I’d run across the Followers of Guram before. They were a nasty sect and they liked skinning people with tattoos, which they considered a mortal sin, to curry favor with whatever god Guram prayed to. Guram was a prophet of sorts and the rumor was that once you heard his sermon, you would become a devotee. Law enforcement stomped them out, but they were like a hydra. You crush one head and another pops up in a different city. Although I hadn’t heard about them for a few years.

“How many of the followers did you kill?”

She smiled a small smile. “All of them.”

Wow. “How long did it take you?”

“Two years.”

“What about Guram himself?”

“I killed him, too.”

“How did you feel about killing all those people?”

“Sharrum wanted them dead.”

I finally realized why she disturbed me so much. She was what Voron had wanted me to be. A killer without any remorse, without any doubt or questions. Point and watch the blood spray.

My father had done that to her. Like he told me, he’d given her serenity of purpose. And she was serene. The only time she became agitated was when I tried to send her away. My father was the closest thing to a god she knew. When your god orders you to kill and accepts full responsibility for it, it frees you from guilt, shame, and doubt.

This had to stop. My father had to be stopped.

“Adora, what do you want to do?”

“I want to serve you.”

“And if I said you couldn’t, what would you do?”

“I would kill myself.”

No doubt in her big brown eyes. Nothing except complete devotion.

“You wouldn’t go back to my father?”

“I would be killed. I wouldn’t be useful any longer. But if I had no choice, I would return to Sharrum.”

I had to walk her back to civilization if it was the last thing I did.

“Why don’t you like me, Sharrim?” she asked in a small voice. “I’m not the highest rated, but I’ve trained the hardest. I’m diligent.”

“I don’t dislike you, Adora. I don’t want to use you because people shouldn’t be used. People should follow their own paths in life.”

“But I want to serve you. That’s the only way I can get into heaven.”