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The next morning, I awoke groggy, but also lighter, the heartache and guilt in my chest no longer pressing down as heavily as before. A temple servant brought us breakfast and a set of fresh clothes, and once we’d bathed, dressed, and eaten, she led us back to the east wing of the temple.
“Are we meeting with the priestess again?” I asked as we passed the salon Quye and I had spent most of the previous day languishing in.
“Yes,” the servant said. “As well as a few others who would like to question you as well.”
The servant stopped outside a pair of heavy wooden doors carved with celestial symbols. The door on the left opened, and she led us into a large meeting room dominated by a long, oblong table in the center. I froze at the sight of half a dozen priests seated around it, all from different temples if the varying colors and symbols on their robes and headdresses were anything to go by. My heart pumped faster as I scanned the lot of them, looking for any crocodile symbolism.
“Relax, child,” High Priestess Anuket said. She smiled at us from the head of the table. “High Priest Inatol is not here.”
“Do you normally exclude him from council meetings?” Quye asked, approaching the table. Her white curls were pinned up, exposing the length of her swan neck, and I had to admit she looked regal, ethereal even in her all-white attire. In contrast, I felt frumpy and out of place, and more than a little nervous about being the center of attention amongst all these religious leaders.
“Not at all,” the priest to Anuket’s left said. “However, given the circumstances, we thought you might be more comfortable giving your testimony without him present. He can be… intimidating.”
“Testimony?” I asked. “I thought we already did that last night.”
“You did,” the priestess said, “but the council would like the opportunity to ask their own questions. You are not standing in the goddess's eye today,” she added gently, “so you do not need to answer any questions you do not want to. But we would appreciate it if you could shed some light on this matter, as it seems High Priest Inatol has not been honest with us.”
“Very well,” Quye agreed.
We spent the next thirty minutes telling the priests everything—about the war back home in Ediria, why the dragons had fled, the shadow magic infection, and the reason we’d come for their help.
“So these refugees are shape-shifting dragons?” a priest wearing green robes embroidered with golden sheafs of wheat asked. “Not children of Sobek-Ra?”
“I’m afraid not,” I said. “And dragons aren’t the only ones who can shape shift in our world either.”
I gestured to Quye, and she grinned. A white flash of light eclipsed her body, and the priest cried out in astonishment as she transformed with a flutter of wings into a snowy white owl. In true Quye fashion, she did a lap around the room, skimming the tops of their headdresses with her wingtips before landing on the edge of the table and hooting proudly.
“I… that…” the priest spluttered as he stared at Quye.
“The white owl is a sacred animal amongst our people,” the moon goddess priestess said, turning to me. “Are all of your people capable of shifting into beasts?”
“No,” I said. “Only the most powerful amongst us.” A memory flashed in my mind—the vision of that ice dragon staring back at me, my inner beast waiting to be freed. I nudged Quye, and she hopped off the table, then shifted back into her fae form.
The priests turned away, arguing amongst themselves about what to do. They were furious at the deception—evidently High Priest Inatol had been using the dragons to his advantage, converting many of the citizens away from the other temples. The Crocodile Cult has become immensely wealthy thanks to their booming patronage over the last twenty years, while the other temples had been losing followers and struggling to find the funds to maintain their buildings and feed their staff.
“Inatol must be brought to justice!” one of them shouted. “He should be stripped of his titles and banished!”
“Banished?” another argued. “That is far too kind. He should be drawn and quartered, along with everyone who aided him!”
“And what about the imposters?” someone else asked. “These dragons have been raking in the gold as well, living like kings while the rest of us struggle!”
“Now hang on,” I said, my skin tingling with alarm. “I know you’re angry, but remember that the dragons are refugees just trying to fit into this new world. You can’t blame them for going along with Inatol. I think most would have done the same in their situation.”
“That is true,” the priestess said, “but they still need to be held accountable for impersonating religious figures. At the very least, they should pay the gold back.”
“Of course,” Quye said smoothly. “Justice must be served, and we would especially never tell you what to do with your High Priest. But if you are going to kill him, we beg that you first allow us to speak to him. We must find out what has become of the Princess Ylena, as she is the only one who can help us.”
“You can question him when he is behind bars,” a priest snapped. “Let us confront him now, while he is still here in the city!”
The priests dispersed, each heading back to their own temples to gather their personal guards to accompany them to Sobek-Ra’s temple. “It might be best for you to stay here,” the moon goddess priestess said, pausing beside us on our way out. “It will be safer for you.”
She left in a swirl of silvery robes, and I turned to Quye. “This is spiraling out of control,” I said, my stomach churning with anxiety. “What if they kill the High Priest before we can talk to him? We’ll never find Ylena then!”
“They did seem rather bloodthirsty,” Quye admitted, glancing toward the open doorway. “Perhaps we should investigate before the priestess thinks better of it, and orders her guards to hold us prisoner again.”
Agreed, we left the temple, making a quick stop in our room to grab our belongings in case we couldn’t return. I didn’t need to consult the map to figure out where the Crocodile God’s temple was—acolytes, scholars, and temple attendants crowded the streets, all headed in the same direction. Anxiety clawed at me, and I pushed my way through the crowds, gripping Quye’s hand as I dragged her behind me.
