Page 21 of Six Burning Candles

Keida put a hand to my shoulder and squeezed. “May we speak in private, Melrose?”

Sure! You want to talk about how weirdly hostile that was?

“Of course, I’m no longer hungry,” I murmured, climbing to my hooves to follow her out of the room and deep into the belly of the cathedral.

Chapter Twelve:

~Keida~

ItissaidthatAvaris bestows her most trusted clerics with visions. Her paladins are blessed with strength, constitution, a divine weapon, and many other things. Clerics received magic, and a select few are given divine foresight. I’ve never heard of any who were not Cardinals or higher, but the moment moonlight brushed my sleeping face, I knew My Lady spoke to me directly. Most nights my dreams were empty. I floated in an inky stream of unconsciousness till my body left oblivion by my internal clock…or fucking roosters.There’s always one outside my window, the little bastard.

However, for the first time, I awoke from inside a dream. One that was not mine. I stood in the mess hall, my presence like that of a specter. I floated forward till I loomed over Melrose. She giggled, speaking with Ramone and Delainey in a playful hush. They looked happy, clinking mugs of coffee. A normal morning that seemed like every other. Then I saw the glint of armor and a familiar face.Peony Bernstein.The knight schmoozed Melrose away from the table and the breakfast hall faded away. Replaced with an empty church, all the pews turned over and dust collecting in every corner. I only saw a shadow, dangling from beyond a window by a rope, but the message was clear.Death.

I jerked forward in bed, the cool brush of ghostly fingers down my back.Death. That was all My Lady Avaris spoke to me before her moonlight faded into sunrise. I glanced out the window, watching the feathered bastard land in my windowsill. Hazy light was slowly snuffed out by the heavy snow clouds. The rooster looked through my frosty windows, deep into my soul, and crowed. Tossed his head back and screamed into my windowpanes.

Usually my ire would cause me to crawl out of bed and throw the beast off the window ledge…but my mind kept going back to the vision. Peony Bernstein would lead to Melrose’s death? It would ruin Leonardo St. Augustine. The church would crumble. My heart hammered in my chest as I scrambled to dress.

If I’m fast enough, I can meet her at breakfast.

The journey to the mess hall felt like an out-of-body experience.Why me? My Lady, why bestow this image to me? Or was Leonardo not able to intervene?Reeling with the reality that my goddess blessed my dreams only to tell me the woman of my desires was in danger.Better to know than the alternative.I followed the sounds of life toward the mess hall and stopped to stare into the warm cluster of my clergy. Something like fingers picked up my chin and pulled my attention away from the crowd. I saw the shimmering metal of three knights in full armor. I jumped into motion, rushing into the mess hall. Melrose’s back was to me, Ramone and Delainey leaned in close as if they were in deep conversation. However, all those serving food and a handful of others froze to find me in the room. I took an offered plate and mug of coffee without another thought, scrambling for what the vision meant. I saw someone dangling by the neck by a rope, but I had no idea if the vision meant that was Melrose…or me.

Ipushedopenthedoor to my actual office and motioned for Melrose to walk in. She stepped inside and I shut the doors hard with my palms. The heavy wood groaned, trying to resist but I didn’t let it. I put my full weight against it, then sighed. Melrose spoke first, “You want to explain what that was about?”

Do I even know the answer to that?

I straightened, turning toward her once more. “Peony Bernstein means you harm.”

Melody scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Please, she’s a showboat and a meat head, but she’s a knight. She’s sworn to protect the innocent.”

“Ah, yes, because all those who are sworn into an oath keep it,” I rebutted with a sharp narrow of my eyes on her.

Melrose scowled, arms crossed under her chest. She sank her backside onto the edge of my desk. Unlike her father’s office, mine was barely breathable. It was stuffy, packed full of bookshelves, and any piece of wall not covered with shelving was pinned with papers. Wanted posters, maps, letters—anything and everything relevant to my job as Lunar Cleric.

“Why would Peony want to hurt me?”

“Maybe because for the last six years, she was exiled to the farthest reaches of this kingdom by your father. Meant to toil away in the ice and snow?” I tossed my hands out to the side in exasperation.

Melody sputtered, “That can’t be true. Why would Papa do that?”

“Because of you,” I growled, crossing my office to get to my desk. Pulling out my journal, I flipped through the pages to the start of my residence at the Cathedral. I kept meticulous notes on the daily goings-on. And as I returned to the first day I ever met Melrose, I spun the journal toward her. With a solidthumpthe leather-bound tome hit the desk and she furrowed her brow in response. Melrose leaned over it, studying my words and devouring them quickly.

“What? But…but you walked in on us. You stalled my father. Why would that get her…she’s still a knight?”

“Your father’s jurisdiction is to the church. His reach is with the queen. He may not be able to strip someone of their position, but he can make them miserable all the same.”

“All because what? I fooled around with her once? I know my father, he’s not that ridiculous.” Melrose rolled her eyes, pushing the journal across the page. “A stern talking to about safe sex and the importance of waiting till you’re with a partner you can trust with your most vulnerable parts, but exile because we made out on his desk once? That seems a bit extreme.”

I squinted at her suspiciously. “You do know the rumors surrounding your father’s protectiveness of you, correct?”

Melrose snorted, shoulders trembling. “We’re talking about the same Leonardo St. Augustine, correct?”

I sputtered, head shaking.Of course she doesn’t see him the way others do.But, I didn’t want to change a daughter’s view of her father. No matter how delusional her image of him was, that washer father. She deserved to see him as a soft teddybear if she so wished.

I exhaled, “Listen, regardless of what Peony did to get sent off to live in the worst bunks in the kingdom, watching a mountain side, she’s back now. She means you harm.”

“How?” That’s when Melrose narrowed her eyes on me and I wished she wasn’t so perceptive of me. I tried to focus on closing up my journal, tying it shut, but a hand snapped out to stop me. Melrose pushed my journal back to the top of my desk and my gaze rose slowly. Her lips parted with a ragged breath. “You had a vision.”

“I do not know what exactly I saw,” I murmured the truth. As I didn’tactuallyknow. I was not trained in divination. Being the vessel in which the goddess bestowed her knowledge was beyond my position. But that didn’t stop me from being worried.Death.I replayed the hiss of air that was vaguely feminine, that Our Lady Avaris spoke into my ear. “All I know is that if Peony Bernstein walked away with you today, it would have meant you harm.”