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Taly gasped when he released whatever hold he had on her. The pain faded. “How do I know you’re not lying?”

“Because so far, I’m the only one who hasn’t. I may bend the truth. Leave out pertinent details. But I don’t lie. That’sanother hideously unfair piece of slander they’ve spread about me through the annals of history.”

More thunder rolled through the temple. Taly’s eyes darted upward, following the sound.

“I can help you,” he said. “I can save you from her. We do not need to be enemies when we share a common goal.”

Taly pressed closer to the altar. “I know what you’re going to ask me, and I won’t help you.”

“So, you’ll helpherthen?”

“I want nothing to do with either one of you.”

Aneirin chuckled, a dark smile tugging at his lips. “That, I’m afraid, is not an option. The divines spoke long before you ever drew breath. Your role was decided then.”

He said it like she was supposed to just lie down and take it.

Taly’s eyes blazed. “We’ll see about that.”

Then she spun, fingers closing around the heavy bowl of incense resting on the altar. With a sharp breath and all her strength, she hurled it straight at him.

Kalahad cried out in pain, hands flying to his face as acrid smoke and smoldering ash burned his eyes.

Taly shoved past him and sprinted for the main door.

Reality fractured, sharp and sudden, like a mirror struck dead center. A wave of cold blasted through the temple.

Then he was standing in front of her, in front of the door, having stepped out of the rift leaking darkness behind him.

“Fuck!” She ran for her gun instead.

“Is that all the great Savior can muster? How dreadfully disappointing.”

Taly dropped to one knee, sliding on the stone floor, her hand already reaching for the gun. Scooping it up, she swung it upward, taking aim.

“Later, when you’re screaming and begging for my mercy—”

She fired off two rounds. One caught him in the chest, the other the shoulder.

He kept walking. “I want you to remember that I tried to do this peacefully.” Another shot. “Yet again.” Another, this one to his neck. Blood sprayed. “I tried to be generous, Taly, but if the carrot won’t do, then we’ll see how you handle the stick.”

He grabbed her shoulder, and Taly’s hands came up, seizing his wrist as she twisted. His grip slipped, but his fingers tangled in her hair, yanking her back.

“This didn’t—” But he hissed, recoiling as if he’d touched fire.

Taly stumbled back a few steps. Hair fell into her eyes. His gaze immediately went to the pin dangling from her ruined braid. The one Ivain had given her.

“Where did you get that?” He lunged to grab her again, but she ripped the pin from her hair, pressing it to his neck. He howled like he was burning.

And that’s when Calcifer arrived.

She hadn’t heard him coming. She didn’t know where he’d gone or how he’d clawed his way back.

Only that the darkness between the pews split open, and he came flying out, a snarling beast born from the void.

One powerful leap sent him barreling into Aneirin, the force knocking them both back. Claws sharp as daggers slashed at Kalahad’s chest, leaving deep, jagged marks in flesh. Teeth snapped inches from his face, a heartbeat away from closing around his throat.

Taly took the opening. She ran—or started to.