Page 2 of Six Burning Candles

“I agree! Melrose, you’ve outdone yourself. Who knows, maybe you’ll design a wedding gown for the princess one day!” Leonardo clapped rapidly, gushing with pride as he stood once more.This time without toppling over his hooves.

“You think so?” I marveled, trotting up into his arms. He squeezed me tight, giving me six kisses on top of my head. Six kisses for the six gods. Avaris for good rest, Eluvia for good health, Bo for a good harvest, Vien for strength, Lucien for wisdom, and Davros for peace of mind. It’s supposed to bring about good luck and prosperity. But it’s always just been how Leonardo shows his affection. Six hard shakes of a hand, sixleft to right sways in a hug, or six kisses on top of my head, that’s how he ensured all those who are touched by him are blessed.The small things, I guess.

“I know so, you are a master craftsman, Melrose! Now, don’t be cooped up in here with me all day. There’s no one to party with in here but the dust mites and spiders. You too, Keida.”

“Pardon, sir?” Keida blinked rapidly, jerking to stare at him.

“You heard me,” he grinned from ear to ear. He grabbed her by the shoulder and squeezed six times. “You’re relieved of duty until the rites tonight. Now, shoo.”

“Sir, there’s still—”

“We do this ritual every year, Keida. And every year, you continue to prepare weeks in advance. We couldn’t be more ready if we tried.” Papa clapped a hand against her back, just between her wings, and shuffled her forward. “Melrose, go on, drag her out of here if you must.”

“Sir, please—” Keida’s desperate cries fell on ignorant ears as Leonardo dropped back down onto the organ bench. I grabbed her by the bicep, eager to torment heronce again.

Twice a year, during the solstices, Keida prepared for the rites of our church. Engraved all the candles, set up all the altars, prepped all the sacrifices, and strung all the garland. Each pew was decorated with soft white carnations, a dainty drape of white petals like the snow outside. Each of the washing stands were full of crisp water, for crying out loud; she’d done more than any cleric. And so twice a year, at papa’s request, I dragged Keida out to ‘have fun’.

“Now,you’re here for fun,” I snickered as I pulled her out the massive wooden doorway. Aday of torture specifically meant to kill a fun-hater like Keida.

“I am doing this under extreme duress,” she grumbled.

“You say that every year,” I retorted, slipping an arm through hers.

“And every year I continue to be underextreme duress!” She rolled her eyes.

“Awww, come on, you know you love the solstice!” I stuck my tongue out at her, hugging her arm tighter to my chest. And for a moment, I thought I saw something behind those icy eyes. Maybe I just wanted them to look at me with anything other than ire, disdain, disinterest…maybe I liked when I sometimes got a curled lip or a chuckle out of her. Stolen moments I treasured and stashed away. Papa might be a chipmunk for snacks, keeping them stored away for when he might need them. But I was a squirrel hoarding away flashes of smiles or cracks in Keida’s impervious armor.

Hoping one solstice she might light six candles with me instead of for the church.

Keida stared at me for a long moment. The pair of us frozen outside the cathedral, stuck in an hourglass where the sand stopped falling. Her gaze studied my face and for the umpteenth time, I prayed she found it pleasing.Okay, maybe I’ve been in love with the hierophant’s right hand cleric since the day we met.Six years is a long time for a girl like me to have a crush, and yet here I was…head over heels for a woman who wanted nothing to do with me.

Then she breathed, “You’re trouble, Melrose St. Augustine.”

“Maybe,” I winked up at her, catching the slight crinkle outside her eyes as she softened…even just an inch. I beamed, toothy and proud,I win.“But for the rest of today, I’myourtrouble.”

“Avaris preserve me.”

Chapter Two:

~Keida~

Avarispreserveme.

Vien give me strength.

Davros…keep me sane.This woman is going to kill me.Every solstice there are three things guaranteed to happen. I will be the only sober cleric within the castle by the end of the night. Including Hierophant St. Augustine. After spending weeks dusting, cleaning, and blessing the holy halls, I will wake tomorrow to two trashed pews and a paladin strung up by his small clothes to the rafters, somehow. And I will spend most of the day not protecting the halls but instead being dragged all over the kingdom by Melrose St. Augustine.

If they’d told me that the divine blessing of being picked to be Lunar Cleric under the Hierophant St. Augustine also came with being irrevocably and unapologetically in love with his daughter…I would have laughed. I was not looking for romance. In all my years, I vowed that I never would. My heart belonged to the church, to Avaris and the gods. Then I stepped into his back office on that fateful day, having been brought from my original temple under Cardinal Janus, to the Cathedral at the side of the mountain…and found the prettiest woman I’d ever seen (forgive me, Eluvia) rushing to cover herself. A torrid affair on her father’s desk with some faceless knight, it should have disgusted me or should have left me with a sour taste on my tongue.Only a fool desecrates a holy place!

All it did was make me want her more. Melrose could flirt with the sky itself, and I’d still yearn for her. With every toss of hair off her shoulder, every twirl of her skirt, every single bat of her eyelashes, I was doomed.

On the solstice her father sent me out to ‘have fun’ with Melrose and I spent the entire time trying not to fallmore in lovewith her.

Avaris preserve me. Vien give me strength. Davros keep me sane.

“Oooh! Yes, two please,” Melrose giggled, snapping me out of my head. I blinked back to reality and found her talking with one of the many food vendors that lined the outside of the cathedral. The snow dusted over every roof within the castle walls, making the carts steam from the warm food inside them. Melrose shivered as she rubbed her hands against the outside of her sleeves. I rolled my eyes, already undoing the clasp on my cloak. Unlike her, I wasn’t wearing 2 layers of silk for the first day of snow!

We live nestled against a mountain, Melrose, what were you thinking?I knew what she was thinking. She believed that dress draped around her like a dream and made me want to feel her in my hands. It made me want to throw my gloves to the ground and grab her by the hips, see if I could find where her breath hitched when I dragged them up her sides.Goddess above, save me.