downstairs. The Ranger was giving Joaquil a tongue-lashing when Sulis stepped into the salesroom.
“What happened?” Sulis muttered to Lasha.
“Joaquil was flirting with your cousin and didn’t go back with the others. Then she mouthed off to the Ranger when she scolded her. There’s no way she’ll be coming back to the stables.”
The group was quiet as they walked back to the Temple: the Ranger and Joaquil were obviously still fuming, and Sulis and Lasha didn’t want to draw attention to themselves. Joaquil broke off to go to the dining room between the temples of Ivanha and Voras. Sulis and Lasha continued on, intending to go to the dining hall between the temples of Aryn and Parasu to see if any of their friends were there. The Ranger stopped them at Aryn’s altar.
“I’m counting on you girls not to mention this trip to anyone—not to any of the pledges. Things are shaky right now, and though we did nothing wrong today, others could misunderstand.”
Sulis and Lasha both nodded.
“Do we tell Jonas and Alannah?” Lasha whispered, as they made their way to the dining hall.
“I don’t know,” Sulis whispered back. “I don’t like that Joaquil was waiting when we came down the stairs. I think she was spying on us.”
“Oh, what can the stupid little snit do?” Lasha said with a snort. “Even if she does report to someone, the Counselor of the One said we weren’t to be bothered anymore. Initiation is next week. There’s nothing they can do to us now.”
Sulis still felt vaguely worried. “I’m sure you’re right,” she said, shaking off the feeling. It was probably just the lingering headache from Kadar’s soul shoving her out of his mind. “Let’s eat.”
THE CRONE SAW the gray-cloaked pledge out with a slight smile on her face. It wasn’t much to go on, but it was enough. And it certainly looked suspicious: the Ranger with two of the pledges, closeted upstairs with members of a desert clan. Had Aryn’s scion been smarter, she would have brought a representative from each of the deities to the healing, to avoid the impression that she was tainting the pledge by letting her wake her twin. But since the Ranger had not taken this step, Ivanha could cry foul. She and Voras could protest that the pledge group had been tainted by the influence of the other deities—and this after the Counselor of the One had warned them that the One would tolerate no more meddling.
The Crone would use the Counselor’s own words to keep the One out of the fight. She would use the secrecy of Aryn’s Ranger to force a delay of the Initiation Ceremony. And once it was delayed, the power was in the Crone’s hands. Aryn and Parasu would have to make concessions before Ivanha and Voras would let the Ceremony continue. She had two weeks to plan this attack with the Templar carefully and secretly. The other deities would be completely unprepared when the Crone and Templar simply did not show up for the Ceremony.
The Crone tapped her fingers on her desk, thinking. They would send her Mother Superior and the Knight of Voras to the pledging ceremony to tell the Counselor they would not cooperate. No—even better, each would send only an acolyte, showing their disdain for the others’ meddling. She nodded to herself. Once again, Ivanha and Voras would have the advantage they needed. They would reform the lax morals of this world and rid the desert of the infidels who professed no allegiance to a deity. She set off to inform the Templar of the plan.
Chapter 14
THE DAY’S BEGINNING was a warm one for spring. The sun streamed into the corridor between the deities’ shrines and the Temple of the One as the pledges walked to their last meditation with the Counselor before the Ceremony of Initiation that night.
Sulis was surprised to see that the Altar of the One had been walled off by large, carved, wooden screens. She examined the carvings—pictures of feli, humans, and the deities.
“The first pairing,” Jonas said, coming to stand beside her. “Look—this panel shows the One throwing down the temples of the deities. Then this one has the One with the feli. And this shows the pairing of the first pledge Tomas with a feli, in his hour of need. He was the first Counselor.”
The Counselor walked out from the side of the screens. “You are right, Jonas,” she said, as the pledges took their seats on woven-grass mats in front