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“Yes,” Taria asks, “what was it?”
“High Priestess Ahelin. I was wondering what will happen to her.”
“You needn’t worry. She attacked the First Disciple of the Grand Priestess Elunar. She will be dealt with according to the law, and undoubtedly stripped of her position as the High Priestess of Esterra City.”
“How will she be punished? She won’t be executed, will she?”
“That is for the law to decide,” Taria replies. “A trial will be held to determine her fate.”
“I see . . .”
“Do you wish for her to be executed?”
I shake my head. “When I arrived, she cleansed me from the poison running through my veins and saved my life. Though she later tried to execute us, I can’t deny that Natharius is a Void Prince of the Abyss and that I’m the one who summoned him, though I wouldn’t call myself a witch by any stretch of the word. Ahelin was only doing her job as the High Priestess of this city. She couldn’t have known the Mother would send you here to carry out her will.” I don’t add how I explained the threat Arluin and his necromancers pose to Imyria and how Ahelin believed me until she discovered my connection to Natharius. Doing so may result in more evidence against Ahelin, and I don’t believe she deserves to be executed. Maybe being stripped of her title and responsibilities, but not death.
“You’re quite correct. Natharius is a Void Prince, and you are his summoner. In usual times, that would warrant your execution. That’s why Ahelin won’t be tried for this. She will instead be tried for the crimes of striking me, the First Disciple. Her intent was clear to all who witnessed her actions earlier today.”
At least if Ahelin is executed, it won’t be because of me. That may be a horrible thought to think, but there’s already enough blood on my hands. I don’t need any more.
I give her a nod. “When you’re ready, I’ll meet you outside the temple.”
“We won’t keep you waiting for long,” Taria promises.
twenty
Aneveningbreezerollsover me as I gaze up at the twinkling stars. Natharius stands to my left, leaning against one of the temple’s pillars, and Zephyr hovers on the other side of me, his wings beating back and forth. The Void Prince’s arms are folded across his chest, and his foot taps against the stone. Over and over. With so few outside the temple, it would be peaceful if not for the incessant tapping of his foot.
“Stop that,” I snap, glaring at his foot.
“Stop what?” the demon asks, raising a silvery brow. His foot pauses, offering me a moment’s respite. Then it continues louder than before.
“Your foot. You have an awful habit of tapping it whenever you’re waiting. It’s irritating.”
“Don’t blame me,” Natharius replies. “Blame the priestess and her friends. We have been waiting out here for almost an hour. If they were here already, I wouldn’t need to tap my foot.”
I heave out a breath. Unfortunately, he has a point. We’ve been waiting outside the temple for a while, though Taria promised she wouldn’t be long. I fed Zephyr more aether crystals and filled my enchanted pouch with more supplies before we came out here to wait. I expected the temple’s maids to protest when I headed down to the kitchen, but they saw to my request quickly. They must have wanted me to leave the temple as soon as possible. And to take the Void Prince with me.
Regardless, the priestess’s lateness doesn’t excuse Natharius’s annoying habit.
“Why are you so eager to leave, anyway?” I ask. “I didn’t think you’d be in such a hurry to be reunited with the priestess.”
Natharius wrinkles his nose. “I’m not in a hurry to reunite with that light-worshipping fool. We should leave her behind.”
“That doesn’t answer my other question.”
“Which other question?” he growls.
“Why you’re in such a hurry to leave?”
“I’ve already explained this before,” Natharius says, casting me an exasperated look. “The sooner we leave, the sooner we reach the Ghost Woods and you die.”
I don’t need to glare at him, since the one Zephyr casts him is scalding enough. Natharius offers him a venomous scowl, and my faerie dragon’s resolve crumbles and he cowers behind me.
I sigh and stroke Zephyr’s head, though it does little to calm his nerves. “I wouldn’t count on it though,” I say to the Void Prince. “There’s always the possibility that I’ll make it through the Ghost Woods alive.”
“Indeed,” Natharius says with a sigh. “And perhaps I will be forced to remain in this wretched place for decades.”
I pray it won’t take decades to defeat Arluin. I can’t allow Father to be enslaved to his will for that long. Nor can I allow Nolderan to go unavenged.
