Frowning, Seraphina looked at Father Perero—really looked at him. Now eye to eye with the man once more, she could clearly see that he housed not a single shred of disappointment in his gaze. He seemed so calm, so sure, as if hetrulybelieved the Lord had already given her what she needed to do what must be done.
Everything I need.
Her gaze drifted past the priest, toward the altar, and then further still—toward the stained-glass window above it. It was too dark outside for the light to shine through, leaving the image black and lifeless.
But she knew what was depicted there. She had seen it by daylight.
It was not a dragon, like the stained glass in Goldreach’s cathedral depicted. It was not a king, like the stained glass within the throne room of her palace.
It was a sun. The symbol of the Lord on High Himself.
“The night is long, and the wind is bitter, but never forget that the morning always comes. It is the nature of the world the Lord has made: the dawn must follow the dark. It cannot be stopped.”
Seraphina’s eyes fluttered closed.Trust. She just needed to trust that the dawn would come, no matter what trials—or what sorrows—the world might bring. But why was it so hard to trust?
Drawing in a shuddering breath, she did her best, desperately attempting to snuff out her fears one by one. Olivia’s smiling face swam through her thoughts, but her best friend’s fate was in the Lord’s hands now.
Aldric shimmered to the forefront of her mind next, making her heart lurch all over again with the memory of their cold parting. With the knowledge that she might never have an opportunity to apologize—no. She exhaled slowly, trying to force the fear surrounding his fate from her thoughts just as she forced the air from her lungs.
Her Crow’s fate was in the Lord’s hands as well.
All of Goldreach, Elmoria, and Avirel, too. They were all in the Lord’s hands.
But then what did He need her for?No. No more questions.
Her fate was in the Lord’s hands, too.
She was tired of being afraid. She was tired of doubting and second-guessing both herself and Him at every turn. She just wanted tobelievefor once, without a single moment’s hesitation. She just wanted to trust without a single seed of doubt taking root in her heart.
Do you trust me?
Seraphina drew perfectly still as those four words shivered through her soul with all the gentle warmth of a summer breeze, with all the sweetness of a chime. She might have almost thought it was a memory of that very question Aldric had asked her on their wedding day…except that her Crow did not possess such a voice.
A voice that was felt more than heard—like a ball of light pulsing in her chest. Perfectly golden, just like the feel of Father Perero and Oracle Tsukiko’s blessings. Light.Hislight.
All at once, the chapel fell away, and all of its bitter cold with it. She tried to open her eyes to see what had happened and found that she could not; strangely, that realization brought her no fear.
It was impossible to fear while in the presence of such radiance.
Tears beaded in Seraphina’s eyelashes as she reached toward that warmth building inside her—the very tears she promised she would never again shed. But here, deep inside herself, seeking the glow she always wished she could bottle and keep with her always, she decided to give herself a little grace.
Do you trust me?the voice asked again, the words pulsing in time with her heart.
I do,she whispered to the most secret parts of her heart, meaning it with every fiber of her being. She did trust Him, even though it was hard, even though sometimes she wished life were just a little bit easier. But now she saw within the shimmer of that warmth something far greater than any mortal woes or fleeting worldly struggles.
She saw a glimpse of eternity.
Light enveloped her from within like a dawn to end all others, burning away her sorrow, lifting the crushing weight from her shoulders that she had carried since before the coup. A laugh bubbled up in her throat—not the bitter, sharp thing from before, but a sound of pure, effervescent joy. Relief.
She drank in that light as if it were water, feeling it rush through her veins, chasing away the cold, waking her up.
Making her new.
But when next she drew breath, something else snapped taut within her chest. A pull so deep it trembled through her bones. A voice brushed her ear like a caress, low, intimate, and achingly familiar.
Kirei…
Her eyes fluttered open, breath hitching. “Aldric.”
