She held the turnovers out. “Anything else this morning?”
“That’ll be it.” I exchanged a couple of coppers for the pastries and thanked her, then added, “We’ll see you this afternoon.”
She waved as I headed for the pub. I knew neither Penny nor I would feel up to making dinner after the branding, so something that we could just stick in the oven was in order, and a pair of stout pies fit the bill.
It was quiet when I stepped inside, though when I saw Tessa behind the bar, I started to turn, fully prepared to leave empty-handed. But the young woman spotted me before I could turn away, and I couldn’t pretend to miss her waving me over.
“I don’t often see you without your chatty tagalong, Mister Koesters,” she said as I stepped up to the bar. “It’s a rare treat.”
Her comment about Penny had my hackles rising more than they already were. “Morning, Tessa. Just here for a couple of stout pies to go.”
Instead of heading to the kitchen to get my order, she leaned an arm on the bar top and gave what was probably meant to be a sultry smirk. “You poor man. Clearly, you need a woman to cook for you. As I said, I know the recipes for everything we serve here, and I would be happy to join you for dinner after the ceremony tonight and make you whatever you’d like. I happen to have the evening off.”
I forced a smile when what I wanted to do was snarl. “Tonight, I’ll be looking after my recruit, and I doubt either of us will be good company. So, I’ll just take the two pies.”
She giggled and shook her head. “Nonsense. You’re always good company, Kit.”
“I would respectfully disagree.”
Behind me, the door opened, and another patron entered, a timely reprieve. Tessa sighed and pushed off the counter, her smile never flagging as she backed toward the kitchen. “I’ll get your pies for tonight, but you can’t avoid me forever.”
I could certainly try.
When she returned, I handed over coin for the food and took the pies covered in waxed cloth and beat a hasty retreat before she could drag me into further conversation.
I returned home and stashed the pies in the icebox. Penny roused to the smell of coffee, and we shared the turnovers before heading out to the forge.
Neither of us could sit still all day. Penny chattered as usual, but it was a different sort of talk, disjointed sentences left incomplete when thoughts crowded in. He would trail off into quiet, then regain himself and start again. I didn’t correct him or fill the voids he left, findingmyself thankful for any conversation that might distract from our shared inner turmoil.
We kept ourselves occupied until we headed home and were summoned before dinner. The woman who came to the door and led us to the Ossuary wore a hooded cloak so we couldn’t see her face, and she barely spoke a word. My father told me years ago that it was symbolic of losing oneself to become something more. When your Oaths were complete, you were no longer an individual but simply a fragment of the whole. It didn’t matter who you were before your initiation because you came out of it at the end as a part of Eeus.
Rosie, Anders, and two initiates we hadn’t met yet were already in the atrium when we arrived, seated on the long bench set before the altar in the middle of the room. All the doorways save for one had been roped off to deny us access.
But the hall that led off the atrium opposite the door yawned before us like a mouth to the abyss, lined with flickering torches and flanked by robed figures. Beyond the iron door at the end was the ritual room I’d only been in once before and had vowed never to return to. It was there where Levitt, Merrick, and the Death Watch met to discuss important business, where they handed down judgments on those who misbehaved, and where they would witness our first Oath.
Beyond that door, there was no turning back.
Penny and I settled in to wait while the other four recruits filtered in. Anders strutted about with his shirt unbuttoned to show off his brand and let everyone know that he was only there to speak the tenets since he’d already completed this Oath.
“Bold of you to brag when you didn’t make it past thesecond Oath last year,” Otis grumbled from his seat beside Isla.
“I’ll find a body this year,” Anders said sharply. “It’s not uncommon to have trouble finding one in the first round. Half of the initiate group before mine had to restart because they failed to bring a body back.”
Otis scoffed and folded his arms over his chest. “If that makes you feel better, by all means, tell yourself whatever you need.”
Memories from the last time I sat this vigil pulled at me like an unrelenting tide, trying to drag me under. Violette grinning like a wolf, Levitt wringing his hands in his lap and chewing his lip, and eleven others whose faces I’d long since forgotten. And then there was me, staving off a panic attack by digging my nails into my palms until blood beaded up.
The clank of the iron door’s latch jerked me back to the present, and I found my fingers burrowed into my thighs. I loosened them as another robed figure emerged from the hall and pointed at me.
I swallowed hard enough that I was sure Penny heard and pushed to my feet. One last glance back at his terrified face, and I skirted around the altar to follow the lackey into the belly of the beast.
It was like stepping into a vast cave, the darkness eating up the walls and ceiling so that it felt like we were orbiting the single spot of light in an endless void. The ritual chambers were dark but for the flaming brazier at the foot of the raised dais at the far side of the room. The Sentinels flanked the flames, two on either side, and up the three steps, Levitt sat on the throne to the right, and Merrick occupied the one to the left. Aside from the brazier, the only item in the room was the wooden chair facing the entire assembly.
“Kitingor Koesters.” The tallest Sentinel read my name from a scroll before handing it to the woman beside him. “Step into the light.”
I forced my shoulders back despite the dread weighing me down. I moved to stand before the brazier and kept my eyes on the flames.
“Who presents this recruit?” the Sentinel asked.
