Chapter 10
Liane dressed in the early dawn light and prayed to Cyra that Erich would come back, after she failed to send a message or meet him.
It was a foolish hope. But she figured prayers couldn’t hurt.
Though Cyra never seemed to answer hers.
Luzie was sleeping on her cot, snoring lightly, as Liane tiptoed across the room.
If she were back at the Golden Palace, she’d have slipped out through a hidden passageway, but despite a thorough investigation of her room, she’d found no convenient escape routes.
Eyes on the doorknob, Liane held her breath as she reached for it. Luzie moaned slightly, and Liane froze as Luzie rolled over and pulled the blanket tighter. Then Liane turned the knob slowly, praying Ludwig was sleeping rather than guarding her door.
But Cyra was not on her side that morning. The door swung open, and Ludwig was waiting with crossed arms.
“Absolutely not,” he said.
“I won’t be gone long!”
“And where is it you’re going exactly?”
“Out…” She waved in the general direction of the door.
Ludwig raised a skeptical brow. “Liane, last time you went ‘out,’ you were mobbed. Do you think it’s safe for you to leave the temple?”
“It’s early. People won’t be out yet.”
“There’s already a line outside the temple of people waiting for a chance to get in and meet you.”
“There is?” She’d been locked in her room most of the time, and when they’d toured the temple, there’d hardly been a soul around. If there was a line outside, why weren’t they letting them inside?
He shook his head. “Is this about Erich? You said you were done with him.”
“I am. We are. He wanted to talk. To end things.” A blush was burning on her cheeks. She sounded ridiculous. Ludwig might not know everything about Erich, but he knew enough to want to stop her.
“Silence is answer enough.”
“Either you let me go, or I jump out the window.” Liane backed up toward the window.
She’d make good on that threat. She needed closure with Erich to squash out this ember of hope she kept kindling in her stomach.
The goddess’ chosen and the corrupted didn’t end up together.
That was not how their story went. But he deserved the courtesy of her thanking him to his face for saving her at the dock.
“You’re supposed to be the goddess’ chosen, and yet he’s reducing you to using emotional manipulation?” Ludwig asked. The look of disdain on his face was something she’d never seen before. It felt like a dagger to the gut. Was that how he really felt?
The heat from her face spread to her neck and chest as her anger rose.
“You’re acting rather high and mighty. Where have you been sneaking off to? Have you started using stardust again?”
Ludwig flinched as if he’d been slapped, his arms hanging at his sides.
And she wished she could take the words back.
She’d forgiven him. She knew that he’d done it partially under the compulsion of Heinrich’s power.
But apparently, despite them both trying to make amends, there were wounds left festering for both of them.
Ludwig looked away and ran his hands through his hair. “No. I’m not.”
She hated this. Ludwig used to be the one person she could trust above all others, and now she didn’t know.
Liane reached out to him as a sort of olive branch, but before she could make contact, a priestess came up behind Ludwig’s shoulder.
“I hope I’m not interrupting?” they said.
“Not at all.” Ludwig walked down the hall, and she watched him go until he disappeared around a corner.
“The Avatheos wishes to present you to the temple today. Prepare yourself. The veil is required.”
Luzie sprang up, apparently having been lying there listening to her and Ludwig argue all that time.
“She’ll be ready in a moment,” Luzie said, then slammed the door.
When they were alone again, she wrapped her arms around Liane, pulling her into a tight embrace. Liane rested her head against her friend’s shoulder.
“I keep hurting him,” Liane muttered.
“I know.”
“I’m the worst friend imaginable.”
“He did betray you. It takes time to rebuild trust.”
Liane sighed heavily as Luzie patted her back comfortingly.
After a few more minutes of dawdling, Luzie said, “We better get you ready.” She turned to gather up Liane’s things, including the dreaded veil. Liane eyed it dubiously.
“I don’t know how I could have forgotten the meeting. Do you think you could…?” Liane asked.
“I’ll go out to look for him, but no promises. Ludwig isn’t wrong; silence is an answer.”
Liane had been afraid she’d say that. It wasn’t as if she didn’t feel bad enough as it was, but she had to see him one more time. When her duties were done for the day, she’d fight her way out of the temple if she must.
* * *
The rest of the day was long and grueling.
Wearing the veil was cumbersome and suffocating; it trapped her breath near her face and made everything wet and unpleasant.
On top of that, she’d been paraded around the temple to greet the rich and powerful of the city, who’d groveled and tried pressing bribes into her hand for miracles she couldn’t perform.
It reminded her of the same sycophants who’d followed her around in the Golden Palace to get closer to her mother and sister.
Thankfully, the priestess escorting her kept the worst of them at bay.
But, to Liane’s horror, she was informed she’d have to greet the crowds again tomorrow.
The people were getting restless, and they wanted to see the goddess’ avatar.
The thought of being near crowds made her stomach turn, but she’d been persuaded when they’d told her she’d see them from a balcony no one could reach.
* * *
By the time she got back to her room, her feet and her back were aching. But she was determined to get out of the temple and go meet Erich. She tore off the veil the moment she was alone.
“Any luck?” she asked Luzie.
Luzie shook her head slowly. “I’m sorry. He wasn’t there, and it’s a large city.”
Liane deflated. Ludwig was right; perhaps Erich had assumed she didn’t want to speak with him again.
She turned to the window; it was a moonless night. Had she lost her chance? It wasn’t like Liane to give up so easily, but they were also worlds apart from one another. Maybe it was simpler to let go of him and focus on the destiny in front of her.
A sudden knock at the door startled them both.
Clutching the front of her gown, Luzie opened the door and discovered a group of veiled priestesses standing there.
“The hour is upon us. The oracles have summoned the avatar. She must be prepared for the ceremony.” They spoke in unison, their voices carrying a hollow, eerie tone that sent a shiver down Liane’s spine.
“The hour for what?” Luzie asked.
But they didn’t answer and pushed their way into the room. “The avatar must be purified before being presented to the oracles,” the leader said.
Ludwig followed them, an apologetic expression on his face.
“Can someone please explain what’s going on?” Liane asked.
“Some sort of ritual, I think,” Ludwig said.
The priestesses surrounded her, and this many bodies around her caused the bile in her throat to rise. “You must bathe before you enter the sanctum.”
They pulled at her clothes until Liane pushed them away, covering her body with her arm.
“I’ll bathe, but you can’t just paw at me like this.”
They stepped back, their faces impassive.
They reminded her of the porcelain dolls she’d had as a child that she and Mathias would line up as their audience for their childhood plays.
When it became apparent they weren’t going to leave, she turned around to strip out of her clothes.
Luzie held up a sheet for privacy and wrapped it around her.
They brought in a bronze tub and buckets of steaming water, which they poured into it as one priestess stood over it, whispering prayers and sprinkling fragrant oils into the water.
Liane stepped into the scalding water and flinched, but the threat of them forcing her into the water made her sink in, little by little.
The scar on her back pulsed, and her head pounded.
Luzie hovered out of reach, blocked from approaching by the priestesses who’d created a barrier between her and Liane.
Two priestesses took up positions on either side of Liane and roughly scrubbed at her arms and hands before moving to her back and then legs. They were not as gentle as Luzie would have been. In fact, they seemed to be using the roughest cloth and were determined to take off layers of her skin.
“Is this necessary?” Liane asked while flinching.
“It is essential that you are scrubbed of all impurities before entering the holy sanctum.”
“What holy sanctum? Why wasn’t I warned about any of this?”
“Because they did not know the hour was upon us until the constellation of the ox entered the house of the raven in the sky tonight.”
They might as well have been speaking another language to her. Liane knew that the Avatheos and the oracles divined prophecy from reading the stars, but she couldn’t imagine what those things meant. She was curious to find out and endured their rough ministrations.
Once they were satisfied and her skin was pink, Liane got out of the bath.
The priestesses rubbed her skin with fragrant oils, as well as her hair, which they then braided into a coronet.
The robes they presented were heavy, gilt, and glittering with semi-precious stones.
And what was worse, they placed a gilded headpiece on top of the veil.
It was reminiscent of her mother’s crown—a series of sunbeams across her brow, three gold chains on either side of her head hanging down below her ears, and star pendants and pearls.
She wasn’t sure she’d seen her mother wear this much wealth at one time.