Chapters (72)
“What are you doing to her!” Ananke demanded, hot tears racing down her cheeks. “Let her go!”
She realized one of the others—Tarseis—was holding her back. A low hum filled the air as the pale light contracted into Temara, and instead of the dark, sea-green eyes Ananke loved so much, all she could see was white light.
And then the light vanished and Temara collapsed.
“Temara!” Ananke screamed, and with all the strength she had, she wrenched away from Tarseis and raced over to Temara.
“She is perfectly fine,” Pallas said. “Her esha has been knitted to that of the Sacred Word. Should we ever need it again, it will be a simple matter of unlocking it from her—or from her descendants, I suppose, as she is not immortal as we are.”
Ananke threw herself to the ground beside Temara, cradling her carefully. She could see the rise and fall of Temara’s chest, could feel the aching vibrations of her esha, now fused with something that howled and shook Ananke like a storm. The Word.
“Of course, unlocking the Sacred Word will kill her,” Pallas said. “But that is a price that we will have to accept, should the need arise.”
Ananke wept, burying her tearstained face in Temara’s hair.
“Pallas, surely we don’t need to do this,” Behezda began. “Surely there is some other way to protect the Word.”
“It is done,” Pallas said, in a tone that made it clear he would not discuss it further. Ananke could hear his footsteps approaching, standing over the two of them.
“Give her to me,” Pallas said softly.
Ananke looked up at him through her tears. “Why did you do this?”
“Because you must learn,” Pallas said. “Just because the Creator is dead does not mean our hearts are our own. We are the gods now, Ananke, and we must remain pure and unshackled to the mortals we rule.”
“I don’t want to be a god,” Ananke said through tears.
“Then leave us,” Pallas said coldly. “Deny your right to rule. I will have your name struck from the world, and no person in our Prophetic Cities will ever speak it again. No city will bear it. You will live an immortal life, the same as the rest of us, but you will be a ghost.”
“And Temara?” Ananke asked.
“Temara has a duty, even if you refuse yours,” Pallas said. “She is the Keeper of the Sacred Word. And her child will be Keeper of the Word, too. And their children. She was meant to be a sacrifice to the god. And now her sacrifice will be our safeguard should the god ever rise again.”