Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 156907 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 785(@200wpm)___ 628(@250wpm)___ 523(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156907 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 785(@200wpm)___ 628(@250wpm)___ 523(@300wpm)
True was not irritable.
He was also not quick to anger.
But this priest, called G’Aron, was a foolish choice for the Go’Doan to send to attend this particular summit.
Mars and Silence had left some days ago, after Mercy’s funeral, after the executions.
However, he had left his mother, the relict Queen Elpis behind to sit in his stead.
Cassius had left his lieutenant, Severus.
Aramus, his man, Tintagel.
Serena also sat that table, looking both miles away and wishing to be anywhere but there, what she had been now for days, if I saw her at all (for most of the time, she was not in the castle, whereabouts unknown and unreported, though it wasn’t my business anyway).
With Ophelia were her lieutenants Lucinda, Julia and Agnes.
King Noctorno of Hawkvale and Apollo of Lunwyn sat with us as well.
And the Go’Doan had sent two Go’En, their high priests.
G’Aron, who I assessed to be perhaps in his fifth decade on this earth (late into it). A man who was prideful and had clearly been given the directive to deny all responsibility, try to convince everyone the Go’Doan had nothing to do with this Rising and create as much distance as possible between the two.
And G’Ry, an elderly man, my guess being in his seventh or even eighth decade of life, who was quiet, watchful, often grunted unintelligibly when Aron said things I was coming to understand he didn’t agree with, but who mostly looked confused as to why he was even there.
They weren’t taking this seriously.
Then again, it was not their lands under attack.
Last, at the table was another priest, his name G’Liam. He was a man who arrived with Ophelia, not the contingent from the Dome City.
And he made it clear he looked upon Aron with great distaste, not simply the things he said, but whoever Aron was in the order of their faith.
Wilmer, I was not surprised to learn, had opted out of attending this meeting.
“But I will again assert the actions of these fanatics have nothing to do with the Dome City,” Aron concluded.
“You knew from the moment G’Dor murdered King Ares this was an issue and you did not breathe a word to anyone, anywhere,” Ophelia retorted.
I did not look at Elpis.
But Aron shot a vicious glare at Liam that promised reprisal, for Liam had shared this information with the Nadirii queen.
“If even a hair is harmed on his head, the Nadirii will ride through the Dome City and lay waste to your gold and white,” Ophelia spat.
I felt True’s attention shift from keen to critical at this assertion, along with my own and that of everyone at the table.
A Nadirii dropping the gauntlet for a Go’Doan priest?
Only then did my eyes shift to Elpis, who was staring at Ophelia.
She felt my gaze, looked to me and appeared astonished for a moment that she held it.
This was not a surprise. I had been cold to her after my own mother’s death.
But now, much had been lost.
It was not time to nurse grudges and nurture rifts.
It was time to hold all that was dear as close as you could get it.
She was once like a second mother to me.
Losing my own as I did and all that came before, I did not know if we would get that back.
I just knew I no longer intended to nurse grudges and nurture rifts.
Her face softened as she read these were my thoughts before she raised her brows.
I bit my lip.
She tipped her chin nary an inch to share I should pull myself together.
I did just that and stopped biting my lip.
“We do not hang those who transgress in Go’Doan,” Aron returned.
Oh no.
“We also do not slaughter them publicly,” he went on.
True’s attention was no longer acute.
It was infuriated.
I caught myself from reaching my hand out to take his.
But when I thought True would speak, instead, Noctorno did.
“I would caution you to remember that tragic events have very recently passed and there are those at this table who have suffered much because of them. There is no one here who believes the people true to your faith are behind them. That is not the issue. The issue is stopping those who are perpetrating these acts from doing anything further.”
“Right now, for the Go’Doan,” Aron retorted, his attention turning to True, “the issue is that we’ve received alarming reports that violence is freely being practiced against our priests here in Wodell as well as our followers in this realm. From children throwing stones at priests to our temple being burned to the ground in Ramsay. Thus, I must repeat my request that you send soldiers, as soon as can be arranged, to guard our sacred sites and keep safe the men who speak our faith but also tend to your ill and educate your children.”
“And I’ll happily do so,” True replied casually, though I knew from a thread in his voice that there was nothing casual at all about this.