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"I can't argue against that," she admitted. "I'm just worried about you, Nari. The High Priest is looking for a reason to get rid of you. He doesn't believe in Zeal. Ciella has no lace, and I heard that Ela attacked her?"
"She tried to seduce Talin in front of Ela," I explained. "He simply took that as an attempt to get his attention. She's also been asking for it."
"I know," Amerlee agreed, "but Kinen doesn't need much of an excuse. If he can hurt you - and punishing Ela would do that - then he will. The man knows you're a threat to his position."
I groaned. "But I'm not. He's a threat to his own position. His lack of faith is the threat."
"Which is hard to see for those who don't talk to gods," she reminded me. "But, speaking of gods, how did things go with Peyron?"
So I told her all about that, including how Ela and Talin had been involved. I felt like I never got to see Amerlee anymore, but that made a strange sort of sense. As I progressed through my training, I didn't need a mentor as much. Since I was growing up, I didn't rely on my mother like I had as a child. I still adored her, but I didn't need her and Jamik all the time like I had last year.
Then she dropped her big news on me. "Nari, I've put in a request for reimmersion with the next Choosing."
"What?" I asked.
She nodded. "You'll graduate and start working as a Priestess of the Body, and I'm ready. Now that Jamik isn't ringed, it feels like all four of us are getting closer than ever before. I didn't even know that was possible, but we're all happy. Enough so that I no longer want to do sessions. I dread them."
"Which means it's time to move on," I agreed. "You're going to be an amazing Priestess of the Word. It won't be the same seeing Jamik with a collar of lace, though."
"No, it won't," she agreed.
"Has Shalsa decided to move up too?"
Amerlee shook her head. "No, but we'll remain partners. She'll still do her sessions, and Irila wants to stay as a guardian with her, but she won't take another to share her rooms. If we have to move to single suites, then we'll just make it work the way we have so far."
"It'll work somehow," I promised. "Zeal will make sure of it."
After that, things fell into a comfortable routine. The guys were helping me stay ahead on my studies. I was helping them keep up as well. Ciella kept her distance from Ela, but Tishlie had taken to glaring at me in our Sensuality course. I did my best to ignore it. Ela did his best to taunt her, and the days began to slip past.
The next weekend, Maela was back. Since she couldn't stay as long, we didn't make quite as big of a deal out of the gathering. This time, it was just her, Amerlee, and me - with our guardians. She filled us in on her argument with Tath, but to me, it sounded like she was more determined than ever to step up. She just had to figure out how to do it without having her husband override everything.
That night at dinner, I was telling Ela, Wraythe, and Anver about the discussion. I wasn't sure what Tath could do to cause problems, but I was sure there would be something. If nothing else, it would make Kinen take Maela's influence less seriously, and that could be a problem. Just when I was starting in on how she'd been ranting about Tath's mistresses at the breakfast table, Wraythe grabbed my arm and pulled.
I slid out of my seat and halfway into his lap just as something crashed down onto my chair. Talin jumped to his feet. Anver shoved the chair I had been sitting in back, and Ela glared. The moment I was stable, I turned to find Tishlie standing there with an expression that was supposed to look shocked, but failed miserably.
"Oh, sorry," she taunted. "I slipped."
My eyes dropped down to see what had landed in my former seat. There, laying on its side, was a teapot. The water trickling from the spout was hot enough to steam, which meant hot enough to burn. Using Wraythe for support, I made my way to my feet, bent to grab the tea pot, then offered it back.
"Were you hoping I'd scar?" I asked. "Or do you honestly think that Anver would love you more for such petty shit?"
"He's mine," she growled at me.
"Mhm, and so is the laceless priestess. I can't think of a way you could do worse for yourself as an initiate, Tishlie. It's almost like you'restrivingto fail. Now, get the fuck out of my sight before I ask the Priests of Obligation to keep you away from anything hot - including dinner."
"You can't do that!" she screeched.
I let my eyes close in a slow blink. It was the only way to deal with that octave of her voice. "You and Ciella keep trying. You also keep failing. When will you learn that I don't even care about you?"
"You stole Anver from me," she huffed.
But Anver was done with her shit. "No," he snapped before I could respond to that. "You chased me off, Tish. I tried to care about you. I did my best to be a good guardian, and you couldn't appreciate it. So, in the last year, I've learned to hate you." He pushed a hand right into her chest, moving her back even as he shifted over to my side. "And I love them. My heart isn't ringed, and they don't care if I can fuck. You lost. Get over it."
Then he turned and kissed me. Yes, I put a little extra effort into it, leaning into him enough that Anver had to hold me up. This sweet, gentle boy wrapped his arm around my back, and for the first time, he was there for me as nothing more than a man. Not a guardian, not an asexual. He pulled my body against his and kissed me as if nothing else in the world mattered.
"And that," Ela said smugly, "is why you can't compete. The next time you try something that stupid, I'll hold you down and burn you. I'll make you beg for it loud enough that no one will question consent. I'll also make sure that the scars I leave you with guarantee that you'll never work on the Path of the Body, so stop fucking with us, Tish. We're done playing games."
"Too bad we're not," the little bitch snapped before storming off.
I heard it, but I didn't care. The moment Anver leaned back and met my eyes, all I could do was smile. "That," I breathed, "was one hell of a kiss."
