Merete’s eyes widened. The Oracle released a low hiss.
“We know the Scourge of the earth,” the old woman snarled. Something Mariah recognized—something vengeful—flashed in her pale eyes. “Our people fought beside yours all those thousands of years ago to rid him from these lands.”
“Then you know,” Mariah said, “that our ancestors didn’t win that war. Not in the way it mattered.”
“What are you saying?” asked the fourth councilor, Viktor. He was a thin man, wisps of brown hair falling into his dark-blue eyes.
Mariah didn’t get the chance to answer.
“You know the dark god’struename. Don’t you, girl?” The Oracle’s sharp gaze pinned Mariah in her seat. Merete made a soft, horrified noise, as if the Oracle calling Mariah “girl” was the greatest offense to happen in these halls.
Maybe it was. It was also far from the greatest offense Mariah had suffered. And it was true; to this woman, to whatever ageless soul she carried, shewasnothing more than a girl.
She met the Oracle’s stare and gave a sharp, dipped nod.
The Oracle leaned back, folding her hands together. “Speak it. Say what has happened.”
A tang in the air hit Mariah’s tongue.
Magic. There was magic being used here. She swung her gaze across the council, over the Oracle, trying to locate its source.
Perhaps if her magic had been awake, she would’ve found it. Now, with only the barest flicker in the quietest, darkest parts of her, it was like following a sound when blinded in the dark.
She swallowed her disappointment and answered the question instead.
“Kol,” she said quietly. “The dark god’s name is Kol. He is the fallen God of the Sun and lost Consort of Zadione, the Goddess of Death. And he has returned.” Mariah nodded to Callamus, who still lingered in the corner with Signe. “It is also why Callamus is here. Whyallthe gods are awake.”
Those dripping stalactites drummed against Mariah’s skin, burning along with the council’s stares.
Merete shared a glance with the council, a furrow forming between her smooth brow. “That is…troubling. Very troubling indeed.”
“And it was because of me,” Mariah blurted, then snapped her jaw shut with a quiet click. Her hands clenched into tight fists in her lap.
Why did she have to say that? Was it guilt that drove her to reckless stupidity?
A calloused hand again brushed across her arm, resting on her thigh. Andrian didn’t look at her, but his hand on her was a welcome, steadying weight.
“Because of you?” the Oracle prompted, lifting a gray brow.
Mariah met her sharp stare. “Yes.” She pulled in a breath.
She hadn’t repeated this story to anyone since that day—not even to herself. But something licked at her skin, the same brush of magic across her cheeks.
Maybe one of them was drawing the truth from her, but she didn’t bother resisting. Some instinct told her that this was what she needed to do.
She’d never refused those instincts before.
So, she told the council the truth she’d learned about the end of the First War. How the gods had joined together and cast a spell to bind Kol and through him into Enfara, with Zadione serving as the lock. How all the gods had to leave the world, their physical bodies laying to rest in the earth as they retreated to the gods’ plane, and how the spell would break if they ever returned.
She told the council how Qhohena had placed her grace in the first Onitan Queen, something the other gods were not aware she’d done. How that grace had been passed down from queen to queen, transferred at every Abdication and Choosing and Ascension. How when Zadione escaped Kol, five thousand years later, she decided to do the same.
“When Zadione gave up her grace, just like her sister, she placed it in the last descendent of her only priestess.” Mariah drew in a deep breath. “She placed her grace inme.”
Drip, drip, drip. The stalactites almost seemed to mock her.
“Are you saying that you carry the grace of not just one of the moon goddesses,” Birgitte asked quietly, “butboth?”
Mariah nodded. The council members leaned their heads together, whispering softly. The Oracle kept that piercing gaze trained on her, clawing too deep into her skin.
