A Virtue of Child - Chapter 6

This will be the last sample chapter before A Virtue of Child goes live on Sunday. It's been a rough slog because this story is being told by an unreliable narrator. Yes, the novels are usually told in Anthea's first person point of view. Normally, she's a totally reliable narrator. It's been a challenge writing this. I hope I did it justice (pun intended), and you all enjoy the story.

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Despite the, well, I couldn’t call it a fight with Luc, I had a pleasant meal with Shi Hua. In my own wallowing, I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed the young priestess’s company.

“May I ask a favor?”

“If I can,” she said with a smile.

“Do you think Ambassador Quan or his concubine would object if Nathan attends the language and martial arts lessons with Ming Wei?”

From her expression, she understood why I was couching my words in such delicate terms. We didn’t have the warding to protect us. Only a few people knew her aunt was really the Jing ambassador’s bodyguard. Even fewer knew Ambassador Quan was the Jing emperor’s half-brother. And only three people outside of Shi Hua’s bedchamber knew Mistress Yin Li was actually a Love priestess.

Better yet, if Shi Hua needed to get a message to me without using silent speech, she could employ my squire.

The priestess smiled and nodded. “I will ask, but I don’t believe they will object. And please visit me since Yanaba can no longer come over. I need women to talk to.”

I could understand her feelings. Jing’s Temple of Light had all genders as part of their membership. Issura insisted on men only, not just clergy, but wardens and attendants as well. It had been a major adjustment for the personnel here when Shi Hua was transferred to Orrin’s Temple of Light. The Issuran standard seemed even more ridiculous when we were facing more demon invasions, and we needed every person with Light talent we could find.

“I will,” I promised.< br/>

I left her quarters with my two wardens in tow. No one bothered to escort us through the Temple, though Mateqai had a pleased expression on his face as we passed him, which I was sure stemmed from me standing up for his charge.

When we entered the sanctuary again, Garbhan and Yar waited along with Sisquoc from the Wildling Temple, two priests from Conflict, and more surprisingly, two priests from Father. Only Sisquoc didn’t have a warden accompanying him.

“Where is your warden, Brother?” I narrowed my eyes, but the huge Wildling didn’t flinch from my red gaze.

“I don’t need one.” Sisquoc jutted out his chin as if daring me to argue with him.

I really couldn’t argue his point. His second form was a mountain panther. I’d seen him in action against renegades, skinwalkers, and demons. No, he didn’t really need a warden.

Instead, I said, “Don’t expect me to watch your back.”

“It’s not my back my high brother is concerned about, but yours.” He managed not to flash a cheeky grin, but his humor rolled over my mental shields. It was a warm and soft as his fur.

“We all need to be careful,” Garbhan interjected.

“You showed everyone Leilani’s drawings?” I asked. All the men murmured their acknowledgement of having seen the description.

“Did any of you recognize it?” I looked at each of their faces, but they all shook their heads.

“We did confer with the Temple of Knowledge,” Garbhan said. “Not even High Sister Mariana had heard of anything like this creature. She assured me she would assign someone to research the matter.

I bit my tongue to keep from giving my opinion of who Mariana would assign to the task, much less whether they would find any worthwhile information. There was so much the Temple of Knowledge hadn’t recorded because they assumed such common lore wouldn’t be forgotten. Then there was the fact that Mariana considered requests from the other Temples to be of less of a priority than her own tasks. She didn’t do so out of spite, but simply because she didn’t understand their importance.

On the other hand, I didn’t know why I was worried about Mariana’s feelings. She had voted to condemn me to Orrin’s Balance seat last year after I killed Samael DiRoy, the queen’s cousin, in order to banish the demons he had summoned.

In fact, no one in Orrin cared about the sacrifices I’d made to protect them. No, they blamed the Red Justice for all their troubles instead of— “Chief Justice?” Garbhan said loudly.

All of the priests and wardens stared at me.

“I beg your pardon, Brother?”

“I asked if you were ready to perform the tracking spell.” His brows formed a blue “V”. He must have been trying to get my attention for longer than I realized.

“It would be best of one of the others assists you,” I said. “The rewind this morning took more out of me than I realized.”

“Of course, Chief Justice.” He inclined his head.

“I’ll assist you, Brother,” one of the Conflict priests murmured.

Together, they knelt before the eternal flame. A bowl with a few shavings of the creature’s cleaned talon sat between them. As Garbhan said, we often had far less to work with in a tracking spell, and not using all of it at one time would give us a second opportunity. Just in case.

It was odd not to see one of the other three Light clergy with him though. Things were simply changing too fast. And we were losing Light talents faster than we could breed them. Thanks to my mother I couldn’t do my share. If Luc couldn’t pull himself out of his well of grief, or Twelve forbid, we lost Shi Hua due to her delivery…

The two men chanted, but the Conflict priest’s voice was discordant compared to the rhythms of Light. Their magic prickled along my skin, the harsh buzz of the warrior a counterpoint to the insistent tickle of truth. Garbhan lit a reed from the eternal flame and set the contents of the bowl on fire. The energies mixed and formed an invisible ribbon that arrowed for the open door of the Temple of Light.

Diamond-sharp blackness surrounded the ribbon and exploded with the force of a bag of Jing flash powder. The cold rush of power knocked me backward. I slammed into a worshippers’ bench and flipped over it. The hilts of my knives dug into my hip bones, my scabbard into my spine and ribs, as I tumbled across the floor.

When I came to a rest, I wondered what it would cost to overlay Balance’s marble floor with wooden planks. I didn’t hurt half as bad as I did after being thrown into stone, though my head pounded.

It wasn’t just my head. The Temple bells rang the alert for demons

Ahiga, one of my own wardens, knelt next to me. “Lady Justice?”

“I’m still alive.” I grabbed the hand he offered to assist me in sitting upright. “What about Garbhan?”

I looked around us. The wardens were all upright. It was only the clergy on the floor.

This wasn’t a normal trap spell. A metallic taste filled my mouth. Demon magic.

Except it didn’t feel as alien as it had before.

The priest who had been assisting Garbhan sat up with some aid from his warden. “What in Conflict’s Hammer happened?”

“Chief Justice!” Yar’s alarm prickled painfully against my psyche. He knelt next to Garbhan who wasn’t moving.

“Is he alive?” I asked.

At the same moment, Brother Jeremy rushed into the room along with a handful of Light wardens. “What happened?”

“A tracking spell gone wrong,” Sisquoc spat. A fine layer of blue fur covered him. My other warden Daniel assisted the Wildling as he tamed his second form.

“He’s not breathing!”

Ahiga helped me to my feet, and I stumbled nearer to the prone Garbhan. Yar pinched the priest’s nose shut and breathed into his mouth. Another Light warden knelt on Garbhan’s left side and performed chest compressions.

I could only stare at the scene, though Jeremy shouted orders and one of their squires raced back to the stables to fetch a healer. Another Light talent was dying, and it was my fault.