Page 219 of A Vow of Embers

The guard said, “No.”

“Find whatever blacksmiths and weaponsmiths survived and put them to work. This was not a coincidence. We are going to need every weapon we can get.” He turned to his phratry. “They attacked Lycia to lure us out of the city. This was all planned. A trap that we walked right into.”

He was right. This had been coordinated. Why would they want us out of the city unless—

A sickening feeling told me that I had to get to the temple. I turned to see my sisters standing behind me, their weapons drawn. Theyseemed to have the same feeling I did. I said what we were all thinking: “We have to go to the temple. Right now.”

We ran into the labyrinth as one. Zalira headed to the front to make sure that we were going the right way. I heard Xander yell out behind me, and then he and his phratry chased us.

“It isn’t safe!” Rokh called, but Ahyana ignored him and ran faster.

Stephanos shouted Zalira’s name, but she didn’t turn back.

Xander’s hand reached for me but his fingertips only brushed against my arm. It was like the goddess had given all of us a special strength and speed to reach the temple. Even Io.

Something is wrong.The words repeated in my head.

And when we reached the archway of the temple, I realized what it was.

Just like in Lycia, I saw the first body. Then the second. The third. And a dozen more behind that.

The priestesses and the acolytes had been slaughtered.

And there was red dirt everywhere.

Ahyana screamed and Zalira had fallen to her hands and knees. Suri marched onto the temple grounds with both her daggers drawn.

“Io, stay here!” I said. She didn’t need to see this.

“No. People might be alive and they’ll need me. We have to search for survivors.”

She ran to the first acolyte and checked her pulse. She spurred all of us into action and we followed her lead.

I was sure we weren’t going to find anyone alive. I noticed the temple had chunks of it missing from the walls. Like a giant had swung a club and removed it. What could do that? I went into the temple and found it was empty.

The statue.

I ran down the stairs and saw that the statue of the goddess had been knocked over. The impact had broken her head off. Her veil had been removed. It was so sacrilegious that someone had deliberately destroyed it that for a moment I couldn’t move.

Who would do this? Who would violate the inner sanctum of the temple and the very image of the goddess herself?

I realized that the statue seemed different. Beyond being broken, it was an odd color. I crept closer to inspect it.

It was then that I realized that her specialized clothing had been removed and the paint that had colored in her stone outfit was also gone.

Because someone had stripped all the gold from the statue. I had seen it early on, when I’d very first snuck in to speak to the goddess. That a literal fortune had lain under the painted clothes and skin.

It had been taken. More blasphemy committed.

The empty eye sockets of the goddess seemed to stare at me.

I ran back up the stairs, intending to tell my sisters what I had found, but then I saw someone that made me falter.

Maia.

“Please be alive, please be alive,” I begged as I hurried over to her. There was too much damage for her to still be breathing. She was covering something with her body. I pushed her gently and saw that she had her niece, Ianessa, in her arms.

The one who hadn’t been old enough to join the temple as an acolyte. I remembered how happy she had been, how excited. Their green tunics were stained with blood, their eyes glassy and open.

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