Igniting Darkness (Courting Darkness Duology #2) - Robin LaFevers Page 0,13

one sworn to silence by virtue of his priest’s robes.

Father Effram looks up from the brace of fresh candles he is lighting, smiling as if he’s been expecting me. I head directly for the confessional booth. He slips into the other side.

“Have you heard?” I murmur as soon as his door is shut.

“The palace does seem to be in a mild uproar this afternoon.”

I quickly fill him in on Genevieve’s arrival and subsequent actions. “Yes,” he says when I have finished. “She paid me a visit earlier. You just missed her.”

Just missed her. The words poke at my memory. “You were the one who led me to the chapel that day. I had no intention of praying. You knew who she was, didn’t you?”

I hear the faint whisper of fabric as he shrugs. “Let us say suspected.”

So he, too, played a part in all this. “Do you think she is telling the truth?”

“I do. She has asked to meet with the queen, is eager to make her apology and offer whatever aid she can to set things right.”

“Or she wishes to get close enough to harm her,” I mutter.

“You don’t truly believe that.”

His calmness scrapes on my nerves like a rasp. “She’s not simply made some little mistake that is easily fixed. Monsieur Fremin has reported his missing henchmen to the king and has accused me of being responsible for it. With Genevieve’s confession, he has made a shrewd guess about me and is now inclined to give serious weight to Monsieur Fremin’s claims. And if anything happens to my sisters, she will pay for it with her—”

“It is not her fault.” Father Effram’s voice is no longer gentle, but a bracing slap.

“Of course it is her fault. It no longer matters that she meant well—she has set in motion the ruin of everything, including the lives of those I care deeply about.”

“You think she is more powerful than the gods and saints?”

“No, but since you speak of them, shouldn’t Mortain have foreseen this before he gave up his godhood?”

“How do you know that he didn’t?”

I feel like a rabbit stunned by a hunter’s club. “Are you saying he knew?”

“I’m saying that what the gods set in motion is not knowable to mere mortals. We are simply caught up in the movement of their dance and there are still eight gods, each of them more than willing to meddle in the affairs of mortals for their own purposes.” The thought is terrifying. My fingers drift to the small weight resting against my leg and the faint warmth it gives off. “Does the Dark Mother meddle in the affairs of mortals?” The words bring not a chill, but a faint wash of heat along my skin. “Is she behind this?” There is a rustle of woolen cloth as he shrugs. “I would not say she meddles so much as when one thing dies and gives way to the new, it is she who guides that process. If we let her.”

I am quiet a moment before saying, “The holly branch is dying.”

“What holly branch?”

“The one I brought with me from Rennes. It stayed green this entire time, until this morning.” A thought floats by, and I grasp at it. “Could it be that it’s simply too far removed from its source? Where the remnants of Mortain’s power cannot reach? Or is it simply his power withdrawing from the world, just as he has done?”

The question renews the familiar anger I have carried since that eventful battle. “Did Mortain know that by choosing life, he would leave his faith and followers to the jackals?”

“Did he know it would fade? Yes. The passing of the Nine has been coming for a long time. We have all known it. Ever since we signed the original agreement with the Church.”

Agreement? What agreement? But before I can voice the question, he continues.

“Do not begrudge him love, child. That love provided him something to move toward rather than simply cease is a gift beyond measure. One I’ve no doubt the Dark Matrona herself had a hand in.”

“So you are saying she is guiding this?”

“No, it is but one among many possibilities. We have all been given a part to play, and play it we must. Only at the end, if then, will we know if we were hero or villain.”

Anger spikes through my gut. I am sick of these riddles. “I refuse to accept that.”

“You are not meant to accept it. To accept it would change the outcome