“Silence.” The Grand Bearer’s voice is hard as iron. The woman flinches like she’s been struck and doesn’t say any more.
“Bearer Sophos is too righteous a man to be swayed by your blasphemy, heretic,” he says. The woman starts to cry again, her entire body shaking.
“You have dishonored Ethira, but the Temple is merciful,” Caledon continues. “You will have to make the ultimate sacrifice, but your soul will be cleansed in the process.”
As he speaks, he moves over to his desk. It’s piled with papers, and I step carefully forward so that I might see their contents. I’m soon distracted by the object Caledon lifts out from among them.
The scythe of Ethira almost glows in the sunlight. In shape it looks like any ordinary short-handled scythe a farmer might wield, but the resonance of its power is unmissable.
My mind whirls, trying to conjure up some way I might be able to save this woman. But my imagination fails me. There isnothing I can think of that would persuade the Grand Bearer out of what he’s about to do, no course of action that doesn’t leave me also dying on the plush carpet—a pointless death that would accomplish nothing since it certainly wouldn’t save this woman.
I’m not afraid of death, but I cannot afford to meet it. Not yet.
Caledon returns to the window and, quite casually, brings the scythe slashing down across the woman’s body. The blade slips straight through her, like she’s a ghost, but the moment it makes contact she goes rigid, her eyes glazing over, and she slumps to the floor.
Her chains clank as she falls, her neck angled outward with her face turned toward me. The Grand Bearer bends, examining her.
“Remarkable, isn’t it? One can sense that something has been lost, and yet her heart keeps beating. She is very much alive.”
I look away from the woman’s empty stare, my eyes falling once more on the desk. There are various weathered scrolls unfurled, displaying a few symbols I recognize. The sketch of a cup, and an old tract from when the Grand Bearer first sent me to find the scythe. Caledon is being thorough—confirming some of his theories before he gathers all the tokens of Ethira.
“It is miraculous, Your Grace,” I agree. “But will she stay alive long?”
Caledon stops studying the woman, turning his dark eyes toward me. He looks different since he killed those children. He appears oddly younger than ever before. All the lines and signs of age have been smoothed from his face, and the gray is gone from his hair. There’s a vitality that shines out of him. All that’s unchanged is his eyes—they remain as black as ever.
“I will cleanse her soon, if that’s what you’re asking, Sophos,” he says. “But left to her own devices, the spark of life should dwindle quickly. I just want to make absolutely certain that it’s a matter of hours or days, rather than minutes.”
I exhale. This is the most explanation His Grace has given me for a while. I knew he wanted to combine the tokens to use on himself, just as the legends describe Ethira did, but at least now he’s being open about his methods.
“And when you cleanse her, what will happen to her soul, Your Grace?” I ask.
His eyebrows shoot up. “I’m surprised, Sophos. You usually ask such pertinent questions. But it hardly matters where her soul goes now. We have no need to call it back. Likely, it will remain trapped in the ether for eternity. That is a suitable punishment for her heresy, don’t you think?”
It’s not, and he knows it’s not. I grit my teeth and nod, but inside I burn with loathing. The way this man twists our teachings so cruelly makes me sick. He promised this woman salvation—a clean soul that could at least find peace in the Eternal Realm. But he doesn’t care a jot for her soul. Instead, he’s thrown it away like trash.
“I saw it the moment I walked in, Your Grace,” I say, lying through my teeth. “The evil in her eyes was clear, and I knew she must’ve committed a truly terrible crime.”
Caledon lays the scythe back down on his desk, considering my words.
“Perhaps not terrible by everyone’s standards, Sophos. But we know better. This woman was an aquari, and denied that Ethirawas the most important of the gods, preferring to make all her offerings to Mariste.”
I blink. The custom of favoring your patron god over Ethira is a practice we’ve discouraged over the years, but as far as I know, the Temple has never executed someone for it unless they stayed defiant when we tried to correct them. After a firm lesson from the cleavers, most people see reason.
The Grand Bearer expects my surprise, watching my face carefully. “The sin may seem small at first glance, Sophos, but we’re living in times when rotten sentiments like that spread too easily through a community. If we’re going to purge Tiearland of heresy and make this land worthy of the gods, we must drive out every hint of behavior like this.”
Worthy of the gods.He hides behind these ideas, but I’ve come to see the Grand Bearer only truly cares ifheis worthy of the gods—strong and powerful enough to become one of them. But what then? What happens when he has followed in Ethira’s footsteps and wields his power? No mortal can know how the gods will react to that, but I’d like to know what the Grand Bearerthinkswill happen.
“I suppose the fae prince must be dead by now then,” I say, trying to steer the conversation oh-so-gently in the right direction. “That, at least, would be a tremendous boon, Your Grace.”
“Yes,” says the Grand Bearer thoughtfully. “I’d be surprised if a body can hold on more than a week without its soul. Even one as large and lumbering as that prince. Still, it is a shame it wasn’therinstead of him, as we intended.” His voice hardens with anger at the thought of the princess, even if it doesn’t register onhis face. “I assume you have news? It is, after all, why I called you here.”
I lick my lips, praying I’m not about to stoke his rage further. The happier he is with me, the easier my task will be.
“We don’t know exactly where she is, but I’ve had reports that she crossed the border into Filusia, and we believe she’s still there.”
He frowns. “I would’ve thought the fae king would have nothing to do with her after she got his grandson killed. Surely their alliance is over.”
I shake my head. “It’s unclear. She could be hiding in the kingdom without his knowledge.”
