1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

T he alabaster gods peered down at me, and moonlight shone through the glass ceiling, illuminating their judgmental stares. For a place of tranquility, meditation in the center of the Chamber of Gods always left my hair on end. No matter how long I sat in the middle of the room with my legs tucked neatly underneath me, inhaling the muggy scent of incense, it didn't change that I never heard the gods speak.

The Divine were meant to be able to commune with them, often hearing their will or prophecies during meditation, but they never spoke to me. Not that I blamed them. Their "gift" had caused more problems for me than it fixed. They probably didn't want anything to do with a Divine who was a disappointment.

I tapped my finger against my thigh and huffed. I wish they'd take the tempest back.

My hair fell forward, blocking the stare of the goddess of luck and freedom, and the tightness in my chest eased.

A vase shattered, and my gaze snapped to the crumbled pieces on the mosaic-tiled floor below the statue of Oerban. Two small feet peeked out beside the bottom of the statue, along with a tuft of curly chestnut hair not quite concealed by the statue's leg.

I smiled. How would the god of day and contracts have felt about a boy hiding behind his statue?

Teeg stepped out, a sheepish grin on his round face.

"You've been told not to be in here," I said.

"But you're in here all the time."

I sighed. Ever since he came to live at the temple of Ahrea, he'd been like a little brother to me. "You should be in bed."

The stone doors of the chamber scraped against the floor behind me.

"Eira, you will do something with Tryssa, or I will," the high priestess shouted, her footsteps clicking against the polished tiles. "There isn't another temple who will take her. It'll be the streets, with the reputation she's earning."

"Hide," I whispered to Teeg.

He darted behind the statue of Oerban again—no feet or hair to be seen. Teeg knew we would both suffer if she found him here.

Klareth stopped in the center of the chamber a few feet from where I knelt.

I pushed myself up on numb legs and smoothed out the soft fabric of my ice-blue gown over my curves, facing her.

Her black hair, in her usual too-tight bun, pulled her face taut and smoothed out the wrinkles of her forehead. Her traditional gray robes accentuated her thin, angular form. In her youth, she might have been pretty, but with her reddened neck, it looked as though she might breathe fire like the dragons of near myth.

"What did she do this time?" I asked, pulling my long, dark hair over my shoulder.

Her nostrils flared. "Does it matter?"

I clenched my teeth, running my fingers through the length of my hair and shifting my weight, legs tingling with the movement. "No, but—"

"Tryssa decided it would be best to replace another girl's bathing oil with an enchanted one. The girl lost all her hair," she bit out.

The corner of my lips twitched despite my best effort to fight smiling. Klareth caught the slight uptilt. Her hand shot out and grabbed my wrist, and her sharp nails dug into my skin. "At twenty-one, I expect better from you, but you're just like that ridiculous orphan girl."

I flinched at her words.

Klareth smiled wickedly, the slightest wrinkle forming around her eyes.

Lightning sparked at my fingertips, tingling my skin, and I clenched my hand to conceal it.

Her eyes darted in my hand's direction, and I stiffened. She definitely hadn't missed that little slip of my "gift."

"I—I'll talk to her," I said, heart beating rapidly.

"You will. Otherwise, you'll be the one to suffer the consequences." Klareth's gaze slid past me toward the various statues. "You can't even meditate without causing a mess." She released my wrist and placed her hands on my shoulders, forcing me to turn around. She pointed at the broken vase on the floor. "Clean up after yourself." Her thin hands released me, and her footsteps clacked as she exited the Chamber of Gods.

The doors clanged shut behind her, and I caressed the sore reddened indentations around my wrist. They were nothing compared to the high priestess's favorite form of punishment.

Shuffling sounded behind me, and a moment later, Teeg collided into me, wrapping his arms around my hips. He sniffled, and I tousled his curly hair. "Don't worry," I said.

He looked up at me, eyes glistening. "She won't take you away again, will she?"

There wasn't a simple answer I could give him. Not one that would quell his fear, anyway. I forced a smile and said, "Let's clean this up and get you to your room."

"I got it!" Teeg said. He ran over to the broken vase and placed his hand on one of the shards.

"Careful!" I called.

The pieces began to move and weave themselves back together, attaching to the one he touched. In seconds, the broken vase was once again whole, sitting beside Oerban's feet.

I smiled. "Now, time for bed."

He took my hand, and we passed acolytes as we made our way through the stone halls of the temple. Most started in the opposite direction, avoiding me. A few stared, concern marring their features at the sight of Teeg holding my hand as they murmured about the disappearances throughout the kingdom.

I ignored their implications.

Teeg had long since stopped asking why none of them were friendly to me like they were with him. Their fear of the lightning coursing through my body didn't stop me from getting Teeg to his room and tucking him into bed, though.

He asked for the same story he'd been asking for since I'd first told it to him, the very one my mother used to tell me of a girl who loved her sister very much. He nodded off before I finished, and I kissed his forehead. I closed the door with a soft click, careful not to disturb him, though he'd always been a heavy sleeper.

The nosy acolytes were nowhere to be seen in the hall outside his room, and I made my way to the temple courtyard, heading for Tryssa's room.

Moonlight glistened off the running water of the fountain in the center. The stone woman in the fountain's center depicted Ahrea, goddess of luck and freedom. Her stone form sat with her head back, water flowing down the length of her hair. Her eyes were closed, and her full lips tilted into a smile.

At one time, I truly believed myself lucky—free. It was ironic that I'd ended up in the unluckiest of places with little freedoms. I sighed, running my hand over the engraving of little butterflies on the stone lip of the fountain. I missed my aunt's silly parties that she'd forced me to attend now that I had no way back to her.

A pulling sensation in my stomach forced my attention to the doors of the Chamber of Gods across the way. They were open.

I tilted my head. I'm sure I closed them.

Before continuing to Tryssa's room, I approached them. My chest tightened and sweat built on the back of my neck.

The pull intensified, coaxing me to go inside. It was like there was a rope tied around my waist and it was trying to drag me in. I ignored it and the building tightness in my throat and tugged the stone doors closed.

The tightness eased, and I let out a heavy sigh.

My fingers slid down the smooth lotus engraved in the stone doors, and I shook my head. All the hours I'd spent inside the chamber, begging to be freed from the Divine gift I'd been blessed with, had to be getting to me.