? There was no denying what they’d seen.

“I’ll kill you,” Ru said, her voice a breathless rasp. It was a useless threat. The only power she had ever held over Hugon was the artifact’s. But she had not so much as summoned a wisp of darkness from the stone since arriving at the palace. What evidence was there that she could do it now, even with a forced hand?

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