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“We knew then,” Sylvia interjects, “Goddess was here and wanted it to happen. We knew, with your help as High Priestess, we could not fail.”
I’m stunned. The Breath of Promise hasn’t been experienced outside of a temple in over one hundred years.
Goddess has spoken, and I will obey.
My mom steps up to me and cups my cheeks with her cold hands. “Our daughter, High Priestess! And so young! I knew you were special from the moment I felt you growing. You have a destiny far beyond anything we can imagine. I know that you will lead us to the right path in this, my girl.” She plants a kiss on the tip of my nose and steps back with a smile. “Besides, I think you’ll find an ally in a… beneficial position. That boy never stopped loving you, and he’s no happier with what he’s doing now than he was before you left.”
“Mom,” I choke out, “he chose them over me before. Who is to say he won’t do it again?”
I loved Castor from the time we met as children. He was my best friend for years, and we started dating in high school. We grew up, we talked, we loved, and we planned our future. A future far away from his father and his horrible bright god. After a lifetime of being on the receiving end of the disdain and vitriol of the flock I had no interest in remaining a part of their community, and because he watched it, he didn’t either. Our plan was to leave town and start over in college since we were accepted to the same school, and never look back.
The summer after we graduated was amazing. We spent everyday together, sometimes with friends but oftentimes just the two of us in our own little world. One week before we were scheduled to pack up our cars and drive off to university, we met for breakfast at the same coffee shop I saw him in today. From the moment he walked in I knew something was wrong. His dark eyes were more prominent than usual because his skin was pale with dark circles under his eyes, even with his tan from months in the sun, and he was unusually quiet.
He can’t go with me, he says. He’s needed at home, he says. His mom is sick, and his dad needs someone to help with her and pick up on the duties she won’t be able to fulfill any longer.
I cried. I questioned. I made a complete spectacle of myself in front of people we’d known our whole lives, and while I begged him he stood up from our booth and walked out the door without looking back. I packed up my car and left for school the next day, promising myself I’d never return or ask him for the real reason he left me and destroyed our futures.
“Goddess says. She put him in your path on the first day of your return, in the last place you saw him. We didn’t tell him you were coming, and you ran into each other immediately after five years of being away? She is working through you already.”
I want to believe her. I want to believe that there is something we can do other than endless rounds of chemo and surgeries to cure her. And truthfully? I want to believe there may be another chance for Cas and I.
Maybe he’s finally ready to break away from his father and their insecure, vindictive god.
Maybe, just maybe he’s finally ready to choose me.
CHAPTER THREE
My moms and I spent the night eating, drinking, planning, and praying.
A few hundred years ago, we were one community. Their god and our Goddess were worshiped together as our creators, with clerics and priestesses holding ceremonies together and leading our people as one group. One newly risen Reverant, Cas’s direct ancestor, did not like that the people looked to the High Priestess as they looked to him. She was a lowly woman, not fit for leading, and he began the process of separation. Like his god, the original Reverant Addamson was jealous and controlling. The Goddess and her priestesses were blamed for the drought and sickness occurring at the time, as if poor hygiene and a hot summer had nothing to do with it. Their persecution caused the priestesses to flee for their safety after their High Priestess was sacrificed as an act of offering and contrition. They were forced into hiding, devoting themselves to Her in the shadows in order to keep their lives.
Our Goddess is simply referred to as Goddess, or Mother. Her love is limitless, and Her power resides within us all. While we continue to wear black clothing to protect ourselves from the persecution of our former brethren, we wear white hidden underneath to symbolize that Her love and power is always there, within us all. Their god is called the Radiant One, the Guiding Light, and an innumerable combination of other ridiculous names that glorify him as the light that rules everything they do. He is a possessive god who allows no one other than himself to shine. His devotees wear black to show they cannot compare to him, and those with light colored hair must dye it or cover it when in the temple so they do not detract from his radiance. No one other than the Reverant is exempt from these rules, and even then only to a small extent.
The current Reverant Addamson’s hair is naturally as black as his son’s, but when we were kids he started going gray. Cas told me his father had started sneaking off to a town about an hour away to have it prematurely dyed gray so he could say it was a result of his god’s favor. According to my moms, he’s now gone as far as dying his hair completely white, and he moves throughout the community like an untouchable man.
When my moms had their idea, they began watching for weaknesses within the Reverant that could be exploited. It wasn’t long before they found it.
Young, beautiful women.
Young, beautiful women with light skin and pale hair, to be specific.
Women that happen to look exactly like me.
Cas’s parents were in an arranged marriage that lasted over thirty years. His mother was a lovely, kind woman, but she was plain. Growing up, it never seemed as if her husband loved her, but she always tried. He didn’t show any of the affection or attraction towards her that my moms did towards each other, so it always made me sad for her. She loved Cas though, and even though her husband didn’t love her she was a devoted Reverant’s wife and follower of the bright god. She committed her life to her son and the congregation, and hopefully found happiness in them.
Since she passed, Mom said the Reverant has never publicly dated or taken another wife, though he has an obvious preference for the younger women in the fold. He especially prays on those women who are quiet and meek.
I fit the physical profile, but not the personality one. Figuring out a way to make this work may be a bigger task than I am capable of, but I will do anything to help my mother and serve my Goddess.
I am average height and slim with decently full hips and breasts. To me, what makes me stand out is my coloring. My hair is thick, long, and almost silver blonde. My skin is pale no matter how much I try to tan, and my eyes are a light, bright green. For a follower of the Radiant Father, I could not be colored more inappropriately. Growing up, I was forced to cover my hair and as much of my skin as possible when attending worship or other activities with the flock to ensure I did not distract from why we were there. Many of the elders treated my moms and I as if I purposely tried to shine brighter than their god, and as a child I felt their disdain meant something was wrong with me.
It took the love of both of my moms, the unwavering acceptance of Cas and his mom, and the revelation of who my moms truly worshiped in my late teens for me to finally love and accept myself the way I am. I threw myself into learning the ways of the Mother, my true Goddess, even though I knew I could never tell anyone outside of the faith. I chose my university because it was where my mom learned about and worshiped the Goddess, and I wanted to be around women who shared my love for Her and learn more. I struggled in the beginning because I was grieving the loss of my future, but it soon became apparent that I was where I was supposed to be.
My sister priestesses come from all walks of life. We are made up of all races, backgrounds, body types and ages, and no one is discriminated against or treated badly because of things they can’t control. We worship in the dark so our own light can shine bright, and as time passed I threw myself into my devotion. In my senior year, our High Priestess was forced to move when her husband was transferred for his job and I was chosen as her successor. As the youngest High Priestess in the history of our temple I take my position very seriously, going as far as staying in the area after graduating to continue there and growing Her following. When Mom called to tell me about her cancer, however, I did not hesitate to come home. She brought me to the light of the Goddess.
I’ll do whatever I have to so hers won’t diminish.
CHAPTER FOUR
