Ariana smiled, though it did not touch her eyes, before rising to her feet. She wiped the remaining blood from the blade on Shal’s other cheek. “What’s the matter, Shal? Do you not like remembering where you came from?”
“You traitor! You killed our true Leader Superior!” he growled, looking more and more like a desperate animal.
“Your accusations bear no merit. The Spirit has chosen,” she replied coolly.
“I will kill you for killing him!”
She ignored his threat as if it were never even spoken. “There is something I have long yearned to know, Shal. Why do you love him so? You and I were friends once. Then that night, when my world came tumbling down around me, you went to his side, acting like the son he never had. Why?”
“You should have had the same fate as your mother. For if I ever get my hands on you, that will seem like a mercy.”
Edda visibly shook as anger dug its claws into her.
Ariana slowly turned her head side to side, a sad look in her eyes. “I feel sorry for you. You sought the affection of someone incapable of it, and that has left you a shell of the person you could have been.”
Shal opened his mouth to respond. He never got the chance. Willis’s fist connected with Shal’s jaw, drawing a fresh stream of blood. Ariana’s friend had also grown tired of subjugating everyone to the filth coming from Shal’s mouth.
“You are finished talking,” Willis informed the Bavadrin on his knees. Landin, who stood behind Shal, nodded in agreement.
“I banish you, Shal,” Ariana said to him. “When our city’s gates are under our control again, you will be exiled. You will live out your days as a Bavadrin, but I will never welcome you into my capital again.”
I wished to allow the exile to be executed immediately to get him as far away from Ariana as possible. But that was not wise. Given the circumstances, we could not trust a man like him not to run to the Sidhe. It would have been best if his sentence was simply to no longer have the privilege of drawing breath. That, I would have gladly allowed for.
“She should just have him killed,” Iver said under breath.
Edda glanced at my brother. “She is not yet ready to bloody her hands that way.”
“Not yet?” I asked. Was she insinuating as if some day Ariana would be ready for something like that.
Edda gave me a cold smile before turning away from me.
Shal spat a bloody glob on the floor, similar to Fraser’s actions before he was executed.
Landin and Willis pulled Shal up, dragging him from the room.
“The Spirit has chosen!” Edda yelled, drawing the attention of the room. “Ariana is our new Leader Superior!” The room erupted in cheers.
“That’s it? It is all over?” Kole asked no one in particular.
Edda turned, answering him anyway. “Not yet. Tonight, she will spend the night in the Spirit realm. And then she will truly be the Bavadrin Leader Superior.”
“Spirit realm?” I tore my eyes from Ariana as the crowd surrounded her.
“Yes. There is a herbal potion that thins the separation between us and the Spirit’s realm. There, the Superior meets with the Spirit and ascends to their position.”
“Sounds intoxicating,” Iver stated with a smile, throwing anarm over Kole’s shoulder only for him to shake him off. “What is in this potion?”
“That is a Bavadrin secret.” Edda flashed a smile. “But the only one who ever sees the Spirit is the new Superior at the time of Ascension. Otherwise, it just makes you feel more vulnerable to the beauty of the world around you.”
“It is mind-altering?” I was hesitant about Ariana taking something like that.
“Are you not listening, brother? It’s magical juice,” Iver stated, clearly intrigued. He turned back to Edda. “Mind if I try some?”
“Will she be guarded?” I asked over my brother’s ridiculous questions.
Edda laughed. “We will lock her in the temple. She will be fine. And if you want her to lead the Bavadrins, then this is something she must do. Now, I need make sure the next steps of the ceremony are prepared.” She vanished into the crowd of cheering and celebrating Bavadrins.
“That was . . .” Kole began without being able to find the words.
