Think of the brightest light you’ve ever seen, the scroll said of this form.
Elena thought of the Eternal Fire, the way it spat and crackled as if alive. The way it swayed when the priests chanted. She concentrated not on its form, but on its life. The heat it gave. The power it granted.
Her hands like lotuses, she moved toward the fire. She imagined it rising above the glass and touching her palm, but as she approached, the flame exploded. The orb shattered, glass shards cutting into her outstretched palms.
Elena shrieked.
The fire swelled, licking the air. She lunged toward the fountain, plunging her hands in. She began to splash the fire with water, but it only rose higher. She jumped in the basin and kicked the water onto the flames until, finally, they sputtered and died.
A dark patch of ash lay where the fire had once been. Elena sank into the bowl of the fountain, water spilling over her shoulders. Thick, red drops of her blood swirled within the stone basin. She stared at the ring of ash, and a low sound began at the back of her throat.
It was somewhere between a laugh and a sob.
CHAPTER 19
LEO
Swindlers run with sand in their veins.
—a Ravani proverb
Leo arrived early to watch the burning of the priests. They stood in a grove of banyan trees that grew a hundred paces behind the temple. In the middle of the grove, a singular gulmohar tree held court. Its fiery red leaves danced in the breeze as the priests trudged in, shivering in their thin orange robes.
When all the priests had filtered in, Leo turned to his Spear.
“Make sure none of them leave,” he ordered. He then strode out of the grove, his long black kurta fluttering behind him.
Leo entered the temple. As he approached the Seat, the air grew warmer. The Eternal Fire roared in greeting when he entered its sanctuary. It beat against the air, its flames snapping like whips. Saayna knelt below the dais, gathering ash in a brass urn. When Leo came up beside her, she straightened but did not look his way.
“The Phoenix shall judge you harshly for this,” the high priestess said. Her voice was a mere whisper over the crackle of the fire. She wore no shackles this time. Golden robes wrapped around her shoulders and waist, and firelight played across her high cheekbones, giving her an almost regal appearance.
“She is the god of vengeance,” he replied flatly. “I would think less of Her if She didn’t.”
Leo walked up the steps of the dais as Saayna watched. He had brought her because customs were still customs. As high priestess, she would need to oversee his last Ashanta ceremony. And as king, he needed to receive the blessings of the heavens for his last ceremony with Elena.
The Eternal Fire growled, its heat buffeting against his face. Leo did not waver.
He was to commit the highest treason against the heavens. His soul would be eternally whipped and burned in all the seven hells. But all of this was for Elena. For their throne.
The king withdrew a flame in his right palm. He returned to the grove, Saayna trailing after him. The order had not seen their high priestess in weeks, and the assembled priests regarded her warily, as if they knew she was the cause of their suffering.
“Is this everyone?” he asked.
Saayna nodded.
“Check the tunnels,” he said to Majnu. “Make sure none are hiding.”
The Spear barked orders for a group of his men to search the tunnels beneath the temple. Arish surveyed the priests and priestesses and then bent toward Leo.
“I count forty-eight, but there should be fifty,” the Astra whispered. “The high priestess accounts for one, but what of the other?”
Leo studied the nervous faces before him. “The young boy,” he said, and he thought back to the priest with the runes burned on his back. “He must be dead. Check just in case.”
Saayna watched wordlessly. A light rain began to fall. The trees shielded the order and the royal party, but Leo felt the drops slip beneath his collar. He fought back a shiver.
When his men returned, Majnu faced the king. “The tunnels are empty, Your Majesty.”
Leo nodded. A sour taste filled his mouth. He had not slept nor eaten well since his vision in the desert. Nightmares plagued his sleep, and when he awoke in the morning, he saw shadows of twisted trees stretching across his bedroom walls. Yet when he blinked, they vanished.
