“Leela?” The High Priestess stood at the top of the stairs, staring down at her. “I know you are frightened, but this must be done. There are consequences to every action.”

“What do the doors say?” Leela blurted without thinking.

The High Priestess froze for only half a second, but in that brief moment Leela sensed uncertainty and a hint of what might have been fear.

“That is no concern of yours,” she replied tartly. “The symbols of Mother Sun are meant for the High Priestess alone to decipher and share with the City as she will.”

She can’t read them. The thought came wild and unbidden to Leela’s mind, and once there, she knew she was right. Another lie uncovered—for it was true, everyone in the City thought the symbols were meant only for the High Priestess to read. But who had told them that? The High Priestess herself. Leela did not know why or how she could understand the symbols all of a sudden, but she knew they were no hallucination. It took a great amount of effort to lower her head and trudge up the stairs. She could not afford to look upon the doors again, could not give any indication to the High Priestess that she’d been able to read them.

What is happening to me? They entered the sanctum, its ceiling painted with the sun and three moons and countless stars. There was a large smattering of orange mothers present and Leela was surprised to see Sera’s among them. Though she shouldn’t have been—of course her orange mother would be praying now that Kandra had been sent to the birthing houses. Orange mothers were teachers of devotion in the Cerulean family unit, and prayer was an important part of their lives, especially prayer for a new daughter. Most of the orange mothers were praying together but Sera’s sat apart from the others, on a cushion alone in front of the Altar of the Lost: a giant sun crafted out of sungold and moonsilver and studded with dark blue stargems, one for each Cerulean lost in the Great Sadness.

The Great Sadness was the worst tragedy in all of Cerulean history, when two hundred Cerulean had been massacred on the last planet they had been tethered to, nearly nine hundred years ago. That was when the High Priestess had ascended to her role—the previous High Priestess, Luille, had died on the planet. The Great Sadness was why Cerulean were not allowed to go down onto planets at all anymore. It was too dangerous, the High Priestess said. But Sera was on the planet now, and while she had seemed anxious and sad, Leela did not have the sense she was in danger. The lies were piling up and making her head hurt.