“What the Caledonians can, or cannot do is no concern of mine,” the High Priestess replied, and released my forearm, allowing me a moment to breathe clear of her influence. “If the girl is indeed what I suspect, it’s nothing short of a miracle that she’s managed to cope so long without help.” Tinkling laughter filled the cabin, and she reclaimed my wrist. “Even now, it’s taking everything I’ve got to stop her from marching back into that chamber room and unleashing unimaginable destruction upon every ki-wielder and citizen unlucky enough to stand in her path.”
I jerked my hand away from the ring, shaking my head. “No. I wouldn’t—”
But the High Priestess raised her palm. “You cannot deny it. Not from me. The Caledonians and their dirty Glaith are no match for you, girl.”
Dirty Glaith? Again, I shook my head, for the ring in my pocket was pure. Tainted with the lingering heat fromhisskin and bursting with a power that shouldn’t be, but in all other ways, no different from my stolen pendant. Pure Glaith ore, pretending to be an ugly stone.
A stone I was unwilling to lose, no matter the foul, Caledonian taint sending whispered lies through my skin. Without it, I had nothing to bargain with. No leverage to reclaim my pendant and show Captain Asher Rawlings what power looked like when it was truly free. When it was unbound by his precious control.
Right hand dipping into my pocket, I toyed with the inert band, tracing the foreign family crest.
No. I couldn’t allow it to be discovered. That the High Priestess hadn’talreadysensed it was the only convincing argument for Divine interference I’d ever encountered. Though why She hadn’t seen fit to interferebeforeI’d landed myself in this situation was beyond me. Unless…
Unless there was something at the temple She intended for me to have.
And if the Goddess herself wished to keep it from her chosen… who was I to decide otherwise? Why shouldn’t the ring remain here, hidden in my father’s coach? All I had to do was… drop it. Let it roll out of sight until I could reclaim what was mine.
My father cleared his throat, meeting my eye for the first time since I’d been escorted into the chamber room. The flush creeping up his neck waxed long and poetic of all the trouble I’d earned, though his voice splintered when he said, “She’s my daughter.”
The High Priestess’ tone was gentle, her words firm. “She’s a daughter of the Goddess, whether you wish to admit it or not.”
“Even so.”
I dragged a ragged breath through my teeth, ring poised to drop.
“Much as it might appear otherwise,” she said, gazing out the window as we glided onto the temple’s long, narrow drive, “I have no intention of making another enemy in the senate.” She turned her eyes upon my father, an elegant coil of hair shifting to fall over her shoulder. “But the best place for Mila, thesafestplace, is the temple. And you know it. I am theonlyone capable of guiding her through this without a tragedy.”
My father snorted. “So long as she wears the Glaith, Mila doesn’t need—” his eyes landed on my throat, flushed skin blanching pale in seconds. “Where is your pendant?”
I flinched, stuffing the ring back into my pocket—and in doing so, the Glaith bit my palm.
Ki arced through my blood, straightening my spine in spite of the High Priestess’ touch upon my skin.
Hiski. It tugged and pulled, kissing fragile nerves with breathy amusement, coiling about my finger. Winding up my wrist in a lazy twist, he took his time. Tasting. Unconcerned with getting caught, forhewas not the one sitting beside the High Priestess.Hehadn’t been promised control and the wild unknown, only to be tossed aside.
No.
He’d taken what he wanted and pushed me to ruin.
Teeth grit, I forced the ring from my finger, denying the luxury of so much Elite kiandhis insufferable, disembodied amusement. The smarmy prick. Goddess, what I wouldn’t give for one minute alone and unfettered—
“Damnit, Mila!”my father hissed, snapping his fingers before my face. “Where is your pendant? What have you done with it?”
“I…” Now was the time. To give it up, to clip the dark wings begging to taste freedom and distance myself from Captain Asher Rawlings for good. Time to chase the hurt and anger from my father’s face and accept the punishment I’d worked so hard to earn.
I glanced at the High Priestess. Eyes dropping to the hand still wrapped tight about my wrist. Noting the serene tilt to her head and the patient smile as she awaited my answer.
Utterly void of suspicion.
“I…” I swallowed, for it wasn’t possible that she could have missedthatamount of ki flaring hot and wildright in front of her.This must be the test she spoke of. She had to be waiting for me to admit what I had. Unless…
“Damnit, Mila. Where—”
“I dropped it,” I whispered, and slid the ring onto my middle finger, holding the surge of Elite ki at bay with little more than pure stubborn determination. Finding ease in repeated exposure, my eyes never wavering from the High Priestess’ profile.
“For the love of the Goddess,” my father snapped. “How the bloody—it belonged to yourmother, Mila! How could you lose it?”
Nothing. The High Priestess didn’t know of the foreign power I possessed. Couldn’t sense it.
