The Man Within the Temple by C.G. Garcia

Author:C.G. Garcia [Garcia, C.G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fantastical Press

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The vast lawns of the palace stretched for miles in all directions around her as Allison rode towards the dark line and white dot in the distance that was Lamia’s wall and palace. The lush grass waved lazily in the cool breeze that was a relief after the harsh climate of Kal, and the sky was dotted with thick, dark clouds that promised rain later on. Allison didn’t realize how much she had missed the palace until she caught her first glimpse of it after riding nonstop for more sand-marks than she cared to think about and suddenly felt like shedding tears of joy.

She sensed Soren ride up next to her, but he didn’t immediately speak. For most of the journey home, her young Domnae friend had kept up a cheerful conversation about his home life before he had pledged his life to the Temple. It had made the ride more pleasant than it had been when she had first set out for the Temple.

The rest of their entourage were as stone-faced as the men had been in the first, and if not for Soren’s company, Allison thought that she would have gone mad after a sand-mark of their sullenness. Now, as she looked at him, Soren seemed almost sad as he scanned their surroundings with eyes that held a deep longing.

“I can almost envy you your home,” he said distantly, his eyes never turning away from the landscape he gazed at so longingly. “Such beautiful lands and such a sense of freedom—the wind blowing so coolly through my hair and the smell of rain thick in the air. Quite the opposite from Kal. Other than coming here to retrieve you, it had been years since I had last set foot in these lands, and I was too young at the time to fully appreciate its beauty. If I had not gone into the Temple, perhaps I would have come to lead my life here.”

“Can’t you still do that if that’s what you really want?” Allison asked carefully, not sure if she should let him know that she knew his father had forced him into the Temple.

His laugh sounded bitter. “Once a Domnae, always a Domnae. There is no renouncing of oaths—at least honorably. My life belongs to the Temple and to Seni—but not to me.”

Allison didn’t know how to respond. She shifted uneasily in her saddle and focused her attention on smoothing her skirts around her—her apprentice uniform and not the horrid, itchy dress from the Temple. The sholkie material felt cool and soft against her skin, a relief after two days of scratching her skin raw. She hadn’t been in the least bit sorry to leave those god-awful garments behind.

She chanced a glance over at Soren and saw that his attention was once again turned to the land around them. She pressed her lips together with worry. He had sounded as if his life was already over, and in a sense, from what he just told her, it was.

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