Theo only looked irritated.
“What are you talking about, Abbot? Maelis has worked tirelessly on controlling her heka and has spent all night healingourpeople. We will not be harnessing anything.”
The Abbot stood firm. “I do not deny that she has givenevery effort to improve herself, but she isn’t ready for war, and she is in no state to fulfill the prophecy. With more time, we might have been able to train her to her full capacity, but we are out of time.”
Theo got up then and rose to his full height. “You misunderstand me, Abbot. You are not going to lay a single finger on her. Is. That. Clear?”
To my surprise, the Abbot didn’t back down. “Look boy, I know that she has twisted you around her little finger by batting her eyes at you and you are inexperienced in the world of… desires. But we have worked too hard to let you get distracted by a little mortal harlot.”
I was about to stand up in protest, but Lydia pulled me back down.
“I advise you to watch your tongue, Abbot. This has nothing to do with my feelings for her and you know it. The prophecy clearly states that she has to give her powers to me freely. Nowhere in that prophecy is it written that we are to take her powers by force. It’s an insult to the Fates to think you know better than the prophecy, Abbot!” Theo’s voice was calm, but icy, and barely contained the rage I saw behind his eyes.
The Abbot threw his hands up in the air and laughed haughtily.
“The prophecy is just words! Interpreted by priests who lived hundreds of years ago, who knows if they were even written down correctly!” He was nearly shouting now, the vein of his forehead looked dangerously close to popping. “All that is important right now is thatyouwill fulfill the prophecy and you need her powers to do that. That’s why we are taking her to perform the ritual.”
The three sentinels walked towards me and were about to grab me, when Lydia unsheathed her sword and stepped between me and the sentinels.
“Not one step further.” She seethed.
Theo looked at the Abbot. “What do you mean, the prophecy is just words? All my life you have told me that in order for the prophecy to be fulfilled, I had to live by every word of the prophecy. I did your bidding to ensure the safety of our realms and now you have the nerve to come in here and tell me to willingly hand over the only person who has ever looked at me like more than just a tool for the Fates?”
He was shouting now, the rage visible in the protruding veins on his face and his biceps.
“Everything we have done is to ensure that you are safe.Sheis the one putting our lives at risk and you know it! She can’t be trusted, she is a wordsmith after all!” The Abbot repeated.
Theo lifted his hands and magic spilled from his fingers, gripping the Abbots throat.
“Please, my lord,” he begged. “I understand that you care for her, but this is bigger than us. The fate of the world depends on it.”
Lydia approached Theo and locked eyes with him.
“Let him go, Theo. We will deal with him the right way.”
Auretheos didn’t let go instantly, the Abbot struggling to draw a breath with Theo’s magic holding him captive.
Theo looked over to me, as if I could tell him what to do. His eyes softened when our gazes collided and he hesitantly pulled back his magic.
He tipped his head towards Malek and simply said, “Arrest him.”
Malek strode forward and pulled the hands of the priest behind his back. The Abbot and the sentinels protested, but were quickly silenced by Malek and taken to a cell in the basement.
It was silent again in the room when they had left and Theo turned towards me.
“I have some business to attend to, but please meet me outside the temple in an hour.”
I nodded and Theo left, leaving me alone to deal with the feeling of dread deep down in my stomach.
* * *
It took Theo a little longer than an hour to get his affairs in order at the Lodge. But when he did, he appeared beside me on the temple steps, wearing gray slacks and a white shirt. Gone were the tunics and the fighting gear. Gone was the golden paint. This was just Theo, the man I had eaten Zerquins with in a small restaurant, the one who wrote little notes to make me smile and the one who had defended me from every enemy that had approached me.
“I am sorry for the behavior of my sentinels,” he said quietly.
“It’s not your fault, Theo. And maybe they are right? Maybe it is foolish to think that I could help you? I have hardly any experience in fighting and I am just mortal and—” Theo stopped me right there.
“They are not right, Maelis. They don’t know what they are talking about and I don’t think they ever truly did.”
