I wanted to scream, to hurl fire into their faces until they stopped smiling. Because they were smiling. All of them. Thin-lipped, knowing, as if this were a game they had already won.
The heavy doors creaked open before I could spit another word. I turned—and the air seemed to hollow out of my chest.
It washim.
The mage that we had seen in the village. He strode into the room with a smile,that shock of white hair glinted in the torchlight like bone, .his face unhidden and his hood down, as if he had no reason to hide away.
Like he belonged here, in the Sun Temple.
He moved with a grace that made my skin crawl, his dark cloak trailing behind him as he stepped into the light. His mismatched eyes, cold and piercing, flicked toward me, and I felt a shiver run down my spine.
“Rindais, what is the meaning of this interruption?” Irina demanded; her voice sharp as she glared at the mage.
“You,” I whispered.
I clenched my fists, my body tensing as I stared at him. I knew instinctively that he had somehow grown more powerful than he had been when we had last fought. Now, his magic was leagues more powerful than the mages that Dario and I had defeated just moments before.
He smirked, head tilting. “The phoenix speaks.”
“You’re behind this,” I said, forcing steel into my voice even as my stomach twisted.
There was something about this mage—Rindais—that set my teeth on edge, something dark and twisted that unsettled me.
“Behind?” He chuckled, low and amused, as though I were a child asking why the sky was blue. “Oh no, little priestess. I am not behind. I am within. The Elders laid their foundation; I built the house upon it. Every brick, every shadow, every child taken—you walked past it all with your eyes closed, whispering prayers into the silence.”
My throat closed. “Lies.”
“Truth,” he countered smoothly. His mismatched eyes glittered as he looked between me and the Elders. “They bartered with me—your guardians, your wise keepers of light. They gave me your blood drop by drop, they gave me child after child. And you—” his grin widened, sharp and cruel—“you thanked them for the honor of bleeding.”
My stomach lurched, bile rising. I remembered the vials.For the wards,they’d said. I remembered the sting of the blade, the way Irina would pat my hand, murmuring that it was all for Solaris’s protection.
Irina’s voice cut through my haze. Calm. Dismissive. “He twists things. Do not listen to him, Elena.” Her gaze went to the mage. “That isenough,Rindais.”
But my ears were full of their lies already.
“Twists?” The mage—Rindais—barked out a laugh. “Tell her, Irina. Tell her how her blood fuels my work. Tell her why you smiled as she handed you vial after vial.”
“Enough,” Kathar snapped. His tone was hard, but I saw the fear in his eyes.
And then Theron—smooth, unbothered—added, “Elena, you are tired. Confused. The Shadow King has corrupted your soul. It has taken a toll on you. You need time to rest, and reflect, before you do something you regret.”
Something in me cracked.
“Do not,” I hissed, fire sparking to life in my palms, “do not dare tell me what I have seen with my own eyes.”
They watched me, patient as spiders, as if waiting for me to exhaust myself in my rage.
And for the first time in my life, I saw them not as Elders. Not as guides. But as liars.
Elder Irina exchanged a glance with Theron and Kathar, her lips curling into a faint smile as she looked back at me. “We are your Elders, Elena. We have always guided you with the wisdom of the Sun God. You must trust that we know what is best for Solaris, Elena.” Her eyes darted at Dario, going hard. “We expected you todestroythe Shadow King, not take his side, Elena.”
The way she said my name—so familiar, so condescending—made my blood boil.
I had always trusted them.
I had always believed that they had my best interests at heart.
But now, all I could hear were the lies wrapped in their words, the falsehoods they had been feeding me for as long as I could remember.
