“What’swrong?” Becca asked, frowning. “We need to hurry.”

“Iknow but the water’s freezing cold! Like needles of ice. And no matter which way I twist the knob, it won’t get warm.”

“Thatis because this is the novices’ bathing area—novice priestesses are not allowedwarm water for bathing until they complete their first year and becomeinitiates.”

Thenew voice made them all turn around quickly.

“Oh,hi. Um, I mean, greetings, fellow priestess,” Charlie said quickly to thelesser priestess standing there behind them with a curious look on her face.Trin noticed that she and Becca kept their hoods on, hiding their faces, thoughthe new girl had thrown hers back, the better to talk to them.

“Whoare you?” the girl, who had pale skin and light purple hair asked. “Are you newto our temple?”

“Yes,we are,” Becca said quickly. “We were told by the, uh, head priestess that weneeded to clean this girl up.” She nodded at Trin.

“Youmean the high priestess?” the girlasked.

“Um,right—the high priestess,” Charliesaid quickly. “We call ours the head priestess sometimes back at our hometemple.”

“Oh?Where is the temple you come from?”The girl raised a slim purple eyebrow.

“Um…”Charlie and Becca were clearly at a loss.

“Shatterline,”Trin croaked, helping them out. “They come from the Shatterline province.”

Thisseemed to satisfy the priestess with the purple hair.

“Allright—good meeting, sisters.”

“Goodmeeting…sister,” Becca said, echoing her words. “And thank you for telling usabout the water situation.”

“Yes,where can we find some good hotwater?” Charlie asked.

“Ifyou have the clearance to go into the initiates’ bathing room, it’s down thecorridor and up three flights—by the high priestess’s wing.” The girl shook herhead. “But are you certain you’remeant to allow the Defiled One to wash? She is still undergoing thepurification ritual, isn’t she?”

“TheDefiled One?” Becca sounded incensed.“Is that what you’re calling thispoor girl?”

Thepriestess shrugged. “That’s what she is—she allowed a male to penetrate her and fill her with his seed.” She made a face as though it wasthe most disgusting thing she’d ever heard of and Trin felt herself witherinside with shame. “Why—do you call such females something else at your hometemple in Shatterline?”

“No,we…we haven’t had this situation before. That’s all,” Charlie said quickly.“Well, it’s getting late so we’d better be getting along.”

“Asyou wish. I bid you good evening.” The girl put her hood back on and made aslow bow before leaving the bathing area.

“Comeon,” Becca hissed. “Let’s get out of here and find the other bathroom.”

“Wait.”Charlie put a hand on her arm. “That girl said it was by the high priestess—doyou think we should risk it?”

“Ithink we can’t put poor Trin into a freezing cold shower in the state she’sin,” Becca snapped. “So yes, I think we have to risk it.”

“Becca—”

“It’sall right.” With an effort, Trin shook free of their hands and stepped into oneof the stalls. Trying to brace herself, she twisted the controls and held herbreath as icy needles of water bit into her skin.

“Trin,honey—no! You don’t have to do that!” Becca protested. “We’ll get you someplacewith hot water, I promise.”

“Don’td-deserve h-hot water,” Trin answered, her teeth chattering. “D-don’t deservew-water at all.”

Butshe was so thirsty she couldn’t help taking deep gulps of the stinging spray.And despite the frigid temperature, the water did at least rinse her free ofdirt and grime. It also rinsed away the stinging acidic solution which had beenon the claws of the hrakka. Trinsighed in relief when it sluiced off her skin. She hadn’t realized how muchpain she’d been in until it finally eased some. For hours the hrakka venom had felt like millions of tinystinging insects all over her body—now they were finally gone.

Closingher eyes, she turned around under the cold spray, cleaning her outer selfthoroughly. If only it was so easy toclean my inside, she thought but that was impossible. She was dirty andsinful and disgusting and there was nothing she could do about it. Even thesacrifice of her beloved horses had not appeased the Goddess—it seemed noamount of pain could appease her.

Which is why I have to decide if I want tolose a finger or an ear or an eye, Trin thought and shuddered. She tried topush the idea away—she would have to face it soon enough but for now, she justwanted to feel clean. At least on the outside.

Atlast when her teeth were chattering so hard she couldn’t keep them still, Charliepulled her out of the tub and found several rough lengths of fabric to dry herwelted skin.

“Areyou kidding me with these towels?” she muttered under her breath, trying herbest to blot Trin dry gently. “What the hell is wrong with this place? Are theyall masochists or sadists or what?”

“Itdoesn’t matter.” Trin took the rough towel from her and wrapped it around herscored and stinging flesh, ignoring the way it scratched her wounded flesh.

“Yes,it does,” Becca insisted. “And what did they do to you, anyway? I couldn’t tellbefore with all the dirt but girl, you are allscratched up. You’re a mess.” She reached out a hand and for the firsttime, Trin noticed her skin tones—they were the same creamy brown as herown—maybe just a shade lighter.

“You…you’re…”She compared their hands. “You’re like me! I’ve never seen anyone like meoutside the few Earth vids my mother let me watch as a child!”

“That’sbecause I’m from Earth—Charlie and Iboth are.” Becca threw back her hood to give Trin a better look and Charlie didthe same.

“Allthe way from Earth?” Trin looked at them blankly. “But…what are you doinghere?”

“That’sa long story.” Charlie put her hood back up and Becca did the same. “Comeon—let’s find a safe place to talk and we’ll tell you.”

Chapter Thirty-five

“So…you’vebeen watching me for weeks?” Trin looked at them uncertainly. The three of themwere seated on a hard, uncomfortable cot with a single thin, scratchy grayblanket. Charlie had grumbled more about the sadistic practices of the templewhen she saw the sleeping accommodations but Trin was so tired she had to sitdown or fall down. So now she was sitting in the middle of the cot with Charlieand Becca on either side of her.

“Ina manner of speaking—I and my guy, Stavros, have been getting visions of youand Thrace—littleflashes of what’s going on with you. Oh, and Stav had to watch Two also.”Charlie made a face. “Not great. But that’s why I practically feel like I knowyou already.”

“Andit’s also why we came to get you,” Becca said. “The Goddess told Charlie andStavros it was time to stop watching and start acting.”

Trinfrowned. “What Goddess? Not the Goddess of Judgment?”

“No,of course not. In fact…” Charlie hesitated.

“Infact what?” Trin demanded.

“Well…Idon’t know how to say this but when the Goddess—the Kindred Goddess, I mean—theMother of All Life—spoke to me, she said your goddess isn’t really…well, she’snot real.”

“Sheis real,” Trin said, frowning. “I wasraised in her shadow, trained to fear her from my infancy. She has to be real or…”

“Oryou’re doing all this for nothing?” Becca asked gently, indicating Trin’sscratched body and shorn head.

Trinlooked away. “Even if she wasn’t real, I’ve still broken the laws of mypeople—still shamed my mother. I…I deserve all that has happened to me andmore.”

“Mymother cries over me every night,” Becca said softly. “I was all set to be anun—that’s like a priestess, you know. I thought I had the calling. But then, Imet Truth and Far.”

“Whoare they?” Trin asked uncertainly.