The High Priestess glanced at the gnarled tree trunks before her, brow furrowed. “My strength is not what it once was, my lord.”
“It’s a simple answer to a simple question,” the general said, stroking her gleaming silver-blonde hair as she waited at his feet.
But,why?If she lived, why wouldn’t she fight? Why kneel? She should have been able to sense that there was more than enough Tritan power in this single, small clearing to destroy the Elites even if Captain Rawlings was among their number.
I glanced at my parasite, only to find a devious smirk painted on his lips, tracking Kas as she paced through the trees.
He was taunting me. Usingherto taunt me. My gums ached with the effortnotto scream, but, leaving the bulk of my power buried in Kas and the Grandmother, I sent a single tendril of ki toward the High Priestess. Cautious, should the flavor of Trila-Glís waken the darkness with temptation.
But my care was unwarranted, for the Divine glory of the Goddess’ chosen Priestess wasgone!A shaky breath rattled into my lungs, covered by the wind dancing through the trees. How in the name of the dead Goddess could all that power have simply disappeared?
Gold gleamed in the sunlight. Circling her wrists and throat, while her Elite counterparts remained unmarked. Had the general not threatened the High Priestess with a similar collar the day Tritan fell?
Glaith. It had to be! Italwayscame back to the fucking Glaith!
Heedless of the captain’s forbidden senses, I pressed harder, drawing on the Grandmother to help me break through.
What I found almost sent me flying from the trees, raging with the force of the wild ki at my back. Almost unleashed the darkness with my full blessing, for the most powerful of us, the Trila-Glís, was no longer pure.
The taint was not the Glaith—though she was ruined by that too—but the Elites. She stank of Elites! Worse was the man shimmering with stolen power, dazzling to even my senses, now that I couldsee.
General Tilcot was tied to a Trila-Glís, dressed in a cloak of unimaginable power.
“Goddess,no,” I breathed, pressing my back to the bark, trying to ground myself, to pull away from the horror dawning in my mind. To deny it.
But the truth came unbidden, refusing to be ignored. In spite of my efforts to deny them, the Caledonians had made advances with the Glaith. They’d figured out how to leach power from the Goddess’ chosen to augment their own mediocre strength, while I had busied myself with refugees.
Slaves. The Priestesses—my people—were slaves.
Claws buried into thick bark, I tried to reach the High Priestess in the only way I could.
Her head snapped up, beautiful blue eyes scanning the trees.
I sent her another pulse, fighting the Glaith wrapped about her throat and wrists. Fighting the terrible cold leaching at her strength.
And then she pushed back, gathering all she could, pitiful as it was. Stealing her strength from the Elite holding her leash. All to send me a warning.
Flee!
“What—” The general staggered, tanned skin paling as the High Priestess wielded her Goddess-given power in spite of his hold on her.
Hackles fluffed, Kas snarled at the top of her voice, making Jasper scream and dance. “It’s the Menace!”
“What did you summon, woman?” the general asked, scowling down at her.
The High Priestess’ chin dipped. “Nothing, my lord. I sensed a wild animal, too curious for its own good.” She licked her lower lip, wetting the delicate pink skin. “It should know better than to bother with Elites of your magnificent status, sir.”
My stomach heaved.
“It sounded like a cat of some sort,” Marco said, peering into the trees, and he too drew a shining Elite weapon, as if the mundane soldier had any right to it. “Wildcats aren’t usually so bold, but if the poor creature is sick or hungry, perhaps—”
“It isn’t sick,” the High Priestess snapped, holding Marco’s gaze for the space of three heartbeats. “It is young and foolish. Entirely too confident for its own good. Nothing more.”
I rolled my shoulders and cracked my neck. Limbering up. It had been a long time since I had been any of the things the High Priestess accused me of. A long time since she’d tried to force my compliance with tales of corruption and addiction.
And look at us now.
Myknees were not the ones dimpled with pine needles and filth.
