35
Shattered Vows
Petra stared at the sword in the Mother Queen’s hand, the blade upon whose edge his life and Amlinn’s were literally balanced. In his mind, he saw another chamber, another time, when he had just turned ten years old. Standing before his father and the other senior Priests, he had proudly repeated, one by one, the vows that made him a Priest-Apprentice of Vekrin.
He had sworn to die rather than break those vows. He had been certain that truth lay only with Vekrin and his Priests. But in scant weeks, all his certainties had been overthrown. Amlinn had taught him that Freefolk were not his enemies. Denthold had convinced him that Blue Fire could and should belong to all the people of Nevyana. And Jin—the Nightdweller they had aided, who had now saved their lives and knelt
