Page 18 of The Half King
She cut her eyes at him. “There’s no such thing as soothsayers. Oracles have the Sight, and priests have magic. Anyone else is fooling you with tricks or illusions. You of all people should know that.”
“All right,” Daerick said. “Then let’s call him an acutely perceptive individual with a talent for discerning truth from fiction.”
“Perceptive how?” she asked. “What truth do you expect him to tell you?”
Before Daerick could answer her, a Seer rounded the corner ahead of them, followed by a pair of oracles in training, all three of them gliding toward Cerise with an elegance she had never quite mastered. One of the novices carried a tray laden with coins and trinkets—offerings that had been made in exchange for healing or divination. The other had a small animal on her shoulder, a scaly primate with a long tail that curled at the tip. As the Seer glided closer to Cerise and Daerick, the woman slowed her steps, eventually stopping to regard Cerise in confusion.
The Seer moved her sharpened gaze over Cerise’s face until the woman frowned and tilted her head to the side. “Your future path…”
“Yes, my lady?” Cerise asked.
“Why can I not See it?” the woman demanded. She flicked a hand at Daerick. “His fate is clear enough. Tragic but clear.” She peered harder. “But yours? Nothing.”
Cerise traded a glance with Daerick, who had paled a shade. She took his hand and squeezed it. “The goddess works in mysterious ways. Our paths can change according to her will. Don’t you agree?”
Nobody answered.
The scaled monkey gave a lightsqueakand climbed down the length of his owner’s arm. He blinked owlishly at Cerise, and then, with no warning whatsoever, he leaped into her arms. Though startled, she caught him. He gripped the front of her dress and wasted no time in rubbing his cheek against hers. The dry tickle of his skin made her smile.
“He must be friendly,” she said while stroking his warm back.
The novice stared open-mouthed at her. “I didn’t See this,” the girl said, whirling to face her superior. “My mind’s eye showed me our walk to the temple. Imp hissed at everyone we passed.”
“You see?” Cerise said. She gently gathered Imp and handed him back to his owner, who had to tempt him with a fig to make him stay in her arms. “Paths can change.”
“You have a way with animals,” Daerick told her a while later, when they had descended the stairs to the street level and then turned left at an intersection where the buildings were thin and grouped closer together.
Cerise caught herself rubbing the fang-shaped scars on her forearm. “Mammals seem to like me. Reptiles, not so much.”
“What’s your secret?” he asked.
“I adore animals,” she said simply. “I always have.” For all its glory, the temple could be a lonely place for a child. “If I wanted affection, I knew better than to go to a Seer. I visited the rabbit hutch or the kennels. The kits and pups were always happy to see me. They gave me love. I needed that, and I think they could sense it.”
“Animal instincts don’t lie,” Daerick said. “It’s one of the advantages they have over mankind.”
“Oneof the advantages?” she asked as she peeked farther down the street. The upper level was mostly residential. Everything of interest took place below. She saw a vendor selling palm-sized winged creatures that she desperately wanted to hold. “What are the others?”
“Freedom from the micromanaging of polite society.” He hesitated before adding, “And from the Order.”
Cerise stopped in her tracks, taken aback by his words. “The Sacred Order is a gift from the goddess. She gives us priests for enrichment and protection, and oracles to heal us and guide our paths. The Order doesn’t take. It gives.”
“Says the girl taken at birth from her family.”
“It was my honor to serve in the temple.”
“But you didn’t volunteer for that service.” Daerick glanced left and right, then lowered his voice. “It was forced on you—on all second-borns. No one should have the right to take away your freedom.”
“But Shiera decreed it as part of the atonement for the Great Betrayal.”
“Did she?” Daerick asked. “How do we know? We didn’t hear her decrees. We have only the words of priests to tell us what Shiera wants.”
“And scrolls,” she said. She had read every word and every line.
“And scrolls,” he conceded. “But that leads me to a deeper question: Why are the priests in control of an Order dedicated to worshipping a goddess? Shiera is a woman, so why aren’t the Seers in higher positions of power?”
“For equity,” Cerise said easily. She had gone looking for the same answer when she was a child. “Shiera is darkness and light, wrath and mercy. She creates balance in all things, so for her to give more power to her own sex would create instability.”
“But I don’t see balance,” Daerick argued. “It’s the priests who decide what constitutes a sin. It’s the priests who determine the punishment for that sin, and it’s the priests who carry out the sentence. Seers have no real say within the Order. Even your Reverend Mother would have to bend the knee to Father Padron if he required it.”
