This room is not the same one in which the saintess resided in the other night. There is no balcony. Instead, there is a stiffness to it that suggests the room is not used often— if at all. The white couches with gold pillows are hard and uncomfortable. Even the seating at the inn’s eating area is more suffice than this. The guards called this a waiting room, and yet this appears to be the opposite of one. The only decor is pictures of Oeus and two pots of dying pnts.

  Katsuro huffs and stands. He paces around the room like what he is—a cat in search of prey to pounce on. His tail flicks behind him with sharp inflections. The annoyance is patable. We have been in this temple for far longer than I expected and the longer we remain, the more attention we draw.

  “Do you think they are trying to wait us out?” Megan asks. She clutches her stomach and grimaces.

  “No, they did not care when that attendant was struck down because it was the will of their god. We are waiting for the saintess to be presentable.” If the saintess was being taken care of like a proper one, then this waiting room would have been more comfortable. “Despite the saintess being the reason for the wards around the city keeping beasts at bay, the saintess appears to have no power within the temple.” I should have noticed that something was amiss when Apollo was able to walk through the gates. Perhaps it is not so much Megan’s power that protects him, but that the saintess’s powers are waning.

  “How long does it take for someone to throw on some damn clothes?” Katsuro compins. “If she’s in that bad of a shape, then no wonder their god stopped talking to them,” he says, speaking louder, though there is no need when these walls are not fortified and the guards outside the room can surely hear.

  “We have come all this way, for Megan’s sake.” I narrow my eyes at Katsuro and lean back against the couch. While I understand his annoyance, I cannot allow him to speak out of turn. At least not here, within the temple’s walls. “To put a stop to the nightmares.”

  Katsuro nods and clenches his fists. “Right.” He sits down on the armrest next to Chloe and watches the door with an irate expression.

  “Lord Oeus is watching, and he is taking notes, I am sure, of how his guests are being treated.” My stomach churns with unease, not because the guards will surely hear the compints uttered in this room, but for the implication of this god and how suddenly he wills himself to be heard within the temple, but not to his followers, but to Megan.

  There are many gods in the world, far too many to keep track of as some major gods become minor and some minor gods rise in popurity. If I take Megan away from this temple now without meeting with the saintess, then it could cause ire with this god. A dark wave of frustration builds within my chest. Must everything covert the power my mate wields?

  Perhaps it is not that the number of saintess is becoming less as the centuries turn, but that they willingly downpy their abilities in hopes of a life like that of their mundane neighbors.

  The door opens and the mouse-faced one, as Megan so eloquently described, sticks his face in. His ft, small nose twitches. He scratches at his furry cheek and falters under the weight of Katsuro’s gre.

  Guard or not, it must be hard for him to suppress his instinct to falter under the gaze of a predator, and Katsuro is not one to hide his displeasure.

  “I presume the saintess is on the way and that is why you have opened the door in such a hasty manner?”

  “Uh...” the guard swallows and then seemingly remembers himself. “Yes, the saintess is on her way. It will not be—”

  “And should we take this slight against us to be because we are not members of the royal family or because the Lord Oeus has commanded for us to be granted an audience with the saintess? We have been waiting for longer than an hour. How much longer do you intend to keep us waiting?”

  “I will—”

  “Or perhaps the ire of your god is not enough to have you take an action, and this temple wishes to become like that of the attendant.”

  The guard’s skin flushes. His whiskers twitch nervously. The bravado from earlier is gone. He nods his head and then sms the door shut. The sound echoes throughout the room with a finality.

  “The hell was that Fox? Thought ya didn’t want to piss them off?”

  “I did not wish to draw attention to us either, and yet here we are.”

  “So, in other words, you’re pissed off.” He chuckles. “We should be compensated if they don’t want this getting out of the temple walls.”

  “A generous donation was given,” I admit, pying along with Katsuro. It would be preferable if the god Oeus does not get further involved as anything involving gods comes with a headache. “I suspect it is only a matter of time before the donations dwindle. So many get turned away at the gates. Perhaps—” I pause, careful not to use Oeus’s name in my decration. I should not suggest what he will or will not do. “Perhaps this will be the st we come to the temple in search of help.”

  Megan stares at me and then at Chloe. They are not sure what to make of the conversation, but Katsuro is smarter than I give him credit for. He’s been poking at the guards. Mocking the way they serve their god and is causing them to react rashly.

  “I’ve seen enough of this pce.” Katsuro stands once more and paces the room. He tugs at his shirt and scowls.

  The door opens once more. It sms against the wall. The guard winces as another attendant, a female human with gray hair, gres at them. This attendant is as a pale as the st one. The saintess walks in after the attendant and keeps her eyes cast down. She looks as weak as she did on the balcony, though her clothes are finer than before. She moves as though she is not used to the silk, or meeting with others. Her curly bck hair is pulled back into a ponytail and slicked down in a way that it looks as though her hair is painted on.

  “I am Evelyn,” the attendant says stiffly, with her hands csped together in front of her. “This is the saintess and you may refer to her as such or as my dy.” The attendant sits down on the couch across from us and every so often, she peeks at Katsuro who is still walking around the room, though now he moves with more measured steps as though he is no longer agitated but eted to have something within his cws.

  He and Chloe feed off one another. Their newfound need for bloodshed is disconcerting. They need to reel it in and learn how to mask better.

  “I wish to speak to the saintess,” Megan says, crossing one leg over the other. “Alone.”

  “The saintess does not—”

  “I believe this temple worships Lord Oeus and yet, despite seeing his decree in person.” She turns her head towards the guard and then back to the attendant. “The worshipers of this temple seem to think they know better than he. I suppose we could always ask him again how he feels about this.”

  The attendant clenches her fists over her p and trembles.

  “What of the saintess?” I intone. “Do you feel the same way?”

  The saintess lifts her head. Her dark eyes widen as the recognition seeps in. “Yes— I mean no. I do not feel the same way. We must do as Lord Oeus has decreed, and He wants for me to meet with them alone.” She does not smile or frown. Her face is bnk like that of a doll’s. She does not look at her attendant or at the guard for their reaction. “Evelyn, please leave the room.” She pces her hand on the attendant’s clenched fists. “This is the will of Lord Oeus.”

  “Very well.” The attendant stands and walks out of the room. The door closes quietly this time.

  These worshippers are too emotional, too votile to be behind the kidnapping of others from the seven worlds.

  “Can I have pen and paper?” Megan asks. “I want to write my thoughts down so I’m not leaving anything out.”

  “Oh... I don’t have any—”

  “I have some,” I interrupt, not sure why Megan needs the paper or what it is she is up to. I pull out the requested items from my bag and hand them to her. Megan lowers herself off the couch and on to the floor. She scribbles on the paper in some nguage I do not understand. The saintess’s pulse quickens.

  “I came here because I’ve been having terrible nightmares and I can’t shake the feeling that something awful is going to happen,” Megan says, as she pushes the paper across the table. The saintess gnces at the paper and nods her head. “Could you cure me or provide some kind of blessing?” Megan writes something else on the paper and then slides it across the table once more.

  “I will do my best,” the saintess says after a moment. Her hand hovers in the air for a moment before she silently asks for Megan’s pen. “It may take several sessions, or it could just take this afternoon.” The saintess writes as she speaks and then hands the paper out for Megan to take.

  So, the saintess is from the same world as Megan and Chloe, then.

  “And how will heal my mate?”

  “She just needs to pce her hands on me,” Megan answers. “Lord Oeus will answer the call. He wouldn’t abandon his saintess.”

  My jaw clenches. Is she goading the god?

  The saintess rises and walks around the table. She bends down next to Megan and pces her hands on top of Megan’s. “When the moon is the highest, take the herb from the forest, and drink it.” Her eyes lift and meet mine.

  “Which herb?”

  “You will know when you see it.”

  I exhale. Maybe I can drop the saintess off to Zika’s doorstep since he’s so concerned about what is occurring at the temple. “Would blood make the potion that more potent?” I pull out a dagger and hold up a hand toward Katsuro. His eyes dart to the door and then at me. Chloe grabs his arm and pulls him to the side. I will expin once we are away from the temple.

  The saintess swallows and looks as though she wishes to bolt, but at the sight of Megan’s smile, she rexes. “Yes, for this, a drop of my blood will make the potion more effective.” She lifts a hand and holds her palm out.

  “And a strand of your hair for binding.”

  She hesitates, but hands over some strands of her bck curly hair. I make the cut on her palm quick, but deep enough for a few droplets. She winces and holds her hand to her chest.

  “When the moon is the highest, correct?”

  “That is right. It is considered the time where the spirits are the most active and so it would be best to take care of them then. You should have no more nightmares after this.”

  “What a relief. I knew you could help me.”

  I keep watch on the door as my energy warms my palms, mixing with the blood and hair. My brows pull together as I work to create a replica of the saintess’s face. I hold the head, much smaller for now, out to the saintess. She stares at the head with a mix of horror and....no, that is just horror on her face.

  “When the moon is the highest, we will gather the herb from the forest as you instructed.”

  The saintess takes the head and shudders when it shrinks, small enough to be hidden in her pocket. “May Lord Oeus be with you.” She stands and heads to the door. “I will find a guard to escort you out.”

  “Thank you for your time,” Megan says, gathering the papers. She hands them to me. I consider burning them, but think better of it, and instead pce them back in the bag. The saintess smiles and then leaves the room. The same guard from before comes a moment ter to escort us out of the temple.

  Instead of returning to the inn, I lead us to Zika’s shop. If we are to pull this off, then we will need assistance.

  “Fox, what the hell was that?” Katsuro whispers once we are inside the shop.

  I close the door and lean against it. “We are breaking the saintess out of the temple.”

  AutumnBanks

  Thanks for reading! We won't get into the god stuff that much in this story since they'll get their own (eventually). Take care!