“Your father is readying to move into Sagondia. When the time comes and he marches into the White Sands, we want a bargaining tool to keep him out of our temple. We decided she’d be easier to hold than someone like yourself.” The priest sniffed as if Topp was a wild animal better left outside than in their unholy temple.
Sagondia.Gods. They really were running out of time. He expected his father to go after easier kingdoms, ones he could have ransacked without his foul powers, but Sagondia? Garrison would have to sail the Valvere Sea and navigate the dense, jungle-ridden mountains that swept most of the land. The roads weren’t straight or even connected, and the majority of villages and cities weren’t on maps because of their kingdom’s intense paranoia around outsiders. Kava might have been a larger kingdom, but Sagondia was a military culture—every single child went through warfare and combat training no matter their economic status or eventual career goals. They grew up believing attacks could happen at any time and that it was their duty to preserve the land and their people. If it wastrue that the king planned to hit Sagondia first, then his father’s goal was to eviscerate any and all hope within the less defense-oriented kingdoms. If Sagondia fell, then so could anyone.
Topp met the priest’s eyes with steady ease. “I have no idea where she is, but trust me, you couldn’t hold her if you found her. The woman’s like an eel.” And he meant that as a compliment.
The high priest’s eyes darkened. “I suggest finding her if it’s an audience you want.” With that, he stalked out, robes flaring as the door slammed in anger.
Instantly, the air within the room began to pressurize until Rollie waved his arms and clapped his hands in front of Topp’s face. “HEY. Don’t you dare make thunder in here, you overgrown assmunch. Go outside if you want to do that.”
The pressure vanished as Topp cracked a grin despite himself. “Did you just call me anassmunch?”
“I’ve called you worse,” Rollie muttered. He eyed Topp suspiciously as if he might strike him with lightning for such a statement.
“You’ve been calling me names since we were kids. You told my girlfriend to break up with me repeatedly for years. Do you really think I’m going to lash out at you now?”
“Like I know what you’re going to do. You almost just ruined our chances to assuage your masculine ego.”
“My masculine ego?” He couldn’t be serious. “That would have involved punching that twat in the face.”Which he hadn’t.
“Yes,” Rollie shot back. “Ohhh, they insulted my ex-girlfriend’s honor. I must rage like an animal now.”
“Are you done?”
“Are you done jeopardizing this mission?”
“Mission?” More amusement crept into Topp’s voice.
“What else do you call this?” Rollie filled himself a glass of water. “I think we should bargain with them. Pretend we can get Elysia.”
He disagreed. “They couldn’t get us an audience with theirgod even if they wanted to—look at this place. There’s no god here. You’d be more likely to find the guy in Kava.”
Rollie rested on a matching wicker chair and stared out the glass doors that led to the balcony. Dark green plants rustled in the breeze and a tiny lizard darted along the railing. “You might be right. What do you know about the original god—not the one they claim now?”
“He was a god of storms and beasts. Nature oriented. About as far from a god of wealth as you can get.”
Rollickus raised his eyebrows and stared at Topp as if he was waiting.
“What?”
Rollie grunted in impatience. “Isn’t it obvious?”
“I think you should operate under the assumption that what is obvious to you is generallynotobviousto others.”
Rollie’s brow crinkled. “Interesting thought, but the goddess of pleasure stated that neither of us are her children, implying we belong to other houses. I think you could be one of the storm god’s mortals.”
Topp scoffed. “Should I run around calling out for my storm sky daddy? See if he answers?”
Rollie threw him a look and opened the glass patio doors wide to stand in the breeze. He kicked a dusty shoe at the shiny white walls. “Somewhere beneath all of this nonsense is the original temple, correct?”
He stepped past Rollie out onto the balcony. The smell of roasted meats and spices beckoned him to forget the temple and wander the streets in search of meat and fruit and sun. Maybe drink until his brain no longer knew how to rage or grieve, but only how to breathe and piss.
He leaned his hands against the balcony, forcing himself back to the conversation at hand. “That’s what I was told. Not sure how much was demolished to build this monstrosity.” He stared at a statue of what was presumably the god of the undead godsholding his own gilded cock. And people thoughthewas arrogant.
Rollie chewed his lip. “Just how destructive can your magic be?”
Topp’s eyes slid to Rollie with a grin. “Are you asking me to desecrate atemple,Rollickus Timmons?”
Heat crept up Rollie’s face, mixing with his sunburn, and he adjusted his glasses. “Turning in Elysia isn’t an option, and I think it could work.”
