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"I also charged you a price," Zeal snarled, leaning into my face. "Complete surrender. You agreed."
"And that is only valid if you hold up your end of the bargain."
Behind me, Eladehl whispered, "Is she... negotiating with a god?"
"More like clarifying their agreement," Talin explained. "Just one thing I need to add to that, Nari. If they kick you out, I will walk with you. I will make a lot of noise about corruption in the priesthood. The tension that will cause with my family will not be pleasant, and the Temple of Temptation cannot continue to run if we do not tithe. I'm not sure I have the power to follow through with it, but my brother holds the High Priest's purse strings, and Iwill not leave you."
"You," Zeal told him, "were a very good choice. I planned to use your influence to our advantage, but I did not honestly expect you to wield it for us."
"This is weird," Eladehl mumbled.
Wraythe was nodding. "You can tell where he's standing because they're both looking at him, but I can't see a thing."
"You just have to believe," I told them. "Not accept, but believe. Stop doubting. Stop wondering if there's another explanation, or maybe if you're just missing something. Stop thinking he's out to get us. Whatever doubts are in your head, just stop, because he'sright here."
"It's hard," Wraythe said. "Don't you get that, baby? I believe that you see something that I can't. I believe we have a god. I also believe that I will not let anyone hurt you, not even him."
"Doubt his intentions," Talin said, "but stop wondering if this is a trick someone else is pulling. It's like, the moment I stopped trying to think of who could be doing this to her..." He thrust both hands at Zeal. "He did the magically appearing god trick behind me."
"Behind you is usually less disturbing," Zeal admitted. "I simply did not expect you to be looking that way."
"And," I pointed out, "none of this helps me with this immersion."
"So you're afraid," Zeal asked, "that I wouldn't change your marks? I've been thinking about them a lot lately. How the lace would look beautiful arcing under the swell of your breasts, and whether I should create a line from the back of your heel all the way up to the roundness of your ass."
"But Kinen will strip my lace," I told him. "The problem is that we'll be alone, and there's no reason for him to let me get back into the tears. My skin will bebare, Zeal. Proof that I somehow faked them, because this man doesn't care if they're actually from you. He just wants to make sure I cannot take his power!"
"Do you honestly think I would permanently remove your marks?" He snarled. "Do you think I am unaware of what he is planning?"
"Then maybe you should tell me!"
He stepped forward, his hand landing on my jaw to force me to look at him. "He will try anything and everything to discredit you, but I need you to be seen as my chosen. If that means I cover you in lace to match mine, then I will. Don't you understand? I asked if you would give yourself to me and you said yes. In exchange, I promised that I would put you with your family, and I have. Iam.But I have put everything I have into this one last attempt to survive. I don't have enough left to try again! You, Nariana, are my last chance. Don't you see? I cannot leave you. I cannot throw you away because you weren't quite what I wanted. If I do, then Idie!"
"What?" I asked, hearing Talin quietly relaying all of that to Eladehl and Wraythe. "Gods can't die."
"No, we get forgotten. It's the same thing. You deal in life and death. We deal in real or imagined. I promise you that I will not let you fail this test. If that means I have to rain tears from the sky when you step outside the temple, thenI will find a way, because without you, I am no more, and my siblings will soon follow. I want to save your family, Nariana, so you can save mine."
"I don't even know how," I told him. "You want me to do this thing, and I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing."
"You're supposed to be my priestess, my chosen one. I will guide you the whole way, but I need you to stand fast for me. I need you to stay your path, and your Path is that of all temptation. What I want from you is for you to surrender yourself to me, my beautiful, shadowed girl, and walk in the footsteps of a god."
Talin lifted his head. "And how do we keep up with that, Zeal?"
"I already told you." He pointed at Eladehl. "He will tempt her." Then to Wraythe. "He will shield her." Then he looked back to Talin. "And you? You will cut them down before they can cut her. You all agreed. I gave you the Paths that will put you where you can help the most. I have negated the rings so you can love her completely. All that is left is to believe - to fight. And those two are so close."
"So I should do this?" I asked him. "Just go to this immersion like I'm ordered and let whatever happens happen?"
"I will be there with you," he promised. "He will not see me, but you will."
"I'll be there too," Talin promised.
I nodded my head. "I'm sorry I doubted you, Zeal. I'm just terrified that this is going to ruin everything I just got."
"Nari?" Wraythe said. "If they kick you out, they kick all of us out. Talin said this is Zeal's last option, right? That he's fading because people basically take him for granted? Well, to me, that sounds like a pretty good reason to fight."
"He took us in," Eladehl said, "when no one wanted us. He gave us everything we could ask for. Good lives, comfortable homes, plentiful food, and so many luxuries. No, he didn't ask. He just took us in and made us into something. He gave us each other. If that doesn't deserve us giving a little back, then what kind of priests are we?"
"Will you do this for me, Nariana?" Zeal's hand slid around to the back of my head. "Please? Will you help me survive even if it's going to be hard? I'maskingyou, not forcing you, and certainly not deciding for you."
