Under Neve’s palm, the High Priestess trembled. Neve had to fight the urge to wipe it on her skirt when she lifted it from the other woman’s shoulder. “A position has been secured for you in the Rylt,” she said, nearly running the words together in her desire to see this finished. “You depart in an hour. The Consort Elect will escort you.”
Arick stepped inside the lip of the door at the top of the stairs, hands clasped behind his back. His face was stony.
Furious tears shone in Tealia’s eyes, her mouth a cut of anger. “It’s true, then,” she rasped. “You’ve become a heretic. You think I didn’t know what you were doing in the Shrine, that you and Kiri and the Florish whore you and your sister shared had some plan afoot?” She raised her voice, turning to the gathered priestesses. “You’ll follow those who would profane the sacred forest? Queen or not, such sacrilege is fit only for a pyre—”
The dagger was ceremonial. In truth, Neve didn’t even know if it was sharp— it’d been strapped to her waist as the servants dressed her in a hurry, just like everything in this damn coronation was a hurry, with pithy words about national strength. But she tugged it from her belt, without thinking, and held it to the former High Priestess’s throat.
“The sacred forest,” she said evenly, “is the reason the Kings haven’t returned.”
Silence. Kiri’s mouth bent in a cold smile. At the top of the amphitheater, Arick’s eyes glittered, something almost heated in them.
Tealia stared at Neve through righteous tears, pulse spasming against the blade’s edge. “Blasphemer,” she hissed. “These sins will only come back on you tenfold, Neverah Keyoreth. No one harms the Wilderwood and comes away unscathed.”
Neve held the dagger steady and shrugged.
The deposed High Priestess took a shuddering breath, closed her eyes. When they opened, they were calm, and Neve dropped the dagger. She’d give Tealia this: When the priestess walked out, she did it with her head high, and she didn’t try to hide her tears.
Neve looked out over the priestesses, a sea of white robes and shocked eyes. Her fingers felt numb around the dagger’s hilt; when she sheathed it, the edge caught her thumb, drawing a stinging line.
Sharp, then. Her knees went watery, but Neve kept herself straight-spined. After all that had happened to bring her here, threatening someone with a sharp dagger shouldn’t be shocking.
“There’s room on the ship for any who would like to follow Tealia.” Neve gestured to the door. “You heard her. You know what we believe. What we’re doing.”
Her voice rang with sincerity, though that thread of doubt still coiled around her heart. It’s for Red. It’s all for Red.
She turned to the priestesses behind her. “Kiri. By our lost Kings and the magic of bygone eras, I ask that you take up the task of leading your sisters.”
The collective gasp had no sound, but it had presence. It was in the flicker of Kiri’s eyes. It was in the way the air suddenly felt thicker.
Kiri inclined her head. “As you ask.”
Neve held her breath as she faced the assembly. The other priestesses were wide-eyed, but none rose to dissent. Courage gathered in her middle.
“The sacrifice of the Second Daughter is a useless practice,” she said, voice ringing in the silent hall. “Sending them to slake the Wolf’s bloodlust does nothing. The monsters he held in thrall are long dead, if they ever existed as anything but myth. And he won’t free the Kings, no matter the quality of sacrifice we send him.” Her lips twisted around that. She had to relate to the priestesses in the same terms they’d use, but damn if they didn’t taste bitter. “The Kings are trapped in the prison they helped create, held captive by the Wilderwood. There is power to be had in its weakening. When the Kings are freed, there will be even greater reward.”
The Order listened silently, blurred to one creature in the pale wash of their robes. Arick stood behind them, having passed off Tealia to the guards. His jaw was tight, his eyes unreadable.
“The process has already begun. If we uproot enough of the Wilderwood, the Kings can come home.” Neve swallowed. “Redarys can come home.”
Kiri’s head snapped to her, eyes crackling, but the new High Priestess said nothing.
“The ship for the Rylt leaves in half an hour.” Neve started toward the stairs that would take her to the door. Her parting words were said over her shoulder, ricocheting off marble. “You can join us, or you can leave.”