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"My brother killed himself," Talin shot back, his voice loud enough to carry. "Now, is that really what you want the gossip papers to carry next? Or would you rather I explain, very loudly, why he drank his life away?" And he gave her a pointed look.
With a harumph, Pia turned and stormed back toward her daughters. Half of them were glaring at me. The other half looked worried. Then there was Lina, who just shook her head and gave Talin the most sympathetic look I'd ever seen. But Talin didn't head to his family. Instead, he found us a space at the side, closest to the exit.
"Anver," he said, "no one touches her. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Priest Talin," Anver replied officially. "No one but us."
Talin then shifted me to Ela. "The first three in the line of succession are supposed to stand by the glass to witness the name," he told me, his words little more than a whisper. "This will be the second time I have to do this."
"No matter what," I told him, "I'll be here."
He forced a smile to his lips and then headed towards the large glass box that held the Book of Laws. It took all six High Priests to open it, and according to my history lessons in primary, it had never happened. Inside was a feather quill, no ink, and the book that changed pages when no one was looking. Today, it was open to the very front where the list of ruling barons was displayed.
"How do you think it works?" Ela asked, lifting my hand to his arm.
I glanced back, scanning the crowd again. That was when I realized that the priestess beside my brother had beautiful eyes. Divine ones. It was Merci. Savi hovered behind Rebexa. Arion had Bode at his right. Will stood with his arms crossed at the edge of Haylea's group, and Charisma was pacing behind Julyen. Naturally, I looked to Kinen next, but Zeal was nowhere to be seen.
"Most of the gods are here," I whispered, turning a little more as I tried to find my own. "Except Zeal."
Then I saw him. Leaning against the wall, wearing a suit that didn't mark him as a member of Temptation, Zeal's eyes were locked on Talin. His face was much too smooth, with no signs of joy on it, and his eyes were filled with worry. That didn't make me feel better.
"Found him," I breathed, aware that the guys were all subtly looking as well. "He's by the window, and not in black."
"Yeah," Anver said. "Has he said what he's doing?"
"Does he even know?" Wraythe asked.
Before I could answer, High Priest Kinen stepped up and clapped his hands three times. "I believe everyone is here now?" he asked, smiling at the crowd like he was hosting a party. "And we have the first three in the line of succession for the Ranndor title of Baron of Temptation?"
"Haryth Ranndor," Maela said, holding her son against her hip.
The boy was wearing a child's version of a suit, and his lower lip was sticking out too much. His cheeks were red as if he'd been crying, although right now, he was too busy pulling on Maela's hair to care about anything else. Kinen looked at the kid and nodded.
"Thiemo Ranndor," Talin's brother said.
Kinen turned to him and made no attempt to hide his inspection. I watched as Thiemo merely lifted his chin defiantly. Unlike everyone else in this room, Thiemo had dared to wear color. Oh, it wasn't much, but the white and purple cravat and pocket square stood out amid the massive amount of black. Finally, Kinen nodded.
"Priest Talin," my guardian said, "the seventh child of Tarben Ranndor."
That was just enough to make his place clear, and yet Talin had just refused the Ranndor name. From the corner of my eye, I saw Pia stiffen, her mouth flopping open in shock. Lina nodded her head in approval, but Yamina's lips curled into a proud smile. Sadly, Kinen wasn't as amused. The High Priest's jaw clenched, but he still managed to nod in recognition.
"Well, then," Kinen said. "Because there have been concerns about the power of our relics, we will wait for thirty minutes to give the pen a chance to work. If, after that time..."
His words trailed off as something began to happen. At first, I couldn't tell what, until the greyish feather was high enough for me to see it. That had to be the quill pen, so I glanced back to where Zeal stood to find him holding up two fingers the same way he had when directing the statue in the Temple of All Gods.
"It's Zeal," I breathed. "He's controlling it."
A smile flickered over Anver's face, but around us, everyone else was crowding in, hoping to get their chance to witness the naming of a new baron. We didn't bother. There was no way we'd see a thing, and the outcome wouldn't change because of it. Instead, I watched as Zeal's fingers swooped and looped. Desperately, I tried to figure out what name he was writing in the air.
Then something hit the floor. A moment later, someone else gasped. Right before my eyes, everyone began shifting, turning to look back into the crowd in the direction of Pia. A moment later, Thiemo's laugh rang out.
"It's not me!" he said, sounding more relieved than I would've expected.
But those words were enough to cause a rush on the box. It was slow and "polite," yet everyone wanted to see. Pia was among them, pushing her way to the front. Kinen was telling everyone to give him room. The swell of voices was more than I could take, but when I saw Maela duck out of that mess with Haryth, I waved her over.
"Yamina," she said, grabbing the girl's arm to haul her out of the way.
"What's going on?" Yamina asked as we moved around them, ready to give Maela all the help she needed. "Is Haryth the baron?"
