“Silence!” Kaelthos cut off Daelun’s outburst.
“Disciple Safah, you will kill the Fallenspawn or receive one hundred lashes in their place. If you don’t keep your feet, and your wings, to receive every lash, they die. If you try to escape, they die. If you try to foil their fate and rescue them yourself,they die. If you die before receivingallthe lashes…you guessed it, the abominations will die.”
I swayed in place. I rose a hand to my temple, rocked with a wave of nausea and shock. This couldn’t be happening. Manmineversaid anything like this would come my way. What in the stars was I supposed to do?
“You accepted to demonstrate, therefore you will. Or they willdie. And to be clear, Disciple.Noangel has survived passed the thirty ninth lash ofoneScourger. Let alone three.”
I looked at Scourgers Jeroah, Refayim, and Lilithine.
They looked back at me. And all three of them smiled.
Merciful Infinite, help me.
I looked at the Marked, completely lost for what to do. I could save myself, but I’d have to kill them. I could save them, but then I’d probably die in the process…which wouldstillget them killed.
Bend, but do not break. Burn, but never bleed.
I closed my eyes, picturing Manmi. She floated behind me while I sat in a cloudchair as she did my hair, swathing my curls with makristi oil, gently detangling each strand.
“We’re Anathelles fifi. Holy, to whatever end.”
Obedience or sacrifice. The choice rang loud in my mind like the bells at high dawn. I pinched my eyes as they welled up with tears.
This would be a dawn that would stain me forever. A dawn that would mark my spirit black and change me in a way I never dreamed Temple Efysis would. Tears streamed down my cheeks. Guilt, shame, humiliation, bowed my shoulders, sagging my wings.
I raised both of my palms.
Aimed them at the Marked.
Obedience or sacrifice.
“I’m so sorry I failed you, Manmi,” I whispered to no one. “I’m so sorry I didn’t Ascend like you trained me to.”
I summoned my starfire into my palms. They morphed into spears, the bristling lavender and ivory light cascading all around the cathedral with their brilliance. In rapid succession, I launched a volley of the starfire spears directly at each of the ten angels. I hit each target square on. The spears collided into the chains of the Marked, disintegrating them. I lowered my hands and took a long, deep breath steeling myself. Preparing to pay the cost of setting the Marked free.
“So,” Kaelthos said, disgust flooding his tone. “Sacrifice it will be then.”
Gasps broke out across the Sanctuary.
“She didn’t do it,” the Disciples whispered among themselves. “But she’s an Anathelle. Why didn’t she do it? They’re just Fallenspawn.”
I paid them no mind. I found Ellabeth. Tears stained her cheeks crimson. I tapped on my breastbone over my hearts three times, holding her gaze.
“My sister,” I whispered up to her, even though my voice carried for everyone else to hear. “My dearest partner in bringing Papi and Manmi constant grief.” I gave her a weak smile. “My best friend.”
Ellabeth’s shoulders began to shake as her tears turned to outright sobs. I caught when Dakairi slipped his wings around her shoulders, wrapping them around her slender frame tightly. I knew she would be inconsolable. But there was never truly an option. Kaelthos wanted me butchered, and he’d found a way to do it.
It wasn’t lost on me how the Xadari Legionnaires of Azarath were now all sitting straight. Now all watching me with newfound respect. Their faces were bowed in deep frowns. They knew this wasn’t fair. It had always been a trap. One I was tooslow to spot. Too naive to believe would ever be set up for me. I was an Anathelle after all. Things like this didn’t happen to us.
I almost laughed at the irony.
I looked away from Ellabeth, from Incense Order, and from the Xadari Legionnaries.
I turned my gaze to Quazar Valoryen, the Fallen Prince whose name alone bowed the shoulders of even Farasees with fear. His nostrils were flared. His lips were curled with such profound hatred the sight made me shiver. His emerald eyes blazed with holy wrath as he glared fiercely at the Scourgers. Slowly, I watched the emerald morph into raven black as the muscles in his neck strained with his anger. He began pushing out of his seat.
“Anyonewho intervenes in the fate Disciple Safah has chosen, will be responsible for the deaths of the FallenspawnandAnathelle herself.”
Kaelthos’s voice cut through the silence in the cathedral like a sharpened blade. No one spoke. Breathed. You could hear a feather drop in the place.
