Page 149 of Godbound
Despite Kaelzar’s refusal to leave my side, I beg him to watch over the people. Make sure the structure hasn’t rotted through the centuries.
He only agrees after I swear not to leave the premises alone. I remind him, half-joking, tapping my inked arm, that if my life is in danger, it’s his life we’ll have to worry about.
As hours go by, the temple begins to change. Dust lifts. Cobwebs vanish.
The noise of Viele dies outside, and the sanctuary settles into hush. Women huddle together in makeshift beds, transforming the space into something that looks less like a temple and more like a refugee camp.
It’s not much, just stone and shadow and dirt still clinging to the corners, but it begins to feel like a real home.
Here, I’m not someone’s daughter or someone’s bride. I’m someone I chose to be. And when I look toward the staircase Kaelzardisappeared up earlier, I wonder if he feels it too.
I want so badly to go back to Peonica. But Micheline, who begged to help, and who I forced to stay behind to watch over her, swore to me she wouldn’t wake until at least tomorrow afternoon. And I know hovering over her sleeping body won’t help anyone right now.
So I stay.
But I can’t bring myself to take any of the more comfortable spots I find scattered throughout the temple. Every room, every quiet nook I come across, I guide someone else into. I help them set up a sleeping space, tucking blankets beneath their weary bodies.
Only once every single person is settled, fed, and warm do I make one last walk around the perimeter, just to be sure I haven’t missed anyone. Just to be sure no one else is left behind.
“Come,” Kaelzar says, never straying from my side. “I know a place.”
A slit of shadow opens in the air. Kaelzar lifts his arm in an invitation to step through. I bristle at the sight.
“Can we walk there?” I yawn.
He gestures toward the third level of the temple, where the stairs are so damaged we haven’t been able to reach it, leaving us to make do with the first two floors. “Not tonight,” he says, and offers me his arm.
Too tired to argue, I take it. Together, we step into the shadows.
I stumble as I emerge, more falling than walking out. The sensation of being pulled apart and stitched back together hasn’t gotten any easier, though maybe I’m just getting used to the discomfort. I mutter a curse under my breath, but when I see where he’s brought us, the air catches in my lungs.
It’s a massive chamber, its walls gleaming faintly with gold. In the center rests a marble bed. Huge and solid. Fresh sheets, thick pillows, and a mattress that looks recently placed wait for me. For us, I correct myself, then immediately correct again: for me.
Kaelzar must’ve slipped away at some point to gather these things while I thought he was patrolling. “The priestess’s room,” he says, gesturing around us. “Your room.”
Candles flicker everywhere, not the little wax stubs we scrapedtogether from donations, but tall, thick ones in gilded holders. They cast a warm glow over the room, making it feel impossibly sacred. I only get a minute to take it all in before collapsing face-first into the bed, the softest thing I’ve ever touched.
Kaelzar grumbles behind me, and I can hear the disapproval in his voice.
“Yes, with my shoes on,” I mumble into the pillow, grinning.
“As you wish,” he replies, and I swear I can hear him rolling his eyes. “I’ll be back in the morning.”
I hear his steps as he begins to turn. And I should let him. I should let him walk away. But I don’t want to be alone tonight. Not in this space I’m still learning to believe is mine.
“We both need sleep,” he continues, “and?—”
“Stay!” The word bursts out of me. It startles both of us. I’m half-sitting up, my arm reaching out toward him like I might grab him and yank him back.
Kaelzar pauses, half-swallowed by shadow. “There’s only… one bed.”
“And look how big it is,” I say, throwing myself dramatically into the pillows again so I don’t have to look at him.
Did I really just beg him to stay? For what? I know he wouldn’t go far. I have his shadow inked into my skin. I wear his ring. He’d know the moment anything went wrong.
But that’s not what’s making me want him close. The thought of not being beside him now… or ever… It unsettles me.
Everything else fades. All I can feel is the rise and fall of his chest as he weighs his next move, each breath syncing with the rhythm of my own heartbeat.
