AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Yet I saw one massive problem here. "What if he just sends you away, Shalsa?"
"I'd go too," Irila reminded me. "I'm bound to her above all else."
I nodded to show I understood, but that wasn't what I meant. "If he sent the pair of you away, that hurts Amerlee. Weakens her, in his mind. Wouldn't it be the more powerful move?"
Shalsa just smiled, and the look was as cruel as anything I'd ever seen on Ela. "Let him try, little sister. If that man thinks that distance can dull what decades has made permanent, then he knows nothing about women."
"But I think that's the whole problem," Talin countered. "Kinen doesn't know anything about women. He has clearly spent too much of his time playing with the nobility and peerage outside the temples, and he acts like he's forgotten that Zeal gives us all equality - men and women."
"And?" I asked.
"And," Talin explained, "that makes Kinen as much of a fool as my brother. How much of this temple depends on the women inside it? How many of our leadership positions are held by priestesses, not priests? Look at Ati in the kitchens, Saval with the students, the council of educators, the physicians, and more."
"He's right," Jamik said. "It's hard for most of us to think that way because we've been raised here, taught that men and women are different, not better and worse. Temptation thrives on the power of seduction, and all too often, our priestesses excel at that. If Kinen is trying to run this place like the barons run their homes..."
"Then he's going to underestimate his enemies," I finished for him. "That should be a good thing."
"Sadly," Talin told me, "it's not."
Chapter 12
Nariana
Igave Talin a blank look. "What do you mean?"
"Look at my sister," Talin explained. "Yamina can't refuse to marry a man, even though she isn't interested in one. She can delay. She can try to find a better option. But sadly, not getting married isn't a choice she gets. In high society, women's lives are controlled by the men who basically own them. Now apply that to the temple, Nari."
"He'd be able to order me to have sessions with anyone he wants," Amerlee pointed out. "In truth, he's already trying. I had been reducing my availability for the last few years, but now I'm being pressured to take a minimum number of sessions a week. A number that is twice what I had been accepting. Minimum."
"But you said you were losing your taste for it," I said.
Amerlee just nodded. "I am. I want to spend time with my family. Nari, the four of us are happy. Shalsa still enjoys throwing around pretty boys and sassy women. I'm thrilled that she is happy with her Path. For me? I want to spend my free time with the three of them, not a stranger."
"And memorizing laws and precedents," Irila teased. "Which is why he's doing it. You are acting more like a Priestess of the Word than one of Body. He wants to make sure you remember your place."
"Because he thinks that as the head of this temple - the ruler -" Talin said, "then he can make everyone else serve him. It's what my brother does. It's why Maela had to step up."
"Which means that I need to step up," I decided. "After all, this is why Zeal chose me."
"No," Shalsa said.
Jamik gave her a look like he disagreed. "Well, but..."
"No," Shalsa said again. "Amerlee told me what was said last night, Jamik. Kinen said that he would get rid of her. She's still an initiate. She doesn't have a permanent or guaranteed place in this temple yet. Assumed, sure. But assuming she'll stay here isn't the same as guaranteeing it."
"No, she's right," Amerlee said. "Kinen wasn't even worried about saying that in public. He thinks it's so obvious - "
"His lace," I broke in. "No, don't you see? If the tears aren't working right, and he uses my lace as an example, then it also explains his lack of it."
"Shit," Shalsa grumbled, seeing my point.
"Which makes it even more important for you to be careful," Amerlee told me. "Zeal needs you. Not me, not Shalsa, and not even Saval. He needsyou, Nari. You are the one who is the tie between the priests and our gods. The most important thing right now is for you to graduate to disciple."
"No, it's to get Zeal more faith," Talin countered. "Our god has made it clear that he doesn't care about her grades. He will not remove her lace if she's reimmersed - in any fluid. She can't be stripped, Amerlee. He will change her lace. He will increase her lace. He will not remove it - and the God of Temptation does have that power."
"And more priests means more of it," I pointed out.
"But the faith is growing on its own now," Jamik reminded me. "Nari, you said it yourself. The system is broken. So long as that remains the case, priests will still have doubts. Until they can honestly feel like their god is on their side, their doubts are valid, and Kinen is making sure that never happens. He is cracking down on this temple, and punishing those who disagree with him."
