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Maela laughed along with the rest of us, proving she was relaxing a little more every time she was around us. But the arrival of Amerlee and Jamik made us all pause for another round of introductions. But Amerlee had brought a new friend to add to the party.
"Maela, this is another Priestess of the Body, Faylie."
The name made my heart stop. For some reason, knowing she existed was very different from seeing her in front of me, and Faylie was beautiful. Of course she was, she was a Priestess of the Body. The woman was delicate, stood inches shorter than Amerlee, and had the biggest blue eyes under her ringlets of blonde hair. When Maela spoke to her, she even flushed in a pretty way.
"It's such a pleasure," Faylie breathed.
Eladehl moved beside me, reaching up to toy with my hair. "You ladies have fun at your lunch." Then he turned me to him and kissed me slowly.
This wasn't just desire, though. His touch was a little too insistent, making it clear which woman he was choosing. When he pulled back, he met my eyes, and I could see the darkness looming. He might look beautiful, but he was angry, and hiding it well enough that most would never notice.
"And now I remember why I was busy today. Homework," he said softly.
Which meant he hadn't known she was coming either. So I nodded. "Yeah. We'll probably be out all afternoon."
He leaned into my ear. "I never wanted you to meet her."
"It seems Amerlee doesn't agree." And I kissed his cheek. "Do something fun, ok?"
"Gonna take Wraythe to the Salle," he replied, but I could almost hear him add, "and beat the shit out of him for not saying anything." He didn't, but he would've if no one else was around.
"Shall we?" Jamik asked, gesturing toward the main doors.
The entire group headed that way. Talin moved to my side and offered his arm, walking just slow enough to let the rest get ahead of us. I had to force a smile onto my lips, but my eyes kept returning to the woman who my partner had fucked.
"Path of the Body," Talin said softly. "Pull in your claws, Nari, and look at her again. Blonde like Ciella. Ringlets and short like Tishlie. She's everything he hates. The fact that he didn't kill her says even more now."
"You knew," I whispered to him.
"Amerlee mentioned it late last night. It was a possibility, not a definite. Wraythe and I decided that we didn't want to set Ela off and that you're strong enough to handle this." He leaned in. "He does not love her. He abuses her."
"And she likes it!"
"But you want Maela to sleep with him. Think hard, Nari. This Path isn't just an idea that may or may not happen in the future. It's not a kink you can talk about to get turned on. It's real, and this is our lives. If you're not ok with this, then you need to ask Zeal to let both of you out of the temple."
But I didn't want that. I wanted to be his Chosen. I wanted to save him. I also wanted to gouge out the eyes of the only other woman to spend a night with one of my men, which meant that Talin was right. This was a lesson, and a hard one, but our lives weren't going to stay easy forever.
"Help me?" I begged.
He nodded once. "Always, beautiful. That's why I'm here."
Chapter 27
Nariana
The cafe was used to serving priests. We had a table set up with Maela at the head of it. Amerlee and I were closest to her, across from each other. Shalsa was beside her partner, which meant that Faylie sat beside me. Even worse, the woman was amazingly sweet.
All of our guardians had found places at the bar beside us. That meant they got to sit but could still see us, and they were close enough that they could even relax. Thankfully, I wasn't the only one who kept looking over, but when Faylie did it, she giggled.
"I think Quin gets twitchy every time we step out of the temple," she said, leaning in like it was a private joke.
"That's your guardian?" I asked.
She nodded, her curls bouncing. "He is. I'd hoped that he'd be my partner, but it seems Zeal had better plans. He knows exactly how to take care of me and doesn't mind watching the show." Then she made a face. "He's not a fan of Eladehl, though."
"Yeah," I mumbled, realizing there was no way I'd get out of this. "I heard things got out of hand."
Faylie just shrugged that off. "Your partner is persuasive. I had to call off Quin a few times."
