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"Yeah, so I can dosomethingto make people believe in their gods again. I don't know how to make people believe, though. You three managed because you saw things that convinced you, not because I told you to."
Talin nodded. "We saw miracles. Little ones, but they couldn't be explained without faith. I think that's what the Path of Temptation is supposed to be. Zeal is stronger than he's been in a while because of what happened in your immersion. So many people heard him speak through me. They saw his eyes in my face. They saw the lace covering your body. Little miracles, Nari, but it was enough to push them over the edge."
"Zeal did all of that," I reminded him.
Talin nodded. "And so did you. You faced down the challenges with pride and faith, only to succeed. You were the example of our god's power. No one needs to know how limited it is. They simply saw you representing him. A beautiful young woman, covered in god-lace designed to seduce, with the pride of a god."
"Ok?" I asked.
So Talin tugged at the sleeve of my shirt. "And yet now you're trying to be the proper student again. You act like hiding what you are will make them forget. It won't. Stop trying to be mediocre, and start rubbing it in their faces. Nari, they aren't going to like you more if you're subtle."
"Like Ciella," Wraythe said. "She's cute but not really that special. She just has the confidence to convince you she is. I think Talin's right."
Eladehl leaned over his knees to scrub at his face with both hands. "The Path of Temptation. What is that? Temptation is the urge to give in to things our society usually considers unacceptable. Sexual acts being some of the most common, but also violence, shame, and our weaknesses."
I could see where they were going with this. "So you think I need to make myself more noticeable?"
"I think," Talin said, "that when you walk into a room, all heads should turn. When they try to tear you down, you should destroy them. When they try to push you, push back. Embrace all of the things that make you the perfect temptation. Incite them, beautiful." He paused as a tap sounded at the door. "And show off that lace," he said as he climbed to his feet and went to answer it.
"Rub it in their faces," Wraythe said, a smile slowly growing on his harsh face. "Or mine. I'd let you rub it in - "
"Amerlee," Talin greeted the person on the other side. "Jamik. Come in, both of you."
"I just wanted to see how her classes are going," Amerlee explained as she came into view. "Oh, this looks serious."
Eladehl let out a sigh of relief. "Just the woman I wanted to see, and not because you look amazing today, although you do."
He had a point. My mentor was wearing a pair of black pants so tight, they may as well have been her skin. Above that, she had on a matching corset over an emerald green shirt. It made her crimson hair gleam and showed off all of her perfect curves. If anything, she was more beautiful now than she'd been ten years ago when she'd taken me in, naming herself my sister and helping to ease me into this world.
But Amerlee wasn't easily swayed by flattery. She heard it too much. "Sounds to me like your initiate classes are harder than you expected?"
Jamik grunted in agreement as he followed her into our suite and claimed the opposite end of Eladehl's couch. "Or they just realized how difficult the Orientation to Sexuality course will be for their guardians? Ihatedthat class."
"That's not it," Talin assured him.
"So the meditation is working?" Jamik asked. "Neither of you look like you want a cold bath, and I see the dildo on the table."
"Yeah..." Talin said, dragging the word out as he looked at Wraythe.
"Zeal fixed the rings," Wraythe told him. "No teeth on the inside of ours. No cutting. Downside, no way to prevent hard-ons."
That had both of my mentor's attention. Amerlee's head whipped around and Jamik sat up quickly. "What do you mean, 'fixed?'" he asked.
"No," Amerlee said. "Let's go back to Zeal. How often do you see our god?"
"Whenever I invite him," I admitted weakly.
Jamik was nodding slowly. "And now he's doingfavorsfor all of you?"
"Kinda," I said, hoping this talk didn't convince them I was insane. "Zeal said that the rings were not his idea. They were invented by a lazy priest who didn't want to spend countless hours teaching the guys to control their body's responses. Instead, that priest decided that a pain response would stop arousal, and he could spend more time on whathefound interesting. It was a shortcut, Jamik, not a decree from our god, and Zeal's pissed about it."
The man slowly licked his lips. "The guardians won't like hearing that."
"Why not?" I asked. "If it means you can get that stupid ring off your dick, wouldn't that be a good thing?"
"First," he said, "they won't believe you. Everyone knows that you and Wraythe were involved before your Choosing. Makes sense that you'd want to make that possible again. Secondly, they would resent the years of dealing with this, of teaching ourselves to convert our attraction to something painless. Of being denied the kind of physicality we see before us every day. Of being so close to someone we care about so much and unable to do anything about it."
Amerlee's mouth was hanging open. "You never complained," she gasped.
