Dirty Glaith. I knew the instant I saw it—felt a cold like no other spilling from the combination of iron and Glaith. “Your Grace!”
Recovered, Josh’s arm looped about my waist, and I lashed out—only to feel the bite of my promise at the back of my neck. As the High Priestess had done, Josh pressed the Glaith to the back of my neck. Cutting me off from the whirlwind of chaos of two clashing superpowers, I was helpless to doanythingbut watch as Captain Asher Rawlings completed his attack. With a tiny, audibleclickthat echoed through my every cell, I watched the Mistress of the Temple crumple before him.
“Time t’go, Miss Tannovic.”
“You bastard,” I rasped, grunting when he set his shoulder to my ribs. “Put me down! You don’t understand!”
“Hate me all you want, lass, but you’remycharge. I’ll not lose you t’likes ofhim.”
As Josh began to sprint, ferrying me away from the scene of my greatest sin, I watched Captain Rawlings shake his head, recovering as he rose to a full stand. It was not the threat of violence, nor the alarming lack of ki where the High Priestess had once been, that bought my compliance.
No. The terror that seized my heart was inspired by thepromiseglittering in those inky depths.
Chapter 12
“How could you?”
Josh brushed a sodden lock of hair from his eyes, glaring as he set me down on a wooden bench in the salt caves. “And what exactly would you have had medo, Miss Tannovic? Challenge him to a brawl? He took the High Priestess down as if it werenothing.” He glanced over his shoulder. “You’re a Triloth Priestess. You couldna stand against something like that, even if—”
“Shut your mouth,” I snarled, virgin Glaith cutting into my palm. “You have no idea what I am capable of.”
“I’ve known you since you weretwelve, Miss Tannovic.” He laughed, then seemed to think better of it, throwing up his hands with a disgusted snort. “Get that bloody door open, Ancaster. We’ve got a ki-mad Elite hot on our tails, and it’ll not take him long t’recover. What good is a fuckin’ emergency door tha’ won’t open?”
“It’s jammed!” Ancaster shouted, his face red and glistening. “The damned thing hasn’t been opened in years.”
Tapping the pins holding the door in place, my father scrubbed at his forehead with the back of his wrist. “We’ll take it off the hinges, lads.”
For a moment, I watched them work, crushing the Glaith between trembling fingers. Fighting not to dissolve into a blubbering puddle of tears. I should have warned the High Priestess the first chance I’d had! Maybe then she wouldn’t have been taken unaware. Maybe then, she’d be here to guide us from this place. To guide me…
“Is she gone? Is the High Priestess really gone?”
The question drew my attention to the three young Priestesses we’d acquired in the labs. Huddled together, they clung to each other in the semi-dark.
I swallowed, averting my eyes. “She’s alive. That’s what matters.”
“And what of the Elect? She must be taken too. I can’t sense either one of them. What will we do without the Trila-Glís to guide us? And—and the others. Goddess.”
“Hush,” the tallest of the group breathed, tilting her face toward me, and I recognized her as the willowy young Priestess who’d parked my father’s coach in the back lot. Annabelle. “When can you sense anything but yourself in these caves? We know nothing for certain, sister. Don’t borrow trouble.”
I made a sound at the back of my throat, for they did not know what I’d seen. How easily the High Priestess had fallen at his hands. They did not know what I’d done.
“It’s Mila, right?”
My eyes flicked to her face, and I nodded once, jaw clenched too tight to speak.
“Belle—” she inclined her head, pressing two fingers to her temple. “Call me Belle. Are you alright?”
A startled bark of laughter burst from my lips. “No!” Throat aching and vision blurred, I shook my head. “I just watched the High Priestess—and now we have to leave her here. Withhim. Because I didn’t—”
“Shh,” she soothed, and reached for me.
I leapt back, swiping at my eyes with the back of my hand. “I’m-I’m sorry. You can’t… don’t touch me.”
“Apologies, sister.” She showed me her palms. “I only meant to ease your pain.”
“Th-Thank you but I don’t need—”
“That’s it!” Ancaster shouted. “We’ve got it open. Quickly now. Through the courtyard.”
