Chapter 1
I wasn’t supposed to be here.
Wasn’t allowed to walk amongst my fellow citizens, enjoying the beautiful, sunny day. I’d been forbidden to stroll through the over-crowded market, unattended and unprotected. To do as I wished without the express permission of my father—and the accompanying escort—was to invite dire, world-altering consequences.
It wasn’t safe.
I smiled, soaking up the sun and watched a jewelry merchant hawk his wares. Watched as he snared the attention of a tall, willowy woman, seizing her elbow before she could pass his display. Tugging, he pulled her into the shade beneath his tent and the flapping azure awning, thumb stroking the pale skin of her upper arm. Directing her gaze to follow a trinket with his free hand, he bedazzled her with glittering stones and polished silver that danced in the shadowed half-light.
I pressed my palm to the pendant perched on my breastbone, torn. As of yet, I hadn’t actually done anything deserving of consequences. Had, in fact, done nothing but watch, enthralled by the market’s chaos. Thrilled by the colors and scents of the Tritan people, I watched from the sidelines. Pretending I was just another face in a sea of silver-blonde, Tritan heads, to whom words like ‘consequences’ and ‘unsafe’ did not apply.
But I wasn’t one of them, blood or not.
My fingers tightened around my pendant, considering as the precious, ugly stone glittered in the sun, tossing distinct shades of blue, green, and purple onto the street before me. Simply being here was a risk to everything my father and I had sacrificed over the years, surrounded by the crush of unsuspecting masses, each more sightless than the last. Most unable to sense the ki burning thick and sweet in the air. That such a power could go unnoticed by so many was a blessed curse from the Goddess herself, drowning me in the temptation to reach out and touch them… to blend in. To taste the living flames of their ki and knownormal. Tobenormal, if only for a few stolen moments.
I clenched my fist, letting the tarnished family heirloom bite the meat of my palm. At once concealing the scatter of blues, greens, and purples before they were recognized, and letting the stone drink deep of my life force. It feasted with greedy abandon, starving for ki willingly given. Storing my excess in its stony, cold heart in return for blessed, numbing calm.
A service only the Glaith could provide to one such as me.
I shuddered, drained, for now, but conflicted. There wouldn’t be another chance as perfect as this, what with my father occupied by some important State Senate meeting and my target already marked. In fact, everyone who might take an interest in my actions was in that meeting. The rest, the Priestesses with their keen ki-sense, were locked away, deep in the heart of the temple.
No one would recognize me here. None could sense what I really was beneath the Glaith.
And yet, I hesitated, eyes fixed to the merchant conducting his business. Fingers tight about my pendant, keeping myself firmly in check. My father had giveneverythingto keep me free. Free to live and make mistakes. It was a debt I could never even begin to repay, and yet, in this, he waswrong. The man was blinded by his need to protect and coddle. Couldn’t see the raw potential simmering in my veins… desperate to be set loose…
I grinned.
If it were possible to harness my birthright, I alone would decide how it would be used. Not my beloved father. Not a faceless, tyrannical High Priestess, moored in tradition and secrets, who would claim me for the temple simply because of what I was.
Me.
Alone.
And if I failed? Consequences were only for those foolish or weak enough to get caught.
Finished with his sale, the merchant kissed his customer’s wrist and tucked a handful of coins into his purse, setting pale eyes to scan for his next conquest before he’d finished with the last.
This was it, then. My moment. I let the pendant fall. Let it settle above my shift, separating its numbing influence from my skin and leaving myself vulnerable—for in its absence, the rest washed in.
Ki.
My accursed birthright.
Awareness burst inside my skull. The ki of every man and woman in the market—of Tritan blood or otherwise—called to me, whispering their secrets all at once. Begging me to reach out and touch, to drink until I’d filled the bottomless, ravenous void. There was no bracing for it. No way to prepare for the kiss of the Divine. And here, in an overcrowded market separate from the Glaith for the first time in four years, I swayed, staggering under the weight of their ki. Knuckles white and jaw slack, suffering an endless, blazing inferno writhing just out of reach, I struggled to master it before it swallowed me whole.
The stone in my pendant was warm now, working to consume the flames I’d fed it, to store the ki I couldn’t contain alone. I could feel the heat through my shift, knew it would need time to cool before I could feed it again, lest it overheat and sear my skin. Four years, my pendant of Glaith had protected me, shielding me from any consequences my existence might provoke. Numbing.
Too long.
Knuckles white, I forced the whispers back, straining to bank the flames of their ki without reaching for the Glaith. And then, taking even, measured steps, I merged with the busy foot-traffic, letting my country-folk carry me toward the jewelry merchant. On my lips, a practiced smile. Careful to evade skin-to-skin contact with the press of the crowd, I focused on the pendant swinging between my breasts. Glaith was the only guard and escort I needed. A safety net giving me permission to meet the merchant’s eye and dance with a viper.
“Goddess be with us,” the merchant trilled, stepping into my path. “Such a beautiful young lady! My dear, you simply glow withyouth!Come,” he said, butter-soft fingers finding purchase on my elbow, guiding and hustling me into his shaded tent. “I have just the thing to complement those striking eyes.”
I blinked, strainingnotto look at his fingers upon my skin. Swallowing a groan as his ki blazed through me, my focus narrowed to him and little else. Both a relief from the roar of the crowd and a painful, intimate burden, but I allowed him to lead me into the shadows. Listening to his ki whisper tales of false smiles and sharp instincts as that thumb traced a trusted pattern on my skin.
“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, miss…”
Insincerity oozed through my skin, and I knew he didn’t care. Knew it was a tactic to lure me into a false trust so he could relieve me of more coin. But my first name held no power, gave him nothing that could bring my father into this or lead the merchant to realize who I was, if my efforts here went sideways. So I smiled, and said, “Mila,” tapping two fingers to my temple. My tone light. Carefree.
