“Holdstill!”

“I’mtrying,” Trin whispered through gritted teeth. “The pain…”

“Thehrakka’s claws are treated with anacidic agent to increase pain and suffering.” She gave Trin a cruel smile. “Theywill leave permanent marks so thatall who see you will know what you have done.”

“What?”Trin looked at her wildly. “But my mother said, she told me that only you andshe would know what…what I did!”

“Thatwas before you admitted to enjoyingyour defilement,” the priestess snarled. “Such disgusting sin cannot gounpunished. Now everyone who looks at you will know that you allowed yourselfto be defiled by a male. The marks of the hrakkawill tell them!”

Trinwanted to cry but she refused, raising her chin instead. Maybe the priestesswas right—maybe she did deserve tohave everyone know what she had done—to be marked permanently for her sins andher shame. And yet…had it really been so bad? She couldn’t help remembering thefeel of Thrace’sstrong arms around her, the way he had whispered her name and said that heloved her. They hadn’t been hurting anyone—was what they had done really so awful?

I committed sacrilege against the Goddess,shereminded herself sternly. I have to paythe price.

Buteven so, the next step of the ritual was almost more than she could bear.

Betinaled her out of the back of the temple, into the gardens—a vast space covered inwithered purple grass and surrounded on all sides by high, gray walls.

There,stamping and snorting, were two familiar figures. Trin’s heart sank as she sawone of the lesser priestesses holding the bridles of her beloved pets, Swiftand Silk. When they saw her, they tossed their heads and Swift let out a ringingneigh. He pulled free of the priestess holding him and cantered over to Trin.

“Oh,Swift…” Trin put her arms around his neck and pressed her face to his warmhide, drawing comfort from him as she had so often growing up. “Oh my goodboy…” He snorted and nuzzled her hair, as if to ask what was wrong and Trinpressed close to him, breathing in the warm scent of horse hair and sweet hayand wishing with all her might that they were all back in her home pasturewithout a care in the world.

“That’senough of your sickening display,” Betina snapped. She motioned at the lesserpriestess. “You—come and pull this one back to stand by the other.”

Swiftdidn’t want to go but Trin patted and stroked him and spoke in a low, soothingvoice, telling him to go back, that everything would be all right. But she washorribly afraid she was lying.

“Whyhave you brought my pets?” she asked in a low voice as Swift was led back tostand by Silk. Her stomach was twisted into knots and part of her already knewthe answer.

“Toshow how sorry you are, you must sacrifice something you love,” the highpriestess said coldly. “If the male who defiled you was here, we would demandyou sacrifice his pain to the Goddess. As it is, the death of these two aliencreatures will have to do.”

“They’rehorses from Earth and I’ve had themsince I was twelve cycles old,” Trin protested. “I raised them from foals. They’reold but still healthy—you can’t kill them—you can’t.”

“Why,because you love them?” Betinasneered at her. “If only you’d loved your purity as much they might have beenspared. But I am afraid they must be given to the Goddess as a sign of yourcontrition.” She shoved a dagger into Trin’s hand—the same one she’d used to sliceher arm for the blood sacrifice earlier. “Now do it—cut their throats!”

“No.”Trin shook her head violently and backed away, letting the dagger drop fromnerveless fingers. “No, you can’t make me! I can’t…I won’t.”

Betinashook her head, the rubies in her black headdress winking like drops of bloodin the pale sunlight.

“Weakand foolish female! Very well then, I will.”

BeforeTrin could stop her, she pulled a small but lethal heat-beam from the folds ofher cloak and aimed it right between Silk’s eyes.

“No!”Trin jumped to stop her but she was suddenly surrounded by the lesserpriestesses, all wearing their hooded gray robes. There was a zzap sound and a beam of concentratedheat and light pierced the mare’s skull, cooking her brain instantly. Silk staggeredand threw up her head with a sound that was more scream than neigh…then she stumbledand slowly fell to her knees. Her warm brown eyes were suddenly lifeless as theyrolled up in her head and she collapsed onto her side,

“Silk!No!” Trin broke free and ran to her but there was nothing she could do. Silk’seyes were already glazing and there was a neat black hole burned just below theforelock Trin had loved to stroke.

Themare she had raised from a tiny foal was gone and the high priestess was standingover her with a malicious grin on her face.

“Sheshould have died by the knife,” Betina said dispassionately as Trin wept intothe dead horse’s mane. “Your punishment will be the worse because you wereunable to do your duty.” Then she raised the weapon again and pointed it atSwift who was pawing the ground uneasily.

“No—no! Not Swift too!” Trin jumped up and tried to stop her—tried to grab her arm andpush the blaster up and away. But before she could get to the priestess, therewas another flat, lethal sounding zzap andSwift, too, gave a piercing neigh and fell to the ground. His big brown eyesrolled up at Trin as if to ask, Why didyou do this to me? And then he collapsed and was silent.

Trinfell in a heap, weeping in the dirt of the temple garden. How often had shesought refuge and comfort from her pets? How often had she come home to seethem cantering across the field to her, eager for her touch and the sound ofher voice? When her mother was angry with her or disappointed at something shehad done wrong, they were always there, Swift and Silk, waiting to comfort herand give her their unconditional love and affection. And now, in the space of afew heartbeats, they were gone—sacrificed to pay for her sins.

Me—they were killed because of me. It’s myfault…all my fault…The Goddess hates me…I don’t blame her—I hate myself!

Hershoulders shook and the sobs tore from her throat. Trin wished it was she who lay there dead in the witheredgrass. After all—she was the one who deserved death. Not the gentle, sweet petsshe had raised from foals. Not the creatures she had loved from childhood.

Thetemple garden was an enclosed space, shut away from the rest of the world by itshigh, gray walls. As Trin lay there weeping by the bodies of her mare andstallion, she had never felt more trapped or more hopeless in her life.

“Why?”she whispered through her tears, turning her face up towards the priestess.“Why did you take them? It should have been me—you should have killed me.”

“Youcertainly deserve death but Ipromised your mother we would try to cleanse you of the defilement first.”Betina’s lip curled in disgust. “As we are not yet done, you must live a littlelonger. Now dig,” she snarled,kicking Trin in the side. “With yourhands. You must bury these creatures as a fitting sacrifice to the Goddessof Judgment—though not nearly as fitting as if you had done your duty andsacrificed them yourself.”

Trinlooked around her dully. That had been hours ago. She had been digging steadilyever since and still the hole she’d made still wasn’t half big enough for evenSwift, let alone Silk as well. The dirt and stones of the temple garden was ashard and ungiving as the head priestess’s heart. Trin’s hands were bleeding,her nails chipped and torn. There was mud and blood mixed into the long weltswhich scored her body and she felt she would never be clean again—either insideor out.

“Please,”she whispered, looking up at the high priestess. “Can I…could I just have adrink of water?” Between the blood she’d given at the alter of the Goddess and allthe tears she’d shed, she felt horribly dehydrated.