Page 165 of The Cerulean Sister
"Do not be, but you must tell me when you are doing something like that. We work together." He grips my jaw as I nod.
"I will."
"Good, now lead us to the temple, Priestess."
Chapter
Forty-Three
The temple corridor is full of guards and temple members. They brace when they hear us coming, wide-eyed and battered with scorch marks on the walls around them.
Some lean heavily against furniture, injured from whatever took place in this wing before we arrived.
I almost trip over a man in First Son clothing, strange tubes running along the seams of his tunic, the material unnatural. His legs reach out into the aisle like he was dragged out of the way once disarmed.
The Viathans and even the Estate guards stationed here speak with 99, briefing him on the attack of this wing.
"Ferren!" Thea’s voice cuts through a small group of temple members. "Mother's womb, I was so worried about you."
Her hair and temple gown are a mess, the sleeve of her dress torn, revealing a small cut on her arm.
I hug her tightly. "Did they breach this wing?"
"Yes, only a few came down this way, but they are saying there will be more." Thea looks around, still on alert.
"We came from the grand hall."
"Temple had just been dismissed and then we heard the explosion. Most went toward the sound to fight. But a group oflesser priestesses took it upon themselves to go off as well, and we have not heard from them." She shakes her head. "I don't understand how they breached the ward."
I give Selene a quick knowing look as she does her best to not be noticed.
"No one enters the temple. It stays sealed!" A high priestess raises her voice to 99 and the small group of Viathans standing close to the entrance.
To them, we have no reason to enter. They are doing their duties in protecting what is inside.
The Estate guards come in closer to the temple members, separating themselves from the Viathans who they recently fought beside against a common enemy, an obvious divide forming.
99's tone is urgent even though he will not tell them why we need to get in, but there is no time to be careful with words.
"The wards are down," I announce myself. "The highest priestess has fallen."
Thea takes a few steps back as if giving in to her shock.
"How?" the high priestess who yelled at 99 asks me with such anger, her nostrils flare.
"The explosion." Leema steps forward to interrupt, lying before I can think of an answer.
"We have to put the wards back up," I say right to Thea, quickly trying to get her on our side.
She glances at the increasingly tense interaction by the sealed doors.
"No," the high priestess says. "The temple stays sealed. It is written?—"
A bright streak of light shoots across the room, grazing the leg of an Estate guard who screams in pain and crumples over.
The disagreement disperses in a frenzy of First Mother’s gifts and drawn Viathan weapons.
99 has his gun pointed down the corridor and unleashed into the space before I can even realize we are under attack again.
