Chapter 13
Finally, after my backside had gone numb from perching on the hard bench all morning, a red-robed priest came to take us to the testing. I exchanged an apprehensive look with Lena, but none of the aspirants spoke as we filed after the priest. It seemed to me that the whispers in the temple grew more sibilant as we passed, the scent of candle wax and incense thicker, hazing the air.
The priest led us to the altar, then past it and to the door beside the immense portrait of the Twin Gods. I wondered if any of the other aspirants had passed through the dim red corridor to the room beyond before. Another of the dubious advantages of being Galtus Celcio’s daughter, I supposed.
We didn’t linger in the archway-lined room, however, nor pause at the mysterious far altar.
“Here,” the
