Page 63 of Daughter of Garnet

"You fucking asshole!"

"Aw, you were disappointed, weren't you? Understandable. I am an excellent stalker. I doubt someone else would be as thorough. Most of the others I've encountered are too eager, blowing their covers quickly and resorting to violence." He scoffs and runs his fingers through his curly hair. "Amateurs."

The shaking in my hands has lessened, my initial fury doused by the madness that he is spewing.

"Encounter a lot of stalkers, do you?"

"We meet every Sunday evening to share tips."

It takes me a minute to realize that he's joking, despite his deadpan delivery. "I don't understand what is going on."

He pats the pew beside him, and I lower myself beside him again. I came here to find him, and while he found me, the end result is the same. I want to know more about him, starting with how and why he's been stalking me.

"I know you have questions. I'll do my best to answer them."

Cameron doesn't rush me. He takes my hand in his and plays with my fingertips as I think.

"How?"

"Be more specific."

"How did you know everything that was going on?"

The light is near non-existent in this back room, but I don't miss the sadness that turns his eyes down. "It's easy to be invisible when no one wants to see you." A shuddering exhale shakes his slim figure. "I am here because they have no other place for me."

"Aren't you a student?"

"Depends on who you ask."

Will he ever give me a straight answer? He speaks in riddles and code, and it is exhausting.

"I'm asking you."

"I'm here because I am Hierophant Cameron Soter."

CHAPTER 31

Zoe

The realm is governed by the Archon, the Primes, and the subprimes, and the churches have their own political structure that complements it. Every church has a priest, and each God has a high priest. Those high priests, like the Primes, serve on a council overseen by the Arcanist.

The Hierophant is an outsider, ranked not as high as the Arcanist, but above the high priests. While he's not a part of legislating the realm, he is the keeper of knowledge, the pinnacle of religious education.

And he fingered me against a tree.

I'm gonna be sick.

I came on the hand of the man regarded as one of the most holy in the realm.

I rest my head between my knees, breathing raggedly as he rubs me between the shoulder blades.

"It sounds fancier than it is."

"It sounds like you're the person who is consulted on questions of faith. The priest of priests."

He makes a dismissive noise. "It's an inflated title. I'm a researcher and a scholar."

"Oh my Gods, I'm being stalked by a priest."