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Kalliarkos kneels, gently taking her chin in his hand "Doma, quiet your tears Be at peace I will let no harm co like him, he as my rose bower love" Her wistful tone peels away the years until the old woht up in the first sweet tres of desire Yet her words turn sour "But he fled away over the sea and they sealed ain, the gods would s"

Ro-eain "Who are you, Do descant in praise of the Sun of Justice As they cliht… pure judg back on, you fool," I whisper "They’re alainst the oracle’s alcove, a stentorian voice intones a prayer "Oracle, awake! I who ah Priest in His Most Glorious Raiment and with the Holy Presence of the Gods’ Sweet Breath and Joyous Favor attend your sanctuary"

Ro-emnu claps a hand over the oracle’s mouth I am afraid to h Priest arrive so quietly?

"I, the hu you, the separated who is dead, to speak into this world through your hidden ods fro Speak the words which you are gloried and sanctified and required to utter"

The fragrance of the priests’ holy incense wafts through the slit in the wall The harsh scent tickles right up my nose Ro-emnu sneezes and his hand slips off the oracle’s rief, before he slaps his hand back Too late Now they know someone is alive inside

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The oracle must always speak if she is summoned by the proper ritual words If she does not, there is a longer ritual to coax her voice awake I need theo away quickly so no one notices the rope looped around the air shaft on the roof

I run into the oracle’s chah which worshippers can hear her whispered prophecies No priest would look directly through the slit so all I see are the robes they wear, dyed in colors that represent the god each priest serves: blue for Lady Hayiyin of the Sea, yellow for Lord Seon the Sun of Justice, and red for Lord Judge Inkos who rules the afterlife The High Priest wears purple to mark his descent froh Priest Whether or not he is in on Lord Gargaron’s plot, I have to convince him to leave

My pulse pounds in my ears so loudly I am dizzy with it If the words she spoke leave ins with a death" I pitch uise it "Where will it end? There could be a victory, a birth, a kiss, or another death There ht fall fire upon the City of the Dead, upon the to adversary Poisonheart ht be a mercy"

Silence pools like fate as a scribe writes my words down It takes all th, singing a hymn, the priests walk away to complete a circuit of the torabs the rope at the botto?" I whisper

"I have to cli down but it’s nothing ht blind shaft"

"What if they see you?"

He shrugs "If they arrest o into the army, will I?"

I kiss his cheek for luck

He rests his fingers briefly against my cheek in answer, then cliht in his aro, Doma, if you can pull your eyes away fro off for you," says Ro-e me from the arch

I see no need to answer such an i past him, I stop short Lord Ottonor’s corpse has been put back into the coffin, and the oracle is gone Only my brother remains Ro picks up the tiny bundle and offers it to me

"You did not tell me there were two babies, Doma Twins are sacred"

"Twin boys are considered a sign of good fortune, and twin girls of ill fortune, but they’re not sacred"

"You’re speaking like a Patron Twins are sacred to the five"