38

"Priestess, it's an honor to have you in our inn. Are you hungry? We are nearly done serving breakfast, but I'm sure our cook would be thrilled to make whatever you wish."

The serving girl must have been hovering just out of eyesight, because she hurried forward moments after the door shut behind Milo and the others. Lyra stared at her, her mind taking a moment to process the words as she dragged herself out of her thoughts.

"I don't think we need anything," she said. "Thanks, though."

"Are you sure?" The girl looked worried. "Those men asked not to be disturbed while they ate this morning, but I didn't realize they were going to meet a priestess here. If I had known, I would have had our best drinks and finest food waiting for you."

"The Temple of Loreas will provide her meals whenever she wishes them," Kel said shortly. He dropped a couple of copper coins on the table and said, "For the inconvenience of entertaining guests who didn't order anything," then stood up, looking down at Lyra. "Are you ready to go?"

Lyra nodded and rose to her feet, trying her best to ignore the servant girl who bowed deeply to her before scooping the coins into her palm. She still didn't know how to respond to that sort of subservience and it made her feel awkward and hyper-aware of herself. She remembered how Oleander had reacted to the man in the temple the day before and felt her lips twist into a discomfited grimace. She would be lying if she tried pretend it wasn't nice to have people treat her like she was some sort of royalty, but at the same time, it didn't sit right with her. She was just a normal girl. A woman from Earth. She savored the word as she followed Kel out the door. She wasn't sure if it was the word for her world in the language Towr had stolen from her, but it didn't matter. It was just good to know what to call home.

"They didn't explain as much as I'd hoped," she admitted to Kel as soon as the door to The Northern Path shut behind them.

The bright sunlight made her squint. Was it ever cloudy here? She knew she should be glad the weather was clear, since traveling in the rain would be even worse than traveling under the constant glare of the sun, but she was sick and tired of the heat. Kel never seemed to mind it, but he'd had a lot longer than two weeks to acclimate. Though, his armor should have made the experience absolutely miserable for him. She squinted at it out of the corner of her eye, then decided to just ask about it.

"How can you walk around in that all day without feeling like you're dying?"

He glanced down at his armor, seeming thrown off balance by the question. "It's blessed. I don't feel the weight, and it keeps me cool. Or warm, as the weather requires."

She actually gaped at him, one of a handful of times in her life her mouth had dropped dumbly open of its own accord. "Your armor keeps you cool? You've been walking around in a temperature controlled suit of armor this whole time? How is that fair? I've spent every day of these past two weeks feeling like I'm going to melt into a puddle of sweat."

"It's standard for sentinels who complete their training in Heliotheopoli. I admit, I did not think to mention it. The blessing would not work for anyone else, a measure taken to prevent killing sentinels for their armor, so I have not been allowing you to suffer intentionally."

"Okay, that's fair, I guess. What's most important is how can I get one?"

"The temple may be able to provide you with a blessed tunic, but you would have to inquire with them. We are getting off track. I still think meeting those men tonight is unwise. I can't stop you. It's not my place. But they are keeping secrets, and there is something about them that feels dangerous, especially the one who didn't talk much, Erik."

"You don't talk much either, so I don't think you have a leg to stand on," she replied, wrinkling her nose. She still couldn't believe he had been walking around in magic cooling armor all this time.

He made a sound of annoyance. "It's not because he doesn't talk much. He looks at you like he's trying to figure out the fastest way to see you dead. He pays far too much attention to me and to my sword, and his eyes track the distance between us as if he's judging whether he could reach you before I do. I know a killer when I see one, and he is dangerous."

Lyra sighed. It was odd, arguing with Kel. Normally he was… well, not subservient, but content to let her take the lead. Like everyone else in this world, he held people like her; the clergy, the priests and priestesses, in high regard just because she could see gods and he couldn't. She felt a stab of annoyance that he wouldn't back off about this now, but she made an effort to smother the feeling. She didn't want to start treating normal people like they didn't matter, even though she suspected that was the norm for how priests and priestesses acted here.

And Kel did matter. She needed him. Even though she still wanted to learn whatever it was that Erik, Milo, and Luke knew, they had already dashed her hopes of getting home any time soon. They had been here for a year. What hope did she have of getting home in mere weeks?

She wished they had just told her whatever it was that they knew. She wished she had demanded to know more before they left, but there was a large part of her that was scared they would vanish and leave her behind without a word. She didn't think Erik was trying to figure out how to separate her head from her shoulders or whatever it was Kel was worried about, but she could admit he didn't seem particularly thrilled to chat with her. She had a feeling Erik would gladly leave her behind to continue whatever mission they were on if she gave him the barest reason to do so.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

She also wished Kel would stop looking at her like she was being an idiot. She stopped in the middle of the road, barely noticing as the crowd parted as if she was a rock in the middle of a river.

"Can you please just trust me on this?" she asked. "I'm trying to see it from your point of view, and I understand why you're worried. You're a paladin or a sentinel or whatever, and it's your job to protect me. And in normal circumstances, it would be a bad idea for me to meet three men I barely know in the middle of the night. But they're from home, Kel." She held his gaze, hoping he could see how much this meant to her. "They aren't strangers. I might not know them, but we come from the same place. Meeting them here is... it's incredible. They aren't going to hurt me. We're in this together. Who knows what they've been through in the past year? I'm sure they have a good reason to be cautious. There's nothing you can say to convince me not to go, so please, just drop it."

"As you wish."

She could tell by the tone of his voice and the look in his eyes that he wasn't pleased, but he let it go. In fact, he was completely silent until they reached the temple, when he stopped in the middle of the road and crossed his arms.

"I will meet you here tomorrow morning to discuss our next steps, assuming you have not been kidnapped or murdered in the meantime."

"I'll see you then," she said coolly.

She was already starting to feel bad about leaving him like that as she entered the temple but somehow, Oleander was waiting for her right next to the door again. She wondered what exactly the priests and priestesses who worked here did all day. It sounded like the other temple devotees, the ones who didn't have holy blood, did most of the manual labor.

"Loreas told me you'd be back soon," Oleander said with a welcoming smile. "She wants to speak with you before you go. You're not planning on leaving yet, are you?"

"No," Lyra said, taking in the cool cleanness of the temple and trying very hard not to think about leaving this haven of comfort behind. She felt like she needed another bath already, mostly because she knew she was going to miss the luxury when they left. "I'm not sure how much longer I'll be here, but it will be at least another night."

She wanted to say more, say something about how she wasn't sure she wanted to meet the god at all. Erik's last warning still rang in her ears. The gods weren't what she thought they were. What did that mean? They were, well, gods. Maybe not quite the same as the gods from home; they definitely weren't all powerful, but they weren't all that different from some of the myths she had read during her literature classes.

She didn't want to speak with Loreas, especially not after Erik's warning, but she couldn't think of a good excuse not to. Talking to gods was literally her job. Her green tunic told the entire world as much. Plus, she was staying in this temple for free. It would be rude to leave without speaking to the temple's god, wouldn't it?

"I'll introduce you this evening after the doors are closed to outsiders for the night," Olander said. She tucked her arm through Lyra's and began to tug her through the entrance hall. "Have you eaten yet? I'm about to get a late breakfast with the others. We're all hoping you'll join us, and we're dying to hear about the places you've been and the things you've seen. And was that guy in the armor outside your sentinel? Where's he staying?"

"I haven't eaten," Lyra said, suddenly aware of her hunger. "Food would be great. I don't have anything else to do until later this evening, so I would be happy to spend some time chatting. And yes, that was Kel. But he's a paladin, not a sentinel."

She still wasn't clear on the difference exactly, other than that he had a special weapon, but she didn't trust Olander enough to tell her that. Something about the disdain she had worn on her face and in her voice when she berated that man last night had made Lyra dislike her even though Olander had been nothing but warm and welcoming to her.

"Oh, that's right, you said that yesterday," Olander said, her eyes widening. "That's kind of scary, isn't it? I mean…" She looked around and lowered her voice. "He kills blood gods and deals with sinners all the time, doesn't he?"

"I guess?" That sounded too much like a question, so she added, "We met one blood god on the journey here and he killed it. I wasn't very good at helping him, though, and we both got injured."

"I could never travel with a paladin," Olander said with a shudder. "You're so brave. What's he like?"

"Quiet," Lyra said, not quite sure how to describe Kel. Depressed came to mind but bringing up his sister seemed too personal to share with the other woman. "He takes his job seriously."

"That's good," Oleander said uncertainly, a frown making her perfectly groomed eyebrows pinch together. "His relic is registered, right? Because I noticed he hasn't come into the temple yet, and I've heard the gods don't like it when paladins carry unregistered relics."

"I have no idea," Lyra admitted. She hadn't even known that relics were supposed to be registered.

"You should ask him," Olander said, an unusually serious look on her face, "but do it somewhere close to a temple, so a god can intervene if something happens. You don't want to travel alone with him if he's a rogue who's willing to kill the clergy for their body parts. Relics sell for a lot on the black markets and if he's carrying one that isn't registered, that's not a good sign. It's expensive, but he could have found a god willing to hide his sin from the Great God, so even if he's had it since before the last God's Day, that's not a sure sign that he didn't kill anyone for it."

Right, relics were made out of the body parts of priests and priestesses. She wrinkled her nose at the gruesome imagery, but while she was almost certain his sword wasn't registered, she didn't think Kel was the type to murder someone in cold blood just to get a special weapon.

"We can put a summons out for a new sentinel if you don't want to travel with him anymore," Oleander said as they entered the dining hall. "No one would blame you for trading him out. I don't know if we have any in town right now, but you'd be welcome to stay here until one arrives. We can get you someone younger and prettier, someone who won't drag you around to fight blood gods and put down sinners." The other woman winked at her. "You said yours is quiet and serious. Is that how he is in bed, too? I bet he's not much fun on those cold, lonely nights out on the road."

Lyra spluttered. "What — You think — Kel and I aren't sleeping together! It's not like that. Is that even allowed?"

Oleander giggled at her reaction. "Of course it is. Where are you from? It must be a real backwater town with a god that's a complete prude. The sentinels are supposed to see to your every need, Lyra. Why do you think the school in Heliotheopoli never accepts ugly men or women, no matter how good they are at fighting? You deserve a young man or woman with a pretty face, who will take care of you instead of making you fight monsters. No offense, but your paladin seems kind of worn out and sad, and he might be dangerous if he's carrying around an unregistered relic."

Oleander guided her to a table and patted her shoulder to urge her into a seat next to Annali, who looked up from her food with a bright smile. Across from her, Calen waved a silent greeting.

"Trust me, you'll be better off with someone else. I'll get you a sentinel request form after we eat. You can thank me by telling us some interesting stories, starting with your encounter with a blood god."