Page 75 of Infala: The Priest's Temptation
“The first attestant will now speak.”
Ella turned to look at the man who rose from his seat and made his way to the front where a simple lectern awaited him.
Attestant? Wait, we have people testifying against us? For what? How? We were alone.
She found out soon enough. Myriad claims were made over the next several hours as dozens of priests, many of whom she didn’t even recognize, stepped forward to voice their recollections of her and her violations. Ella managed to keepher cool, biting her tongue for most of their testimonies. But when one man, a greasy-looking priest named Gorvin — with whom she’d had a heated discussion about her being within the Norvalian compound, during which she reminded him she was a rescue and a guest — she could hold her tongue no longer.
“Oh, give me a break!” she blurted when he claimed that while she was never overtly cruel to the men of the brotherhood, he nevertheless believed she wielded some sort of vile female power over them. “You’ve got to be kidding. I never did anything to anybody, and you know it.”
She saw Draikis shake his head, warning her away from her actions, but she couldn’t help herself. Gorvin seized the opportunity, redoubling his accusations.
“I’ve seen what you do to the brothers. We’ve all seen it. You tempt them. You distract them from their vows. These men of honor and faith. Your wicked powers draw their gazes to you. You cannot deny it!”
“Deny it? Oh, please. You’re just pent up from your vows. Truth be told, you seriously need to get laid.”
“How dare you! Norvalians do not?—”
“What? Fool around? I thought that was a more recent addition to your rules. And besides, physical stuff aside, what’s so wrong about loving someone?”
Gorvin’s cheeks darkened, his eyes widening with anger. The judge stopped him in his tracks before it could devolve into something worse.
“Thank you, Brother Gorvin.”
“But she?—”
“I said thank you,” the judge repeated, his meaning quite clear.
Reluctantly, Gorvin returned to his seat, Ella somehow escaping his wrath, though if looks could kill, he’d have slain her in that moment.
The judge gazed down upon the two defendants, looking between them before resting his attention on Ella.
“You are an intruder here. A disruption to our ways and the tranquility of our home. And youdarespeak of sacred things of which you do not understand?”
“I’ve been studying the?—”
“Quiet!” He turned to Draikis. “And you. A disappointment of the highest order. You swore a vow. Took an oath. And yet you betray your faith.”
Draikis’s shoulders rolled slightly back, his head held high. “My faith is unshaken. I still uphold and defend the ways of our brotherhood, and I will remain a Norvalian until the day I die.”
“And yet you violate that very statement of faith by cavorting with this female.”
“I do not deny that she and I have been intimate. But it was not an intentional act but rather the organic blossoming of something impossible. Something beautiful. My faith remains, but it is now joined by something just as sacred.”
The judge leaned forward in his seat with a skeptical frown. “And what might that be?”
“Love.”
The assembly gasped, murmurs rising among the crowd.
“Silence!” the judge commanded, the room falling to a hush at once. He turned his attention back to Draikis. “Impossible. Not for one of our order, and certainly not with the blocking runes.”
“But it’s true. I love Ella. I was conflicted at first. Torn. Unsure of my faith. But now I see, the two can coexist.”
“They cannot. Despite what your hormones and faulty logic may lead you to think, the law is the law, and you have no defense.”
“Wait!” Ella blurted.
Heads spun, all eyes on the interloper.
