Trembling with effort, Delyth gently laid the sword back down on the table, though for several long seconds, her fingers would not unclench from around the hilt. She had to peel them away, her body protesting, her very blood. She had to give away the slaughter.
She was no monster. Refused to be.
And so, Delyth finally broke contact with the blade, leaning against the rough wood just long enough to gulp more air before straightening again.
To a man, the warriors lowered their weapons, but Delyth paid them no mind. The High Priestess was smiling all the way to her honey eyes.
“Delyth, Warrior Priestess of the Temple,” she said. “I name you Champion to the Vassal of Enyo.”
Chapter III
Fourth Moon, Waning Crescent: Ingola
A few hours after the incantation, Etienne had stood before a mirror in the room he shared. It was dark except for the single candle he’d lit, but he could see himself clearly. He had discarded his shredded tunic so that in the center of the mirror, framed by the pale skin of his chest, was the mark of a single feminine hand.
He had shoved the book into the bottom of his trunk in the hopes of putting the whole thing behind him, but as the days passed and Alphonse’s behavior fluctuated, he finally gave up pretending that everything would go back to normal. He would be marked for the rest of his life, and though his friend had escaped physical harm, he feared that the incantation had caused her some deeper injury.
At first, the changes in Alphonse seemed reasonable. Dark circles under her eyes, solemn and quiet moods. The entire day after the ritual, Alphonse had stayed abed. At times she seemed to avoid looking at Etienne all together, no matter what he did to mend the rift between them.
But as the days passed, Etienne started to notice more oddities. More strangeness from Alphonse. Despite studying attentively to assuage Alphonse’s fears that he would not pass their exams, she seemed absent-minded or even uninterested in classes altogether.
He caught her staring off into the distance on more than one occasion, completely lost and unresponsive to his attempts to regain her attention. Othertimes, Etienne would look up from his own scrolls or books to find Alphonse’s eyes locked on him with an eerie stillness.
Still, he had hoped this was just part of her recovery process. The shock of dealing with that creature… There was no telling what profound impact it might have.
With a week passing and two days after the last set of their exams, Etienne had hoped things were changing for the better.
Settling in at the table he and Alphonse shared with Colarie during lunches, Etienne looked around for Alphonse, who was late, when Colarie plunked down in front of him.
“You will not believe what I just overheard Master Yuan and Master Dega saying.”
Colarie was a bit of a gossip, so chances were she had actually been eavesdropping. Still, she was practically quivering with excitement at the news. She shot Alphonse’s empty seat a questioning glance before plowing on. “Alphonse’s practical exam on spell casting and summoning? She summoned a live snake into the room!” For a healer like Alphonse, summoning something so complicated as a living creature was unheard of. Objects, plants… Certainly.
But a living, breathing animal?
“That’s not all! Master Yuan was telling Master Dega that for the written portion of Laws of Healing, she didn’t write a single thing down. Just stared at everyone in the room and then fell asleep on her paper.”
Colarie reached for a cup of cold water, shaking her head. “I don’t know what’s going on with her. The other night, she didn’t come back at all. Yesterday, she nearly forgot to put her veil on.” A scandalous thought for someone like Alphonse. “She’s getting so absent-minded. You don’t think she has some romantic tryst going on, do you?”
“Alphonse has just been over-stressed about the exams,” he told Colarie. “I’m sure the Masters will understand, especially considering her demonstration in summoning.”
Etienne was worried about these changes, though. It was so thoroughly unlike Alphonse to not try on an exam, especially a healing exam, that he almost couldn't believe it. And while she was really quite clever at their required courses, she had never shown an aptitude for summoning. Just what had that thing done to her?
There was nowhere to turn but to the book that had started this whole mess, and he resolved to get to it just as soon as possible. He could figure this out, he could fix it.
Colarie rolled her eyes. “You don’t understand girls at all, do you, Etienne?” she murmured, taking a bite from her lunch plate and chewing thoroughly. “I’ve never seen her this way before. It’s more than stress.” Despite her concerned words, Colarie didn’t actually look all that torn up about it. Rather, she was merely interested.
“Did you say or do something to upset her?” she asked after a few seconds of consideration. “You can be a real oaf at times…”
Etienne opened his mouth to reply, then stopped. She was right, of course, about some of it anyway. This was his fault. He shook his head angrily. Yes, it was his fault but she didn’t know Alphonse. She didn’t really care. He stood up abruptly, sending a fork clattering from his plate.
“You’re right,” he said simply. “I can be. And no, I don’t understand many people, but I do know Alphonse. Find someone else to gossip about.”
He strode out of the lunchroom without a second glance, his shoulders tense. He had to get to the book, had to figure out what was going on.
⥣ ⥣ ⥣
It was becoming difficult to keep track of the days. Half the time, Alphonse felt as if she were in a daze or a dream, sleep-deprived despite the distinct memory of going to
