Page 27 of Unlikely Omega

Bright symbols flash all over. I close my eyes and they appear on the back of my eyelids, burning like falling stars.

“Sidde Drakai. Listen. Sidde Drakai. Sidde—”

“Here you are again,” another voice says and I gasp, my eyes flying open.

“Oh gods.”

Priest Finnen—Finn—is standing in front of me, arms folded over his chest, a dark scowl on his face. “Didn’t I tell you to keep away from this statue?”

“Telling me won’t stop the voices in my head!” I snap, lowering my hands and glaring right back. “Sidde Drakai. What does it mean? I keep hearing a voice whispering those words.”

He cocks his head to the side. His hood slips a little, letting a snow-white strand of hair slip free. It clings to his square jaw. “That’s the god’s name.”

“How would you know that? He’s called Unnamed God for a reason.”

“Look,” he says, “I know you come from an old family. I know that’s why nobody questions why you don’t really answer to any god, why you were never properly called by Artume, why—”

“Hey, wait a moment—”

“Fae gods. Have you ever wondered if the voices acolytes hear in their heads even belong to one of our gods, and not theirs?”

“Why are you telling me this?” I whisper, breathless.

“I doubt all these acolytes really heard the voices of their gods,” he says. “Not if they don’t have Fae-blood, but you and I…” He stops, frowns. “You’re under suspicion by the Council and the Temple and you need to stay the fuck away from this statue, or both of us will be in trouble.”

I stiffen. “I never asked for your protection.”

“Which is why you’re getting it,” he growls, steps closer—and the scent of almonds and leather almost bowls me over, a punch to my belly, restarting the hated cramps.

“It’s you,” I gasp. “You were in my room last night.”

It’s his turn to stiffen. “I was looking for you. To show you more rituals.”

I shake my head. “You shouldn’t worry about me.”

“I’m not fucking worried! Fuck.” He takes two steps back as if I’ve burned him. “Go ahead and get yourself hanged or crucified if you like. If you don’t want my protection, then I’ll withdraw it.”

“You will?” I’m panting, caught between anger and fear and the panicky sensation that I’m about to make a huge mistake, but I can’t stop myself. “Then do it. If you’re going to behave the same way the High Priests do, then why should I want it?”

He looks like I’ve slapped him, his unseeing eyes wide. “Ariadne…”

Goddess, why do I like my name on his lips so much? Or his scent, his physique, his face? It’s growing on me.

And it’s time to stop it. I open my mouth to tell him to fuck off, to stay away from me and quit offering unwanted advice, when I hear another voice calling my name.

It’s another acolyte, one I barely know, claimed by the god Aki. “Ariadne! The Prelate is requesting your presence immediately.”

“The Prelate?” I feel the blood draining from my face, leaving me light-headed. “What for?”

“How should I know?” The acolyte gives me an irritated look. “Do I seem like someone the Prelate confides in?”

Indeed no. And if the expression on Priest Finnen’s face has turned to concern, something I told him I don’t want from him—I don’t, right? I’m sure I don’t—then I let it slide off me and turn toward the acolyte.

“Where is the Prelate?”

“In the Temple Adyton.”

The news isn’t good. That’s where the priesthood Synod convenes for important decisions, the council room of the clergy, and summoning me there most probably means he’s not inviting me to discuss my ascension to priestess.

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