Page 70 of Insolence (Eisha’s Hidden Codices #1)

Itissa

E isha’s sacred finches flitted about me, quarreling and splashing in the fountain. Their droppings spattered the runner and the goddess’s towering statue. At least the water was kept clean.

Of course, everything would be thoroughly tidied before the temple reopened to the public. But I could tell the prioress was ashamed to be caught with Eisha’s holiest altar caked in bird shit by a noble wife.

I felt her enter the building long before I saw her. Fear bubbled up to my eyeballs. When the Second High Priestess was brought before me, I wanted to weep at the sight of her beautiful face.

Her thick braid hanging to her ribs was a bit jarring. Her hair always did grow fast, but she’d never let it go before. This was also the first time I’d ever seen her in a dress.

She was stunning—resplendent as the goddess herself.

And here I was with my muddy boots and the hem of my cloak filthy from trekking up the mountain. I was sure I looked a fright.

Her gaze blanketed me. The weight of it… as if we’d never met before. Abhorrently surreal. Unimaginable as it was, in her mind, of course we hadn’t prior to this morning.

I was as good as deaf to introductions—not that they were for my benefit. I politely suffered Deirdre’s rambling that boiled down to the fact that she was deeply flattered by my visit.

“Thank you, Mother Prioress,” I said when she was finished. My eyes shifted back to Elodie. “Good morning, High Priestess.”

“Lady Madoc.” She dipped her chin.

After so long, agony stabbed my splintered heart. Suddenly I was grateful she didn’t remember me, didn’t know what I’d done to her.

“Is there some place where the high priestess and I might speak alone? I wish to consult her on a personal matter.”

“Er, Lady Madoc,” said Deirdre. “If it’s Divination you seek, wouldn’t you rather speak with the First High Priestess?”

“Is that who I asked for?” With my most untouchable mask in place, I pulled out the money I brought. “It must be the Second High Priestess or nobody.”

All the while, my heart thrashed furiously behind my ribs.

“We wouldn’t normally entertain such a request while the temple is closed in an official capacity,” said Deirdre. Her eyes were glued to the purse I was straining to hold steady. “But for you, Lady Madoc, of course an exception will be made.”

We were shown to one of the private Divination rooms lining either side of the Gallery and left blessedly alone. Deirdre’s gaze lingered through the cracked door before she finally shut it. Elodie locked it behind her.

The room reeked of decades of incense. The fragrance had soaked into the tapestry, depicting Eisha’s emblem of yew tree and finch.

It was an effort to keep from outright staring while Elodie set up for our consultation.

Her sudden closeness was both a shock to my system and glorious substance filling the void in my chest. It felt as if I’d been waiting, preparing to return to her, all of this time. I was home in her presence.

When finished lighting incense and arranging candles, she invited me to sit. Every bit the stoic priestess, she folded her hands in her lap and regarded me. “How may I be of assistance, Lady Madoc?”

Suddenly I was eighteen and starving again, desperate and yearning, my skin on fire. And to her, I was merely an eccentric noblewoman who’d just climbed a mountain for an off-season audience.

It’s impossible to overstate the cruelty of sitting with the woman I loved more than anything or anyone else, under the guise of a complete stranger.

Finding my voice, I unclasped my cloak with shaky fingers. “Something happened, Lady Elodie. I did… a terrible thing. Please believe me when I say I had to seek your audience right away. It couldn’t wait.”

A flicker of something I couldn’t quite parse crossed her features before she inhaled deeply, her eyes closing. “Yes, I can see it. The goddess in her infinite wisdom has granted me a glimpse of your past.”

“Wait. I thought Eisha's priestesses only foretell future events.”

Eyes cracking open, she said, “Are you questioning the goddess’s gift?”

“No, I just—”

A finger went up, silencing me. “I can’t change or avoid that which is revealed to me. Now. Did you come for a reading or not?”

I hadn’t, but burning curiosity kept me quiet.

“You have forsaken your lover,” she stated, her glare cleaving me in two.

My head jerked back. “That isn’t fair.”

“You were loved deeply by someone with whom you share an intimate connection. An arcane link. Does this sound familiar?”

Every inch of me went hot and prickly.

“You left him. You betrayed his love for you,” said the priestess with a righteous lift of her chin. “You ruined him with your callous heart.”

Sorrow swept me up like a maelstrom. I sputtered, “You can see all of that?”

“It’s true, isn’t it?”

For a moment I floundered in shocked self-loathing. I didn’t know what to expect trekking up here, but it certainly wasn’t this. “I didn’t betray y— anybody. I did what I had to for both of our safety. I didn’t know he’d be gone when I returned. I never imagined—”

Our soul-tie tore at me, pulsing and straining with something close to frenzy. It felt like an old friend. A long-lost lover returned from meandering at sea. It broke me and braced me at once. She had to feel it too. Right?

Taking a breath, I started at the beginning only to stumble through the explanation with tears in my eyes: “My husband and his father, they threatened my lover. This was years ago, but I overheard them on a handful of occasions plotting.

“My lover has a mutable soul, and they took great affront at having discovered our affair. We’d been quite discreet, so it boiled down to nothing more than their humiliation. Of course, few creatures are more vengeful than a disgraced man. As I’m sure you’re well aware, priestess. Amnesia or no.”

She let out a puff of air, ceding my point with a twitch of her fingers.

“They were angry. Insulted by our audacity. They wanted to be sure our affair ended for good lest the shame we brought upon their silly clan be discovered. Illiam and Orum were planning to… conspiring to have him killed. There was talk of an ‘accident.’”

Elodie’s flinch was so slight, anybody else might have missed it.

“My father-in-law said, ‘Make it look convincing,’ and ‘It needs to be public.’ I wrote that down to be sure of what I heard. From context, I gathered this accident would have affected the family business.”

The priestess made a noise.

“I went to him and ended it, although it was the most excruciating thing I’ve done in my short and highly destructive life.

” I shook my head, my voice wavering. “I made sure I was followed by my husband’s men when I ended it.

Donning a heavy black cloak on a summer’s day kept me in their sights.

” I stopped and swallowed. Her ruthless gaze might as well have been diamond-honed with the way it cut me to pieces.

“I made certain our farewell was overheard.”

“Go on,” she said, agate eyes flashing fire.

“I’ve done many a ruthless thing in my life, your holiness, but you must believe me when I say my callous heart took no joy in ruining him”— godsdammit . I very nearly made it through all of that without my voice breaking.

Unshed tears stinging my sinuses, half-blubbered words fell out of me: “I’d rather have died than leave willingly, but it was a matter of life and death.

I had no choice in the matter. But then, I’ve rarely enjoyed the luxury of choice in my lifetime.

Not unless I’ve taken steps to ensure that I do.

Guaranteed myself some semblance of autonomy in whatever way I can, even if there’s a risk it becomes the road I take to my own funeral. ”

Her breath came short. “Which is what you’re doing here.”

“Which is what I’m doing here,” I echoed. “Much later, when I found out he’d been sent away despite my best efforts—sent here , your holiness—it shattered me. I’ve been a shadow of myself since that day.”

“You’re still in love with her,” she said slowly, her disbelief so pure and raw that it sent me leaning forward in my chair, my palms pressed flat on the table.

“I will always love her,” I hissed. “I’m sorry to disrupt your day like this, Lady Elodie. I’m sure you’ve already guessed, but it’s no coincidence that I came here asking for you, specifically."

I expected questions and confusion. Instead, her features went inscrutable as she got to her feet. With fluid, graceful movements, she eliminated the distance between us. Grabbing my arms, she hauled me out of my chair, walking me backward in the small room.

My back hit the wall before I knew what was happening.

Her body caging me in against the tapestry, her lips crushed feverishly, hungrily, against mine.

She kissed me as if she’d been thinking of nothing else for a century.

Her arms wrapped around me, she drank me in like I was medicine brewed to heal the broken pieces of her.

Unleashed passion ignited our bond. The sudden heat of her tongue skimming mine, the press of her soft curves, the amber and cedar rushing into my lungs and blending with old incense… It was simultaneously all too much and not nearly enough.

“Does this mean you’ve somehow remembered me?” I finally panted, breathless and clinging to her. “Don’t tell me you do this with all the women who venture up here with sob stories.”

Shoring me up with her arms, Elodie adjusted her stance and touched her forehead to mine.

“I couldn’t forget you if I wanted to, Tiss.

And believe me, those first few years? I really, really wanted to,” she sighed.

“But they couldn’t erase you no matter how hard they tried.

They couldn’t do anything to change the fact that I still love you, too.

” Her mouth sought mine again, a ball of giddy joy flaring to life behind my ribs.