Page 130 of Jeweler to the Blessed
Ice shot down my spine. I couldn’t claim to be all that familiar with the Blessing Ceremony, so I was unaware of how we’d be made to show our dedication to the city.
The double doors opened on creaking joints, and city guards escorted a parade of men and women up the aisle. Amidst the half-dozen who came toward the dais, one face stood out: Macen. None of them had visible adamas, and given Macen’s presence, I had to assume they must be rebels.
“These Feared were found preparing to ambush the Blessing Ceremony. We are tired of their attempts to bring chaos to our city. We’ll show them what we do to traitors.”
I stared straight ahead, though I could feel Hart’s gaze onmy skin like it was his touch. It seared. I knew he’d already put together what I was only now realizing. I swallowed thickly, saliva pooling on my tongue.
They couldn’t be asking me to do this.
This wasn’t what I’d signed up for.
“The Selected will take from these rebels as a testament to the city they love. They will fill themselves and their adamas to the point of bursting.”
My heart was beating so hard I thought it would break free of my chest.Fill to the point of bursting.He wanted us to kill them. To drain them to the point of death to fill the stores of our gems.
There were just enough rebels, one for each of us.
“I know this will be hard. It’s not our way to drain to excess,” the king continued, confirming my horrifying realization. “I ask you, the Selected, to bear the weight of this burden, to push the city forward.”
The Blessed were monsters, but most weren’t ruthless killers. There was a difference between taking without seeing the impact of your selfishness and taking to the point of murder. The king asked for the latter. He knew what this would do to these people. I suspected he did it for a reason. It was unclear to me what it was.
The Selected would do this. No one among them would want to lose the chance to become Blessed, but it was clear from their shifting glances that they would feel deeply about murder.
I was going to vomit.
This wasn’t what I’d signed up for. This path had been viable because it was in name only. I counted again: five rebels. One of the Feared … was for me to kill.
There was a faltered step from the line of guards on the right. I couldn’t look. I knew it was Hart—knew he wouldstruggle to hold his place with this revelation. There was nothing he could do without interrupting the ceremony.
What would I do?
They still had Alaric.
“Wil,” the king called the first Selected. My body moved on instinct as I handed him his adamas gem.
Rodric gestured to the foot of the dais. “Go, with my Blessing, to bring Order to this city.”
The guards pushed one of the Feared forward. The young man fell to his knees. He looked the same age as Macen. His light brown hair fell over his eyes as he peeked at the newly Blessed.
Wil, for his part, didn’t hesitate. He required no instruction on how to use the adamas. He needed no urging to take the man’s life. Without prompting, his hand reached for the man’s neck. He pressed his hand down hard and took.
If Wil were a different Blessed, I was sure the ring would have glowed purple. Fear was plain on the rebel’s face, but so was his rage. Wil’s adamas flashed red as he collected from the man. And the anger didn’t abate quickly. It ran deep. The man looked young but must have known significant loss to have joined the Feared carrying so much hate. The fire in his eyes didn’t dim until they closed. His lifeless form fell onto the dais steps.
The other children of the Blessed were much the same. Caitlyn may not have looked at the woman she took from, but she did it all the same—the bodies stacked at the bottom of the dais. Of the original Selected, only Deidre remained.
Her moves were stilted as she collected her adamas from me and received a Blessing from the king. Whatever her decision, it was clearly not made.
“Is complete draining necessary?” Her words were soft. Iwasn’t sure I’d heard them correctly. The king’s answering smile said I had.
“It’s necessary.”
She looked at the man on his knees.
“This is not a negotiation. These are traitors to the crown. We must unite and show strength.”
Deidre nodded, I thought to herself more than to the rest of us. She knelt, the tips of her fingers grazing the man’s wrist. Her ring started to flash blue. Sadness? This one must be a gentler soul. The other Feared had shown only anger—the Blessed in the room, who could see the gem’s light, started murmuring.
Her body shifted as the process continued, and I could glimpse the game she was playing. The ring was not yet over her knuckle. She placed it on the tip of her finger so that when she touched the Feared, he could just as easily wield it as she could.
