Liane could do nothing but stare, powerless, as her weak knees trembled and collapsed beneath her. She felt a fever coming over her, burning her eyes and mouth as if she’d been similarly left out in the sun to bake. While Sylvie clawed at her face, the tips of her fingers curled inward, turning into shriveled husks. She’d done this. Liane wasn’t goddess blessed but cursed. She’d doomed this poor girl to a horrific death for her pride.
“We have to do something,” Luzie shrieked.
“Go find the Avatheos,” Ludwig shouted, and Luzie ran to do just that.
Ludwig knelt beside Liane and grasped her by the shoulders, shaking her until she came back to herself.
“You need to pull it together for her sake,” he said.
Liane nodded numbly, crawled over to Sylvie, and pulled her into her arms. She was terribly young. And small, and the withering made her feel even lighter. As brittle as burnt bones. One-half of her face remained youthful and pure, while the other was sunken and dead. Was there any hope of coming back from this? Surely the Avatheos could do something. A single tear rolled down Sylvie’s cheek.
“I don’t want to die,” Sylvie said.
“You’re not going to die. I promise. I swear,” Liane said, even though there was no truth to her words. She’d caused this with her hubris. With her desire to prove her worthiness, she’d doomed an innocent girl.
But Sylvie’s breaths were a death rattle, and Liane remembered how Elias had looked in his final moments—so much like this. She thought she could save someone for once, but apparently, she wasn’t strong enough.
The door to her room burst open, and several people rushed in. They carried Sylvie out, ripping her from Liane’s arms, and held her back from reaching out for Sylvie.
“You cannot follow, your divinity. You’ll risk corruption,” the priest who blocked her way said.
She was too weak to do anything and instead collapsed against Ludwig once more. Then the Avatheos entered. He swept into the room, golden and terrifying. She felt the holy wrath of his stare beyond the veil and knew she’d been wrong to try it alone. To ever doubt the church or his words.
He walked over to her and cupped her face, turning it upward toward him.
“Do you have something to confess?” he asked.
“Will she survive? Tell me you can save her,” Liane said.
“That depends on you, Liane.”
The guilt was too much. Her vision swam; the fever was going to overwhelm her. She was fighting to stay conscious. And she desperately wanted to sink down into that blissful oblivion.
“Tell me what’s happened,” he said, more a command than a question. His hands held her in a vise-like grip, cold to the touch, and yet she felt that electric pulse of his magic coursing through her, keeping her awake long enough to answer his question.
“I tried to draw out the corruption from her. But I only made it worse. Surely you...”
He shook his head slowly. “If you were pure, she would have been saved. This was a test, and you failed.”
A sob crept up her throat, and Liane wanted to curl in on herself, but the Avatheos’ grip held her in place.
“What do you have to confess?”
She wanted to throw up; she wanted to shout, but she felt transfixed by his touch and his words, and suddenly words were spilling out of her. “I was with a man the night of the party. I’ve held thoughts of him in my mind since that night, and I have doubted the church and Cyra’s gift to me. And I...”
“Go on.”
“I saw the Nameless Goddess. She beckoned to me.”
He let her go, and Liane collapsed onto her hands and knees. Ludwig stepped forward to help her up, but when he did, the Avatheos waved him back.
“Your pride and your vice have doomed this poor girl. You can never heal the people with darkness lurking in the corners of your heart. The world has tainted you, as you’ve been raised by it. And if you do not turn away from it fully, you will never reach your full potential.”
In this moment, she was so desperate to please him, to be the being of pure goodness he wanted her to be, that she would have done anything, said anything to reverse the damage she had done.
“What must I do?”
“For this sin of the pleasures of the flesh, you must go into confinement. Time in isolation and thoughtful prayer can save you, but only if you’re willing to give up everything for the church.”
