Chapter 63
Valencia
No, I hadn’t. I looked to Killian for help, but he had already slipped outside the room behind the Crone.
I tried to glare at him for throwing a last minute surprise at me but it seemed that he had not known the Crone would show up so soon either, based on
their small chat.
I cleared my throat.
“Prince Killian!”
He stopped with one of his feet already outside the door.
“Yes?”
He looked at me with guilt on his face, as if I had caught him red handed.
“Could you tell me why you never told me anything about the Crone or the Red temple?”
That guilt turned into a smile.
He mouthed. “Smart move”
But I only continued to glare at him.
I had almost spent a week in Elorin already and was learning how people behaved and talked. Everybody considered themselves and whatever position they held to be extremely important.
That had been the case with Maelyn, Sir Nicholas, Martin and this old hag was staring at me smugly, so it was easy to believe that they were all cut from
the same cloth.
I was not going to let anyone intimidate me.
Before she could scold me for not keeping up with the knowledge, I turned it on Killian.
Predictably, she turned to look at Killian with a disapproving look!
“I thought you must have told her all about the great Red Temple and the importance of the blessing of the Gods.”
The blessing of the Gods? I thought everybody worshipped the Moon Goddess.
Killian scratched his temple sheepishly.
“I had come here to tell her just that when you arrived, Madam Crone.”
I was not sure if that was how I was supposed to address her. Wasn’t Crone some scheming, malicious old lady?
But here it seemed to denote wisdom and power because she basked in that glory and her eyes lit up when he called her Crone.
Whatever. It was fine by me.
I thought she was not going to bite my ear off but apparently Killian had a way of melting people, especially women, because she looked at me.
“As a girl in this kingdom, you are supposed to know of the Red Temple and its importance. Have you had your first bleed yet?”
She asked.
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Chapter 63
I blinked, and it took me a few seconds to realize what she was saying.
“Of course. Long back,” I answered.
“Well, then you should come with me right away. We can’t waste any time. You are of age.”
I didn’t know what any of it meant. I looked to Killian, but he gave me a look of reassurance that said to just let the old hag to whatever she wanted.
Margaret Thiseble clapped her hands twice, and a girl showed up, holding something in her hand.
The girl was also wearing an identical red robe, though there was no turban on her head.
“Prepare her and bring her to the Temple.”
The girl bowed to the Crone, who stepped outside with Killian, who had something urgent to discuss with her.
The girl looked to be around Mary’s age.
“What is going on?” I asked, and she answered.
“You are required to wear this,” she said, placing the tray on a table and unfolding the robes she had brought for me.”
I didn’t bother questioning why and began to wear it but she shook her head.
“The first visit to the temple is in just the robes.”
My eyes widened.
“Just the robes?” I echoed, and she nodded.
The good part was that the robes at least would cover all of me.
I grabbed the robes from the tray and went to the other room to change.
Ten minutes later, I was in red robes and the girl was leading me through the pathways. I wondered how she knew the way to navigate this maze, but she didn’t spend long inside the palace.
We simply climbed down a flight of stairs on the left that seemed to go on for eternity, and then we were outside the castle.
Well, at least I knew a way to leave the castle without getting lost.
She led me to a cave, and I went inside to see several more women wearing red robes. They were all standing in a circle around something.
When I reached them, the Crone said, “Welcome, Lady Valencia, to the Temple of Elorin. Please bow your head and pay your respect to the Gods.”
She extended her hand, and I followed it to see a large statue of a deity I had never seen before. It was a tall stone sculpture, but before I could take a proper look, she added,
“It is unwise to look the deity in the eye”
I quickly lowered my head and stood like that for a while as she began to mumble something, maybe it was a prayer.
The other women joined her too, and they began chanting something. I could not understand the words they said, so it was probably some language of this kingdom that I wasn’t familiar with.
I let my eyes flutter shut and focused on the chants as the voices echoed in the temple and bounced off the walls.
The words…they seemed to stir something within me.
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Chapter 63
I was not sure how to express the feeling, but it was as if I had heard those words before. Some part of me was also starting to feel that I knew what i
meant.
The prayer.
It was strange.
Warmth generated from the bottom of my stomach when it was all stone cold around me. That warmth was just a kernel before, but slowly it started to
ETOW.
I felt it snake up my stomach and branch out in different directions, heading towards all the limbs.
It felt as if the warmth wanted to cocoon me in a layer, and my hands subconsciously threw themselves open.
My hands went to the sides, and my head arched backward as the warmth continued to fill me.
Then the chanting began to slow down.
And with the chants, the warmth began to diminish as well. I could feel it retreating from the limbs, curling backward like vines.
The vines began to curl and fold back on themselves to return to my stomach.
And then it settled somewhere inside of me, and my eyes flew open.
I gasped and felt myself reel back from the weird experience. I was not sure how to describe it.
My hand flew to my chest, and I clutched it while taking in lungfuls of air. I felt as if I had just run a marathon.
The women around me continued to chant, but after a while they stopped and bowed to the deity.
The crone was the first to open her eyes and looked at me.
“Are you okay?” She asked.
I nodded, and she saw the confused look on my face.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to say anything because she asked again. “Did you feel anything?”
So she expected me to.
I nodded. “I felt something warm inside of me. It…it was there one minute and gone the next.”
Her smile was radiant, and the other ladies gasped in shock.
They all turned to the deity at once and raised their hands to pray to the unknown God.
“This is a good sign, Lady Valencia. You should be happy.”
“Happy about what?” I asked, forgetting to use proper honorifics.
But I was too confused to ask any further.
“The deity usually gives us a sign when we have a question to ask. If he favors the one asking the question, he gives an answer.”
I still didn’t understand what she meant.
“And what that might be?”
“That you are the true descendant of Morwenna and that you are the key to curing the kingdom of its curse.“
Chapter 63
That meant nothing new. Killian and the others had been claiming it already.
“But that is the reason I was brought here.” I said, and she looked slightly offended.
“Prince Kililan asked me to pray to the deity and find the answer to his question. Without your mark, that was the best way to solidify your claim of being
the Blessed One. Now, you truly are one even if there is no mark on you for others to see.”
The mark…the star shaped mark I had seen just once. Why did I feel Killian had seen it twice already?
AD
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