Rosalind’s POV
When I went out at midnight, River was waiting and I thought I caught a glimpse of surprise in those dark depths.
“You came.”
I had been so sure that I wouldn’t but the thought of staying without answers for even a second more didn’t appeal to me in the least.
Deep inside me, I knew that wasn’t the only reason I was back.
The other reason was one that scared me slightly.
Magic.
Knowing my ban on magic was lifted and that I would have at my fingertips, the power to make sure that people like Councilman Arthur never got the chance to hurt me as he had threatened was enough allure to find my way back.
I met River’s gaze.
“We need to talk.”
******
High Priestess Malia’s POV
The cushion was uncomfortable.
But then such was the problem of choosing a life that was as simple as it was intricate.
One had to accept the discomfort and become one with them to attain true ascension.
I looked over at the last person I would have expected to come calling at this hour.
“What brings you here?”
The beads on her braids clinked together as she adjusted in her seat, her face unlined by the passage of time as she tipped her lips into a full smile.
“Nostalgia.”
I barely held back a scoff. Was that the game she wanted to play now? Anyone with half a brain knew that sentiments alone would never have brought her here.
“Estella.”
She ignored the warning in my tone as she always had before, standing to her full height and moving way into my personal space before going on her knees, her voice soft as silk.
“Malia, don’t you tire of all this high priestess nonsense. Come back with me.”
Once I would have glorified hearing those words. Once.
I lifted an eyebrow unaffected. “Will you cut to the chase? I have somewhere to be.”
Prayers to conduct, rituals to perform, communions to execute and a life to live that no longer included her.
Something shuttered in Estella’s gaze as she straightened moving away from me back to her given seat.
“Right. I had forgotten how busy you are with your new responsibilities.”
Her words were undeserving of a response so I stayed silent.
Then finally Estella got to the reason she had come here, her voice deceptively casual.
“The Princess Trials. How did they go?”
That was the only reason she could have returned. Not for the past four anything so frivolous.
For information, for power. Why was I still expecting anything else from her? I met her gaze.
“I didn’t plan on telling anyone about her abilities.”
A tiny sigh left her lips and she looked relaxed for the first time since stepping into my quarters.
Then her eyes turned distant, a tiny smile on her lips.
“I haven’t felt anyone so strong in all my life.”
A chill went up my spine even though I felt the girl would be better off with Estella and far away from the Southern Paw.
Did Estella truly have no iota of shame for her past actions?
“Maybe you shouldn’t have abandoned her then.”
Estella’s smile froze in her face and her eyes were dead serious as they met mine.
“I didn’t.”
Right.
She seemed to have forgotten that I had seen the girl.
Those eyes. That face. It had been like a window to the past that I never wanted to see again.
I stood from my cushion as I felt something shift within my temple.
“My time with you is up, I trust you can find your way out.”
I began to move towards the door but Estella’s arm reached out and grabbed my arm, her touch light and lingering sending a spark running through me.
“Malia.” Her voice held an unspoken plea.
I shrugged off her hold, fixing her with a stern impersonal glance.
“This was a last courtesy among old friends. Don’t expect it again.”
I saw hurt flicker in her gaze and it said a lot about her that with my levels of discernment, I couldn’t tell if it was fake or real.
“Old friends?”
That was all we had been in the end because if we had been more, if she had let us be more none of us would be who we were today.
I was thankful for where I was, grateful for how far I had risen. But on some days, some days I pointlessly wondered where we could have been.
I turned away from my past, my answer ringing clear. “You chose what was important for you. Let it be enough.”
I walked towards the source of the disturbance only to find my second trying to explain to my guest why she could not disturb me and bring me out of my meditation at this hour.
I felt my ire rise although I didn’t show it in my face.
Such was the problem with these people who felt like they held power. Power corrupted them to the extent that what was basic decency became out of sorts for them.
They were transformed. Transformed into what they weren’t. As Estella had been.
The person in front of me was a different case entirely.
“Councilman Bane.”
My second turned and bowed low before I dismissed her with a wave.
She didn’t linger, leaving Arthur Bane and I alone.
I didn’t bother to offer him a seat or a listening room. Everyone knew that to meet with any members of the priesthood, a request must be sent in first.
A public request which we would get to when available within our stringent routine.
For purebloods, summoning magic was an afterthought. It was wild, uncontrolled and dangerously intoxicating.
What we did here, communing with the goddess was more focused, and intense with less outlandish but no less powerful results.
Estella had not made a request, using magic and our past relationship to secure a meeting I had only deigned to attend because of my curiosity but for Arthur, a Councilman, to try the same at this hour, meant something vastly different.
He had come to involve the priesthood in his political gimmicks.
A small smile graced his lips as he strove for embarrassment and humility.
“High Priestess, I apologize for my abrupt calling on you. I will go straight to the point to avoid wasting our time.”
As he should, no one could buy my time.
His voice was low and uncharacteristically worried.
“Prince Cillian refuses to accept his chosen mate. Is there any provision in the Priesthood law for that?”
It had been done before and it would be done in the future. The binding power of the Princess Trials after those dark times had laid in the simplicity of acceptance.
There could be no forcing of anyone to take the brides selected for them. The goddess had in her dual merciful and merciless way chosen an appropriate queen.
Choosing to disobey meant claiming one could find a better match without the help of the goddess. I wished Prince Cillian all the best in that endeavour.
I shrugged trying to soften the blow since it was his daughter’s life that was going to be set in uncertainty now.
“The Princess Trials are to pick suitable candidates for queenship. It is not a yardstick of suitability to the prince but to the country and the results are at best advisory.”
Arthur was silent for more than a few moments and when he finally spoke, his eyes were unreadable and intense.
“So there is no means by which you can help us out? Maybe,” Something dark and malicious lingered in Arthur’s eyes. “If there were any chance that a mistake was made in the selection?”
My eyebrows reached far up my hairline.
Did he realize the gravity of his words? That the goddess had made a mistake in her selection? What blasphemy.
“Pardon?”
It seemed that he didn’t fully understand that he was a word and a sentiment from being thrown out of the priesthood grounds regardless of his political standing because he kept talking with that annoying conspiratorial tone as though we were on the same ship.
“The omega girl is not a good match for a prince. I wondered if the priesthood could”
I interrupted him, finally understanding the meat of the matter.
“I apologize, Councilman Bane.”
He knew the results were not wrong but the thought that an omega would become queen while his own daughter remained rejected by her own prince didn’t sit well with him.
As though all that nonsense about bloodlines mattered to the goddess and if it did, his daughter would still be ineligible compared to a pure blood. A royal at that.
I met his beady eyes with a blank face that I had mastered in my time as a priestess.
“The trials are of the goddess’s wishes. How could a mere mortal like me presume to change her directives?”
I saw the anger bloom on his face as his pleasant men disappeared giving way to an entitled sense of annoyance.
“You will not help me.” Arthur said gruffly.
I folded my hands above each other, my expression still placid.
“It’s not a matter of willingness but ability. I cannot help you.”
Arthur let out a low menacing growl.
“You shouldn’t forget the funding that is channeled to the priesthood from the council. If we fall, you will too.”
So much arrogance. So because his daughter didn’t mate with a prince the entire council would fall?
And even if they did, how much gold did he think we needed here that we would compromise our dignity for it?
He was mistaking me for the high priestesses before me who had used the position to line their pockets.
Who had taken the vow of poverty as a suggestion.
Every lick of gold that had been given to us in my time sat in the treasury under lock and key used only for medicine, and repairs.
We had our farm where those unable to commune directly worked. We made our own clothes and shoes. We had a spring that had not stopped flowing since the inception of the priesthood.
What did we lack for? The excess we had was more than enough to sustain the priesthood for generations to come.
Saying we would fall because of the council had to be one of the most stupid things I had heard.
“The priesthood will rise or fall according to the goddess’ will.” I gestured to the doors. “Please leave.”
Arthur looked like he was contemplating fighting me before he thought better of it, giving me a snide glance instead.
“You should watch out, high priestess,” He gave the room an unimpressed superior glance. “There are so many old slippery steps here. I wouldn’t want you to fall one day.”
His fall was coming and I would glory in it.
“There is no need for your worry, Councilman, the Goddess cares for all her children.”