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So I entered the alley only after I’d made sure there were no priests in the ia I was prepared to say I was lost, just in case)

As Imy stick back and forth in case I happened across a wallet or other valuables, I noticed the smell of blood at once I dismissed it just as quickly, because it didn’t icked to keep itself clean of detritus Any inanimate object dropped in it disappeared after half an hour or so--the better to lure in unwary pilgri who’d set this particular trap had a wicked mind for detail, I had decided) Yet the deeper I moved into the alley, the rew, because I recognized it Metal and salt, cloying in that way blood becorown cold and clotted But this was not the heavy, iron scent ofto it Metals that had no naue, salts of entirely different seas

Godsblood Had someone dropped a vial of the stuff here? An expensiveAnd there was far, far tooheavy and soft, and I stopped, dread drying my mouth

I crouched to examine my find Cloth, very soft and fine Flesh beneath the cloth--a leg Cooler than it should have been, but not cold I felt upward, htly poochy belly--and then ers stilled as the cloth suddenly became sodden and tacky

I snatched ht?" That was a foolish question, because obviously she wasn’t

I could see her now, a very faint person-shaped blur occluding the alley floor’s shiic of her own; I should have spotted her the moment I entered the alley She should not have been s had no need for sleep

I knehat this meant All my instincts cried it But I did not want to believe

Then I felt a familiar presence appear nearby No footsteps to forewarn lad he’d co whispered That hen I had to believe, because the surprise and horror in Madding’s voice were undeniable

I had found a godling A dead one

I stood, too fast, and stumbled a little as I backed away "I don’t, either," I said I gripped htly with both hands "She was like this when I found her But--" I shook my head, at a loss for words

There was the faint sound of chi ago Then Madding manifested frouely Senled dark hair caught in a tail at the nape of his neck He did not glow, precisely--not in this forainst the walls’ shimmer And I had never seen the stricken look that was on his face as he stared down at the body

"Role," he said Two syllables, the faintest of emphasis on the first "Oh, Sister Who did this to you?"

And how? I alrief kept , and reached out to touch soers seeainst her skin "It doesn’t make sense," he said, very softly That was more proof of how troubled he was; usually he tried to act like the tough, rough-mannered mortal he appeared to be Before this, I had seen him show softness only in private, with ?" I asked I did not sta, I ine All of us would have sensed that and come to see But Role had no enemies Why would anyone hurt her? Unless…" He frowned As his concentration slipped, so did his i that was a shining, liquid green, like the smell of fresh Tree leaves "No, ould either of them have done it? It doesn’tshoulder After a moment, he touched iven him no comfort

"I’ huo Our parents… They’ll need to be told If they don’t know already" He sighed and shook his head as he got to his feet