I am finished over this infuriating, fascinating woman. Thoroughly and completely ruined.
This. This is the moment I know that I can’t fight her magnetism forever. Her pull is too strong to ignore. My desire—mylovefor her too dire to tolerate without surrender.
And I was already too far gone long before this moment arrived.
“My gods, Tiss, I’ve been enamored of you from the first moment I saw you. The prospect of missing you, oflackingyou, is unbearable. You deserve to know how much I hate saying goodbye, week after week, when all I want in the world is to keep you for myself.Always. Of course I love you too.”
She releases a sharp breath, a dazzling smile overtaking her face.
My self-control in tatters, I sigh, “You win. You can have whatever you want. Come here, my heart.”
Chapter 45
Itissa
Morday, the 12th of Emberglow
Approximately 1.5 Months Ago
Eisha’s sacred finches flitted about me, quarreling and splashing in the fountain. Their droppings spattered the runner and the goddess’s towering statue. At least the water was kept clean.
Of course, everything would be thoroughly tidied before the temple reopened to the public. But I could tell the prioress was ashamed to be caught with Eisha’s holiest altar caked in bird shit by a noble wife.
Ifelther enter the building long before I saw her. Fear bubbled up to my eyeballs. When the Second High Priestess was brought before me, I wanted to weep at the sight of her beautiful face.
Her thick braid hanging to her ribs was a bit jarring. Her hair always did grow fast, but she’d never let it go before. This was also the first time I’d ever seen her in a dress.
She was stunning—resplendent as the goddess herself.
And here I was with my muddy boots and the hem of my cloak filthy from trekking up the mountain. I was sure I looked a fright.
Her gaze blanketed me. The weight of it… as if we’d never met before. Abhorrently surreal. Unimaginable as it was, in her mind, of course we hadn’t prior to this morning.
I was as good as deaf to introductions—not that they were for my benefit. I politely suffered Deirdre’s rambling that boiled down to the fact that she was deeply flattered by my visit.
“Thank you, Mother Prioress,” I said when she was finished. My eyes shifted back to Elodie. “Good morning, High Priestess.”
“Lady Madoc.” She dipped her chin.
After so long, agony stabbed my splintered heart. Suddenly I wasgratefulshe didn’t remember me, didn’t know what I’d done to her.
“Is there some place where the high priestess and I might speak alone? I wish to consult her on a personal matter.”
“Er, Lady Madoc,” said Deirdre. “If it’s Divination you seek, wouldn’t you rather speak with the First High Priestess?”
“Is that who I asked for?” With my most untouchable mask in place, I pulled out the money I brought. “It must be the Second High Priestess or nobody.”
All the while, my heart thrashed furiously behind my ribs.
“We wouldn’t normally entertain such a request while the temple is closed in an official capacity,” said Deirdre. Her eyeswere glued to the purse I was straining to hold steady. “But for you, Lady Madoc, of course an exception will be made.”
We were shown to one of the private Divination rooms lining either side of the Gallery and left blessedly alone. Deirdre’s gaze lingered through the cracked door before she finally shut it. Elodie locked it behind her.
The room reeked of decades of incense. The fragrance had soaked into the tapestry, depicting Eisha’s emblem of yew tree and finch.
It was an effort to keep from outright staring while Elodie set up for our consultation.
Her sudden closeness was both a shock to my system and glorioussubstancefilling the void in my chest. It felt as if I’d been waiting, preparing to return to her, all of this time. I was home in her presence.
