“Wh—?”Bewilderment tied his tongue.“No.Why would you—?”
There came another knock at the door, and the demoness punched her fist on the book she’d just shut.“How many times must I make myselfclear?”
“Miss Kalia, it’s me.”The voice sounded calm, despite her hostility.
The ‘me’ on the other end of the door obviously meant something to her.Cursing low and viciously, a new intensity rushed through Kalia as she whirled around and rushed to Saer, quicker than he was used to witnessing from Sloth herself.She shoved at Pride, forcing him back on his shoulders.“Lie down.Look dead,” she hissed.A beat of consideration.“Almostdead.”
While Saer gaped at her, she grasped the rim of his hood, yanking it back over most of his face at the same time she knelt at his side with one last rasping complaint.“What in the Hells did yourollthis in.”She raised her voice to the human outside her door.“Come in, Abbot Maurice!”
The door creaked open, and Saer saw Kalia wipe her hand on her dress from his sliver of vision that remained.Male feet clad in pontifical sandals came into his field of view, stopping next to his kneeling kin.
“I heard about the commotion at the front.Brother Marcus said this one looks close to the end and was requesting to see you.”
“Yes, I think so, Abbot.”
“He is of the faith?”
“Astoundingly devout with what little I could get out of him.”Kalia couldn’t quite keep the cynicism out of her reply.
“Hrm.”The sound from the abbot came as a trusting assent.He also knelt.“He’s lucky he’s here this day.”
Saer fought to keep his face neutral while Kalia’s tone slid upwards with a twinge of escalating anxiety.“Today?Can’t be.”
Unable to see his kind smile, Pride could still hear it in the abbot’s voice.“Our calendars aren’t perfect, nor is the timing precise, but your gift has been fairly consistent, Miss Kalia.I would imagine within the next day or three.”
Saer could only guess what they talked about, and why the monk sounded so calm, but Kalia seemed on edge.
“Would you lead us in prayer over his soul, Abbot?”she asked.
Arm jerking, Saer just bit back a snarl while—at the same time—Kalia clutched his wrist.“He’s started to have the rigors.It won’t be long now.”
“Of course, Miss Kalia.”
What followed next were a series of quotes including words such as worship, forgiveness, heavens, and—Saer noted with bitter amusement—sin.He considered sitting and sniping at the man to leave, yet kept his temper at bay.If he protested, surely Kalia would be far less amiable to speak with him.
The abbot droned.
How in the Hells does Kalia deal with this?
“…save us from sinners, tempters, and temptresses.Amen.”
Kalia echoed the abbot’s ‘Amen.’
Saer had had about enough.
He turned his hand in Kalia’s grip and squeezed her forearm with a dark, vibrating growl.
The demoness shook off his grasp to cover her mouth as she forced out a series of coughs to veil the inhuman sound Saer made.“Thank you, Abbot Maurice.If you could excuse the two of us, now, I’ll”—a rather convincing renewal of coughs—“help myself to some water and call when he should be laid to rest.”
“Yes, Miss Ka—ope!”The abbot’s address cut off as Kalia looped her elbow under the man’s arm and tugged him up.
“Your pardon.”The demoness ushered Maurice towards the door emphatically.“Have to commune.Especially if today is the day.”
“The brotherhood will be back at sundown to see—!”
“Yes, yes.Out, please!”
Kalia closed the door with a bang and let out another breath, palms on the worn wood of the portal.
