“I accuse Senator Medea of murder underlex religio,” she says.
I will myself not to react and remain at attention. I suppose that solves how we were going to broach the accusation. Priests are protected by the law that she just cited—even from the Senate.
Another of the senate pages faints, but Kerasea stares only at Medea. The senator sits at the table with her hands folded.
“I decline and object,” Medea says.
I observe her expressions, her tone. Medea is completely calm, unfazed, and wholly guilty.
Kerasea stares.
Terrance clears his throat. “We will, of course, have to vote upon—”
It’s a valiant effort to gain control of the room, but Terrance stops speaking as Kerasea raises her left hand and looks at him with pure disdain. This is not the girl they could intimidate or cajole. Her stare is enough to silence the Senate Leader.
Then she refocuses her attention on Medea. Kerasea breathes out a laugh, and the corner of her lips rises. It’s not a smile so much as a terrifying sneer. Without breaking eye contact, she wipes her bloody hand over her left wrist—the one she accidentally cut last night—and then she strokes the lapis on her robe.
“I call upon the god of truth to enter this room.”
The moment Kerasea lifts her right hand, the air shifts above us. Everyone stares up at the ornate ceiling as darkness descends on the room. The morning sun ceases to shine through the wall of windows. All the candles and lamps are extinguished as one.
I grab my temples as intense pressure makes my head and shoulders ache. Kerasea stands still as everyone else clutches their heads, bows under the weight, or winces, their faces contorting.
“I swear on the holy name of the god of truth that Senator Medea is a murderer and she did, at this very conclave, cause blood to be spilled, including that of Priestess Mirial Bauman.”
Kerasea lowers her hand to her shoulder, and daylight partially returns. The pressure lessens in my temples, but not completely. It’s enough that I can focus on the High Priestess as she extends her arm and points to Medea.
The moment she does, the senator falls out of her chair and collapses to her knees with a scream. Kerasea turns her hand, and Medea lowers her head to the marble floor. Divine might is forcing the senator to move as if she is a puppet on a string.
I have never seen a priest have this ability. Pryor has not seen someone channel this kind of power since there were Elusians. But Kera is not a magic blood.
She couldn’t be. They are all dead.
“Kerasea! High Priestess! Relent. We accept the accusation,” Terrance says. Terror makes his voice shake as he clasps his hands together. Gone is his sniffing and haughty disdain.
Suh and Paolo nod, apparently becoming aware of their own mortality. Foreau is slow to react but eventually assents. Medea, however, doesn’t move. I don’t think she can.
The High Priestess has won, but I don’t know that she hears it. She is so focused on vengeance, so thoroughly connected to her god that she is barely a person right now. Unbridled rage lights her face, her eyes aglow with the divine.
As I look from her to Medea, I realize Kerasea is channeling the weight of the god into the senator. The High Priestess might split Medea’s skull open in front of us. And if she does, she will be executed for murder.
In the republic, even the High Priestess’s power has limits.
I move closer to her.
“High Priestess!” Paolo calls. He holds his own head but kneels next to Medea in an attempt to shield her. “Stop this, please!”
Suh clasps his hands in the air and nods vigorously in agreement, his jowls shaking. Terrance pales, suddenly impotent in front of real power.
Medea tries to cover her head with both arms crossed over her hair. Her forehead is pressed onto the floor. But Kerasea doesn’t move.
“Admit what you have done,” she says.
Medea doesn’t speak, but I’m not certain she can.
The only person sitting still is Foreau. He winces at the table, but mostly he’s taking in the whole scene like it’s an amusing play. But this is life-and-death—Medea’s, but most importantly, Kerasea’s.
I have to act and find a way to make her relent.
