Inquisitor Rhône.
“Well, what do we have here?” His voice held a faintly European accent and a healthy splash of contempt. “Early presents for your students?”
“Excuse us for a moment, class,” I said. “Let’s step outside, Brother Rhône.”
The inquisitor was a big man, and his office gave him a tremendous amount of power. But his core was only adept level, which put him well below me. Even wounded, the weight of my core’s attention was enough to get Rhône moving. He didn’t like that, and I didn’t care. I’d just gotten the students calmed down. I didn’t need an inquisitor riling them all up again. I led the man out of the classroom and closed the door behind us. I shot the guard stationed outside a nasty glance and made a mental note to find out exactly why he’d allowed anyone to interrupt my class.
“What are you doing here?” I barked, with all the power I could put behind the words.
“I’m here on official business for the Temple.” Rhône tugged his robe straight and squared his shoulders. “Brother Harlan sends his regards. How are you doing Mr. Warin?”
“I’m fine,” I said. Then to the guard, “Get lost. This isn’t for your ears.”
The guard nodded briskly, then wisely took off. I wouldn’t want to be caught in range of my growing anger, either.
“Important business.” Rhône crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall on the opposite side of the hallway. “Even more important, now. Where did you get all of that jinsei?”
“I made it,” I said. “Not that it’s any business of yours.”
“And that is where you are wrong.” Rhône actually chuckled at that. He’d recovered after being cowed by my core’s power. His haughty demeanor was in full force, and it made me want to punch him in the teeth. “Where do you think the oboli to open your outreach program came from?”
I’d never really considered that question. The School was funded by taxes on every Empyreal citizen, exorbitant tuitions, and donations from the clans to cover scholarships. I’d assumed the money for the outreach had come from the School itself. After all, we could always use more students, especially if those students might be Eclipse Warriors.
“Why would the Church give money to the School?” I asked.
“We didn’t give them anything,” Rhône said. “It was an investment. Clearly, a very good investment.”
“You can’t take that jinsei,” I said. “It’s mine.”
“Is it?” Rhône asked sharply. “You just told Christina that she’d purified the jinsei and deserved her share. Or did I mishear that?”
There’d been no one else in the room when I’d said those words. Even if Rhône had been standing outside the door at the exact instant I’d told that to Christina, the thick door and walls would have made it all but impossible to make out what we were saying.
“You know how it is with these farcasters,” Rhône said with a shrug. “Sometimes they’re not as clear as I’d like.”
He twisted his hand with a stage magician’s flourish, and a rectangular black slate appeared between his fingers. Images drifted across its surface, and faint, familiar voices leaked from the dark rectangle. The inquisitor tossed the slate to me, and I snatched it from the air.
The glossy device showed me a perfect view of my classroom. The initiates whispered excitedly to each other and examined the jinsei in the vials I’d given them. Hahen watched them with a faint smile twitching at the corners of his lips. From the angle, the farcaster transmitter had to be near the ceiling at the front of the room.
“How long have you been spying on my class?” I forced the words through gritted teeth. The illusion of freedom I’d enjoyed since I’d left the Temple in Atlantis had shattered.
“Did you really think we’d release you back to the School without some precautions in place?” Rhône shook his head. “You have much to learn, Mr. Warin. You’re powerful, but you are also wounded. You’re strong, but you’re not yet wise.”
The inquisitor snapped his fingers, and the slate disappeared from my hands. He crossed the hallway and towered above me, the dark void of shadows inside his hood bearing down on me like a hungry mouth. My core twitched as he examined it, and I pushed back against his gaze hard enough that he froze in place for a moment.
“Leave my students alone,” I warned. “They deserve a chance.”
“And they’ll have one,” Rhône said. “That’s what I’ve come here to discuss with you. There’ve been changes in the Temple since you’ve been gone. The convergence is shifting. We believe it’s because of the Gauntlet.”
“I won’t quit,” I started, and Rhône talked over me.
“You will continue to compete in the Gauntlet,” the inquisitor said. “You will also continue to teach the initiates in that classroom. Those who manage to heal their core before the end of the year will remain under your tutelage.”
“What happens to the others?” I pulled myself up to my full height and hoped the power of my core shone through my words. He needed to know who he was dealing with.
“Those who fail will accompany me to Atlantis,” the inquisitor said.
His words rocked me back on my heels. I tried to imagine Christina, angry and terrified of a world she didn’t understand, locked away in the Temple. The constant questioning and the endless tests would break her. She’d never be whole if she went to Atlantis.
None of them would.
“Why?” I asked. “Given time, they can all be healed. We need more Eclipse Warriors. Another threat is coming. You know that.”
“Mr. Warin,” Rhône said smugly, “you know better than to suggest we need more of your kind. We are aware of your
