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Ryn scooted after her, keeping close behind. Her nerves fluttered along her skin as she thought about being ‘introduced’ to the King—especially in Marcan’s artwork. She wondered how many minutes were left before the introductions would start.

Down the hall, the other girls slipped from their rooms in dazzling gowns: pearl white with dark blue threads, black stitching over blue taffeta, wide organza cascading to the floor.

Everything had the same feel—the dark blue sky, the silver stars, and occasionally, a golden sun.

Emblems and hues to bring blessings to the King via their praise of the Divinities.

Heva changed direction. She slid into a dim adjacent hall and waved for Ryn to follow.

Ryn watched the other girls heading toward the Hall of Stars where Marcan told her they’d be announced.

But Heva kept waving, so Ryn scampered the other way after her.

They scurried down a dark corridor and around a bend where morning light broke through slit windows, bleaching the walls in long shapes and blinding Ryn.

“We’re going the wrong way—”

“Shh. Hurry!”

Ryn’s gold-spun sandals slapped over the floor as she tried to keep up. The gems in her dress rattled, and she imagined Marcan’s outrage if any broke off. She also imagined missing the Introduction Ceremony and alerting the whole palace that they should be suspicious of her.

“Heva,” she tried again, but Heva was jogging now.

Finally, they reached an arch that was too narrow to go in side-by-side, so Heva slid in first.

Ryn released a heavy breath before she followed, ready to demand an explanation from her guardswoman. But her lips parted when she stepped into the wide room that was crumbling yet looked more beautiful than the great palace atrium had been with all its dark blue murals and Celestial statues.

Beige stone walls enclosed a room of pillars, most of which were smashed or had deteriorated. Overgrown ivy spilled from a hole in the ceiling’s corner that was open to the sky, and soft tweets came from the heights of the domed space where birds congregated in the stream of morning sunlight.

Four inches of water also covered the floor.

“Heva, I can’t come in here,” Ryn said.

Heva glanced back at her dress. She doubled around and lifted the train of Ryn’s skirt, and they walked in that way—Ryn kicking through the water in her sandals. “Are you going to tell me where we’re going now?” she asked, wincing as water splashed up her legs.

“This is the old temple, now called the Abandoned Temple after it was deserted when a groundwater stream burst through. No one’s bothered to repair it, so no one comes here,” a white-haired woman Ryn hadn’t noticed before explained from the centre of the room.

The hem of the woman’s emerald green robe swished through the water as she turned around.

She brushed her palms clean of birdseed, and Ryn watched it sprinkle into the stream.

“We only have three minutes,” Heva said over Ryn’s shoulder to the woman.

“Who is this?” Ryn whispered back to Heva.

The woman chuckled and waved a hand through the air.

“Apologies, Estheryn. I’m Geovani, High Priestess of the Adriel God, representing the Adriels in the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces for the royal court.

” She came a few steps closer, revealing a soft smile and bright eyes amidst many wrinkles.

“You have a red ‘R’ painted upon your forehead. Did you know that?”

Ryn didn’t realize she’d taken a step backward until she bumped into Heva.

Sure, Ryn had heard of visions. Visions from the Celestial Divinities were what gave the Intelligentsia their power and wisdom to govern daily affairs.

Ryn’s mother had believed in visions but had then called the palace sages liars.

Geovani didn’t have the look of a liar, but she talked like a crazy person.

Also, Ryn had just been looking in a mirror—there was no red anything on her forehead.

Geovani raised another hand of apology. “I don’t know what it means yet, but I know you must be important. Sometimes an “R” stands for Revivalist , but I think we’ll have to wait and see with you.”

Ryn almost turned and yelled at Heva for bringing her here. This wasn’t what Ryn had expected when Heva spoke of Geovani.

Geovani grinned like she could read Ryn’s mind. “Trust me, this is the most important moment since the day you were born, Estheryn. Or should I call you, Adassah ?”

Ryn’s lips parted. She tried to move back again, but Heva’s hand found her shoulder and held her still. “Just wait,” Heva whispered.

Geovani sighed. “There was once a great battle between the gods,” she said. “Someday, I’ll tell you what really happened, and it’ll change your mind. But don’t worry—I won’t tell you now. I know you have somewhere important to be.” A strange twinkle lit the old woman’s eyes.

That was it. Ryn shook off Heva’s hand and turned to face her guardswoman. “Take me to the Hall of Stars,” she said. “Let’s go.”

But Heva shook her head. “I’m loyal to Geovani,” she said. “I’ll do what she says.”

Ryn stared at her guard in disbelief. Nothing since the moment she’d entered the palace was normal, but this encounter was the strangest of all.

Was this really the revered Geovani that even the Priesthood knew about?

Ryn once learned from Kai that there was only one Adriel representative left on the King’s council—one single soul of the Adriel religion; a priestess.

And apart from her, any Adriel who set foot on the palace grounds would be executed on the spot.

Ryn glanced back at the woman. Suddenly, all those things Kai mentioned in their candlelit conversations returned to her mind.

He’d said the High Priestess was ignored, that she had no voice on the council, that she was just there for show so the Adriel citizens of Per-Siana would feel represented in the palace, obey the Weylin order, and never revolt.

She didn’t even have a vote in kingdom affairs anymore; only the Weylin councilmen and the Intelligentsia had ballots.

Kai once said the High Priestess shouldn’t have bothered staying in the palace when she was invisible and never heard, and all the priests wondered why she was still there.

How humiliating it must have been for her to exist and not be treated like she was alive.

“Sorry,” Ryn said. She wasn’t even sure why she was apologizing to the woman. Maybe because she knew the feeling of always staying quiet in public, never raising her voice, never objecting to anything.

The wrinkled corners of Geovani’s mouth turned up. “I’m a tired old woman, Adassah. I know my ways are considered ancient for the current times. But if you won’t listen to me, at least listen to him . And then decide.”

Ryn’s face fell. “You should call me Ryn ,” she said, fighting the temptation to look toward the temple entrance to see if anyone was eavesdropping. “And who should I listen to, exactly?”

And decide what?

Geovani stepped toward her, and Ryn ducked a little when the old woman raised her hands and placed them over Ryn’s ears. “I pray that you would have eyes to see and ears to hear, Adassah.”

A net of warmth tangled into Ryn’s stomach, and she tore away from Geovani, blinking. A flash of light burned over her vision, and she winced as heat popped in her ears.

What did this crazy old woman just do?

Ryn placed a hand over her stomach. “Are you a witch?” she asked. “Or a Jinn?”

Geovani burst out laughing, startling Ryn more than the heat in her belly. The old woman took her shoulders and turned her toward the arch. “Not at all. Go now. You can’t be late.” Then to Heva, she said, “Take her quickly.”

Heva tugged Ryn out of the Abandoned Temple and back into the hall.

Ryn’s hand remained on her stomach the whole walk to the Hall of Stars.