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“Me too,” Heva decided, jumping off the rock and picking up a satchel. “We probably don’t need more than a few pomegranates and some rice balls for food, right?”

Thirty minutes later, Ryn shoved Kristin’s rear as the priestess attempted to conquer a steep slope. Seeda was growling about the difficulty as she slid down three feet. Heva rolled her eyes and grabbed a handful of Seeda’s ministry dress, hoisting her back up. Seeda wailed as she was tossed ahead like a sack of rice.

“Oh, come on, Seeda. You’re worse at hiking than you are at being a priestess,” Heva said, and Ryn bit her lips over a smirk as she grabbed hold of a bent tree and used it as leverage to pull herself over the ledge ahead.

Seeda clawed the ground and threw a handful of dirt into Heva’s eyes, making Heva shriek and kick forward blindly with her boot. But Seeda scrambled the rest of the way up the slope where Geovani waited with a walking stick, cackling.

It was only a few hours before Ryn spotted the clear green-blue water set in pale stone by a cliff. It was beautifully adorned by leafy trees and lush plants with blue blossoms, and beyond it was a breathtaking view of the desert. They were so high up, Ryn could see the same B’rei Mira messengers far in the distance on their way home now with another rejection to report.

Heva stripped down to her undergarments and threw her clothes into a heap in the bushes while the rest of the priestesses folded their dresses neatly. Jenova fetched Heva’s clothes and folded them for her.

“Pfft. Such a savage,” Seeda remarked as Heva raced past and plunged into the pool without waiting for the others. She disappeared below the water and came up a moment later with a smile on her face, dark hair sticking to her neck, and drips trailing down her cheeks.

“Come on, Ryn!” she called. “It’s so refreshing!”

Geovani sat on the pool’s edge, hiked up her emerald skirt, and stuck her legs in. “Ahhh. Thank El,” she said, closing her eyes and swishing her feet in the glassy water. Her eyes peeled back open a second later though, and she scratched her elbow. Her eyebrows pulled together as she tapped a finger on the ground beside her, a frown making wrinkles on her face. She looked back at the trees, at the rocky slopes, at the sky.

“Move over, you troll!” Seeda shoved Heva away with her dirty foot so she could jump in, but Heva grabbed her leg and yanked. Seeda released a squawk as she fell in face first, and Heva roared in laughter.

Ryn folded her tunic and pants and left them on a boulder. She glanced down at her thin frame before she turned toward the pool, shifting her weight on her toes. She couldn’t remember the last time she was undressed in front of someone other than Heva. It was strange, but she wondered if the priestesses would notice that her arms were like sticks, her legs too weak-looking for the reputation she’d garnered.

She got into the water quickly, sighing when the coolness slipped over her warm skin, relieving her of all the dust she’d collected these last days. She dunked herself only to find Heva waiting below the water, her dark hair floating above her. Heva grabbed Ryn around the waist and tickled her sides. Ryn shrieked under water, swatting her guardswoman as she fought the urge to inhale or laugh. She finally got a foot into Heva’s stomach and Heva leg go. They both swam to the surface and when Heva grinned, Ryn splashed her in the face.

The priestesses played water games and exchanged stories until the sun grew heavy and threatened to touch the desert dunes on the horizon. Shadows stretched from the mountain’s rocky hills, and the shrill calls of evening birds filled the clearing.

Ryn climbed from the water and squeezed the moisture from her hair just as Seeda slipped on the rock and stumbled back in. The priestesses burst into a fit of giggles except for Geovani who looked back at the trees again with furrowed eyebrows. She scratched at her elbow again.

“Is something wrong?” Ryn asked, quieting the laughter.

“I think it’s time to go, Adassah,” Geovani admitted. She climbed from the pool and fetched her walking stick. “My nerves are all…” The woman’s light eyes left Ryn and travelled past her to the trees. “El, have mercy. I’m too late.” Her whisper unsettled the air. Ryn had never heard fear in Geovani’s voice before, not even when facing the Intelligentsia.

Bushes rustled at Ryn’s back and she whirled, jumping at the sight of three men standing there. They weren’t dressed in armour or kilts, instead, red robes and riding gear covered their bodies. Gold flickered across the familiar black eyes of the man in the middle, and Ryn’s insides rolled over themselves—she grabbed Geovani’s arm and pulled the old woman behind her. But it wasn’t Alecsander; the man was younger and a rose gold coronet was fastened in his ink-black hair.

Heva slid between Ryn and the men; body tilted defensively. “Who are you?” she demanded, but as she asked, a dozen more men emerged from the trees and filled a ledge above the priestesses. They drew long, curved swords in a metallic ring, their crimson capes and kilts dark in the setting sun, no shine to their brass metals. Priestesses started screaming. They scrambled from the pool, tried to run, but each one was grabbed as men leapt from the ledge.

Heva’s mouth parted. “Hurt them and I’ll kill you all!” she threatened. But she had no weapon. Ryn hadn’t even thought to bring her sword.

“Bring them to me,” the young man in the coronet demanded.

All the warriors on the cliff yanked the priestesses into a line. Ryn’s shoulders were grabbed, and she was pushed beside Heva. Nebulin sniffled down the line.

The man in the coronet stepped forward, his glittering copper belt catching the last rays of the setting sun. His robe was split open, revealing a deep ‘v’ of his bare chest as he took hold of Nebulin’s chin, turning Heva’s eyes wild. Ryn moved to step forward, but Geovani grabbed her hand.

“I do enjoy torturing captives to get information, but I’m in a bit of a hurry. So I’ll only ask once, little girl. I happen to know for a fact that Per-Siana’s Gold Maiden is among you. My spy in your ranks informed me just hours ago before we ascended this mountain.” He looked down his pale nose at Nebulin, dark eyes twinkling. “Which one of the maidens here is the war hero of Per-Siana?” The words were careful, threatening, spoken like a ruler.

A sob burst from Nebulin as she shook her head, and the man in the coronet frowned his red lips. A flash of silver made Nebulin scream as he held a dagger above her head. “Last chance,” he whispered.

“She’s not here, Prince.” Geovani stepped forward, folding her hands gracefully before her as if addressing the Per-Siana council. “The Gold Maiden has already headed back down the mountain. Perhaps you’d like to go check the border with your little band of men.”

The man she’d called a Prince turned toward Geovani, dragging his dagger back from Nebulin. “Are you this little girl’s grandmother?” he guessed, gold-black eyes flickering down Geovani’s emerald green priestess dress. “You’re doing a terrible job at raising her, you know. Teaching a young girl to lie like that.”

Geovani returned with a dull smile. “Think whatever you wish. But you might find that the Gold Maiden is not that easy to kill, even if you do find her.”

The Prince turned, placing the tip of his dagger under Geovani’s chin instead, showing off its brown leather handle and a single white crystal in the blade. “Maybe you’d like to die first, then?” His red lips mouthed the words slowly. “Maybe that would make your little granddaughter talk.”

Ryn’s stomach twisted. She’d barely taken a step forward, her bare toe scraping rock as she moved, when Seeda barked, “That’s the Adriel High Priestess of Per-Siana! You can’t hurt her!”

Geovani raised a soft hand of bent fingers, and Seeda bit down on trembling lips, her tear-stained gaze responding in silent objection.