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"She's probably behind," Zevon teased. "Nari was always a little distracted in primary."
I just huffed at him. "No, I wasn't!"
"Yes," he countered, "you were. Usually with one of those boys you were hanging out with, or your mentor, or her guardian, or just about anything else that the rest of us were jealous about."
I found my chair and flopped into it. "I didn't mean to be."
He waved me down. "I'm just saying that when your mind gets going, the rest of the world seems to be a little less important to you."
Delran turned in his chair. "I want to know about little baby Chosen. I have a feeling this will be the kind of story I can tell my grandchildren."
Konas smacked his arm. "We're not having kids."
Which made Livia giggle. "I think we all want to hear about the Priestess of Temptation before she was special."
"She was always special." Zeal's voice appeared in the room before he did, and only two seconds before Vernie walked in.
Her eyes widened in surprise. "Well, you're early this time."
"I was listening," Zeal admitted, making his way over to rest his hip on my desk. "And Livia, she was born special. On her Day of Surrender, Nari slapped the water just to get the whole mess over with. I barely had enough flesh to color before she was reaching out for her father." He paused, his head twitching. "I should also add that from the moment she walked into the Temple of All Gods, the six of us were fighting over her. You see, all of her siblings were claimed by Merci. Her awareness made Savi want her. Will was sure that her determined little thoughts marked her for him. Charisma could see how easily she'd create miraculous things, and Bode assured us that she belonged to him."
"But she ended up here," Vernie said, clearly as interested as the rest of the class.
Zeal smiled at me. "Because she chose to have a tantrum. If you hadn't screamed like that, Nari, Savi or Merci would've stained you. But that rage? That refusal to shut up and be a good little girl? It was all I needed to make you mine."
"In more ways than one," Delran fake-coughed.
Which made Zeal laugh. "You're just jealous because she's already a better Priestess of the Body than you were in your prime. She seduces gods into her bed."
"Oh!" Konas groaned, grinning at the man who used to be his desire. "Del, I think it's time to give up."
"I'm really just hoping she spills what it's like to be with a god," Delran admitted. "I mean, I have a feeling that six centuries of experience make a man rather memorable."
"Or not," Zeal countered. "Otherwise, this temple wouldn't have forgotten about me."
And then he did the last thing I would've expected. Zeal grinned at the man with the same boyishness as a twelve-year-old. It was enough to make the entire class laugh, and Delran ended up nodding, admitting he'd just been put in his place by a god. Yet it was all in good fun, and it seemed that Delran was always happy to be the brunt of the jokes if it meant that the people around him would end up laughing.
Then Vernie broke in. "Not to interrupt, Zeal, but I am curious as to how we're doing with those lists?"
Everyone else started pulling theirs out. Beside and in front of me, I could see names crossed off and marked in other ways, but my papers were mostly blank. I simply hadn't had the time to chase down the priests whose names matched the section of the alphabet I'd been given. Trying to hide my lack of effort, I leaned forward, shielding the pages with my body.
But Konas saw. Faster than I could've expected, he snagged the set from under my arm. "Vernie? Nari has been too busy to get to hers. Maybe we should spread this around?"
"No," I said, leaning in an attempt to get them back. "I'll get to it."
"After the High Priest auctions you off like a common whore?" Zeal asked. "Or will it be when you're parading around on some rich man's leash? You, my Chosen, have bigger problems, and these priests are also mine."
Delran grabbed the top two pages. "Let us help, Nari. From the sounds of it, you have enough to worry about."
"Wait," Orilee asked. "What is she worrying about? I thought it was just the disciples of Word and above who were being reassigned."
Vernie pulled in a breath at that. "Women of Word," she corrected.
"Not fucking right," Konas grumbled.
"No, it's not," Zeal agreed. "Let me make this clear for everyone in here. Not all men make good guardians. Not all women should be cooking. Not everyone with a penis is a man, and not all people with vaginas are women. Their souls know. We, their gods, know. We can tell if someone is brave and protective or gentle and caring. We read the bends and edges of your soul before we bring it to the surface - andthatis how we mark your Path."
Zevon immediately touched his own hand. "This is our soul?"
