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The weight of my chains grew stronger with each step. Would I end up permanently scarred? Blistered from the cold fire of the silver? Or was it merely a reminder that I was near the Grove?
The wind fell to a whisper as I entered the Moon Mother's domain.
Hewn of an ancient oak, fashioned by hands long dead, the great throne of the High Priestess was inset with emeralds and peridot, garnets and moonstone. Polished arms wrapped Derisa in their embrace, curving like some great dragon's feet, and iridescent scales of metal covered the back of the seat against which she rested her head. Sprawled in the throne, a booted leg thrown over the arm, the High Priestess of the Moon remained silent until I approached.
And then she stood. Her silhouette cast a tall shadow against the backdrop of moonlight. Clad in a plum and black silken tunic with breeches and boots, she was dressed for the Hunt, and a nimbus of lavender fire surrounded her, her aura crackling with magic. Dark she was, and beautiful, with tumbling black hair that reached her knees and waxen skin so incredibly pale that it mirrored the moonlight. Her eyes sparked with cold fire as she inspected me, her gaze slicing to the bone.
My knees buckled, and I found myself kneeling on the ground, forehead touching the soil at the foot of the throne.
Derisa stepped down and gently prodded me in the side with one booted toe. "Lyrical recommends we cast you out, Nigel that we take your oath. What do you say? If the need arises, are you truly prepared to forsake your family, forsake your life, forsake even your soul?"
Her voice swept past on a gust of wind as her lilting words wove into my heart and took hold, sucking me under. I looked up, terrified. And yet I managed to meet her gaze.
"The Moon Mother called me when I was a child," I whispered. "This is the only path I've ever wanted to walk. I need her—I can't ignore her summons."
Derisa hesitated, then knelt beside me. She reached out and, fingers resting under my chin, lifted my head to look me straight in the eye. My trembling stopped. She alone would decide my fate, she and the Moon Mother. Fear slipped away like a snake shedding its skin, and I inhaled deeply as I gazed into her beautiful face.
After a long, long while she spoke, and this time her words were soft. "Lyrical says you may be lacking in talent. This is true, although perhaps it's simply that your talent goes astray at times. But Nigel speaks the truth as well. Camille Sepharial te Maria, the Moon Mother sees into your heart and soul and finds it clear. You are both true and brave, half-breed or not. Come child, stand and face me."
I stood.
Derisa leaned close. "The Moon Mother has answered. She will accept you into her service. I ask you once more before you take the oath and there's no turning back: will you give yourself over to her, to do with as she sees fit?"
I nodded, catching a whiff of lilacs and lemon from her perfume. "Oh yes," I said breathlessly. "I'll swear my life to her. And my death."
"Then I will accept your oath. Listen well, girl, and answer." She motioned for me to stand and, as I did, the silver chains clinked delicately, and a breeze rose up, gusting wildly around us.
"Camille Sepharial te Maria, do you of your own will and volition come to the service of the Moon Mother as one of her witches, pledging yourself to her, above everything you hold sacred, including your life and breath?"
My heart began to beat. This was it; I was going to be oath-bound to the Moon Mother, and everything in my life would be set. Nothing would ever again worry me as long as I held the Huntress of the Moon in my heart and soul.
"Yes, oh yes, I swear my oath."
"Camille Sepharial te Maria, do you accept the yoke of the witch, knowing that you chance never seeing the robes of a priestess, that you will never be free to pledge another goddess, that your spirit will forever be bound and belong to no other gods save the Moon Mother as long as you walk the world in this body?"
I could barely breathe. Derisa's voice sounded like it was coming from a million miles away, and I began to soar out of my body, my heart echoing the staccato beat of a thousand drums.
"I do swear by my oath."
Then, the questions came quickly, so quick I could barely think.
Camille Sepharial te Maria, will you live for the Moon Mother…
I do swear…
Will you heal for the Moon Mother…
I do swear…
Will you kill for the Moon Mother…
I do swear. . .
Will you die for the Moon Mother. . .
"I do swear by my oath." The gusts grew chill and brisk as the High Priestess reached out and pushed away the shoulder of my gown. It fell open, exposing my breast, and she brushed my hair to the right and pressed her palm against my back, on the left shoulder blade.
A bolt of lightning crossed the starlit sky and struck Derisa, burning through her arm, through her palm, into my back. The shock, as cold as Hel's frozen realms, ate into me, and I clamped my teeth shut, repressing a scream as I trembled against the pain. The energy was sentient, moving, a trail of frozen teeth gobbling a thin line of flesh. It filled the raw channel on my shoulder blade with liquid silver as it spiraled into a coiled tattoo of a labyrinth.
