It was as if time had folded in on itself and spat out some ancient cult. The true face of the acolytes of Vengeance, mirrors of the souls consumed by their revenge, single-minded, half insane, bound yet unchained, and dreaming of blood and retribution.

The song howled, reaching a crescendo.

The acolytes parted, and Lady Wexyn appeared between them. She wore the same style gown, more elaborate but still ethereal. Snow white at her exposed shoulders, it turned a bright arterial red at the hem, as if she had walked through slaughter. A long, pleated cape rode on her shoulders, dragging five feet behind her on the floor. Bright red eyeliner bled across her eyelids. Her lips were black. A metal headdress crowned her hair, rising in an arc over her head, made with a multitude of long, razor sharp needles. When the supplicants came to the Temple and laid their hearts bare asking for retribution, this is who they saw if their request was accepted.

The Priestess of Revenge walked toward the throne.

Miralitt gripped her ceremonial sword. Oond shuddered in his fishbowl and Sean put his clawed hand onto the glass to steady him. The oomboles shrank from her as she came closer. The people of Behoun couldn’t, because the force field restrained them, but they tried.

Kosandion watched her approach. He must’ve seen her before like this when he’d visited the Temple asking her to join the selection.

On the screens, the crowds of the Dominion roiled like a living sea.

Lady Wexyn took her place. Her acolytes formed up behind her, their eyes wild.

“Let us begin,” Kosandion said.

The throne room went silent.

“People of Behoun,” the Sovereign said. “I judge your candidate guilty of treason. She has acted with your consent. How will you atone for her crime?”

Amphie stared straight ahead as if she hadn’t heard a word.

The leader of the delegation, an older woman, licked her lips. “We no longer recognize the authority of the Dominion.”

The screens blasted outraged roars of the crowds. I muted them.

“So your Senate has already informed me.”

“Even if you bring the entirety of the Dominion’s military, we will stand firm against your tyrannical regime,” the leader announced. “We will defend our liberty to the death!”

Kosandion remained unmoved. “I do not plan to invade Behoun. You have been sequestered, so I will let the Chancellor explain it to you.”

Resven spoke, hammering each word in.