I finally understood my mistake. My thinking had been too narrow, too rigid. I was na?ve.

  There were many ways to hurt someone beyond striking them with an open palm, or a closed fist, or a sharpened blade. You could make them ill with things other than poison or cruel words.

  Virtue had not responded to me because I didn’t understand why I needed it right now.

  I had promised Frost that I would look after Helian, and that she didn’t need to worry. But it wasn’t enough to protect her body. I had to protect all of her, and right now, that meant I had to kill.

  It had been a while, but my skills were probably not too rusty.

  As my determination solidified, silver light flared from the crest on my hand, and it too solidified, into the shape of a fanged lance with a dragon’s mouth.

  Good to see you again, Virtue. I’ll be in your care as usual.

  Roiling flames erupted from its maw, sweeping the ground and reducing the vines to dust. One problem out of the way.

  The priestesses screeched as I cast the dagger from my off hand straight into the neck of the young one and drove my lance into the stern one’s gut. Its tip clashed against her spine, and it became stuck as coiling brown vines erupted from her chest, crawling up along its head towards the shaft. I released flames once more and smoke erupted from her chest as I struggled to pull Virtue free. I couldn’t help but curse.

  There were so many damn priestesses in this room and in the hallway. I had my work cut out for me. The eldest priestess attempted to strike me in the head with her cane, but I caught it with my off hand and wrenched it free from her grip, using it to strike the tall priestess square in the face.

  I should have brought more knives. I only had two left.

  I felt a presence running down the hall, and prayed to no god in particular that it was Ernest, even if it would no doubt be a challenge to convince him to help under the circumstances.

  The tall priestess stumbled backward, then recovered her balance and charged forward, attempting to throw the ritual vessel – no doubt full of something – at Helian. I released my grip on Virtue, switching it to my off hand, and used my main hand to catch the vessel and throw it back at her. As I touched it, I felt a burning heat erupt across my palm, and my arm went numb.

  That thing was definitely trouble.

  The vessel struck the priestess square in the face, causing her to stumble yet again, and pitch-black water that glistened like tar flew out of the opening at its top, drenching two of the women behind her. Well, I suppose that’s one problem out of the way for now. I vigorously shook my arm, attempting to recover control while I strained to extract Virtue from the stern priestess’s chest with my off hand. Finally, it came free, and I stumbled backward.

  Without warning, the severed head of a brunette priestess bounced off the back wall of the hallway, long hair flowing behind it as it struck the eldest priestess in the back of her skull, the force knocking her forward and onto the ground.

  My visitor certainly wasn’t Ernest, so I could think of only one other candidate. I’ll be in your care this time, Frost! Thanks for joining me!

  My momentary distraction had granted the young priestess – chest now soaked by blood that flowed from her neck – an opportunity to advance, and a blonde priestess from the hall had entered the room, stepping over the eldest priestess’s body as it writhed on the floor.

  Golden light flared in the hallway, and all the priestesses turned in unison to stare at it, if only for a moment. I heard Frost curse. Whatever magic she had just used seemed to have failed, but the distraction was still valuable. I kicked the young priestess square in her back, causing her to topple onto the blonde priestess as both fell back into the hallway.

  Golden light flared once more, blinding with its radiance, and at last it seemed to have an effect, as half of the priestesses collapsed onto the ground like puppets with their strings cut. I released flames yet again, engulfing the stern priestess and setting her hair on fire. The vines growing from her chest withered and turned to ash that fell to the ground.

  It seemed I needed more practice using Virtue, as every breath of fire brought me closer to fainting.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Golden light flared a third time, and the rest of the priestesses fell to the ground. I collapsed onto the cold tiles, gasping for breath.

  Frost carefully stepped over the bodies and made her way into the room, her brand-new dress uniform stained with blood. “I see you’ve been busy, Your Highness.”

  I nodded. “You… could say that.”

  ------

  Ernest was standing still, dumbstruck, and tears ran down Aifé’s face as the other temple knights slowly dragged the comatose (or dead) priestesses away.

  “Why, Hana?”

  I looked at the ground to avoid eye contact. “I’m sorry… I didn’t have a choice, there’s a good explanation for this, I didn’t want to-”

  Frost interrupted. “Revered mother, I can explain. Regrettably, the priestesses were caught up in a most dire heresy – the workings of a cult that serves a vile otherworldly presence. They attempted to harm my wife, and when Rosa intervened, they attacked her as well.”

  Frost gestured towards the ritual vessel and the black stains on the ground. “Do you recognize that goblet? It’s a relic circulated by the cult for their own purposes. It’s a tool they use to bring people under their control.” This did not match the things Frost and Helian had told me, so I could only assume she was making up suitable lies on the spot.

  Ernest gasped. “The sacred vessel? They use that for purification ceremonies!”

  I leaned up against the doorframe. “No wonder the whole place smelled… they’ve been exposing themselves to it every week for months or years.”

  Aifé wasn’t buying it. “But did you have to kill them?”

  “From what I saw when I arrived, Rosa didn’t have much of a choice. Some of them barely seemed human… it was a stroke of luck that I was able to put the rest of them to sleep at all, I had to try three times.”

  That reminded me, what had that golden light been? “How did you do that, anyway, Frost?”

  Frost shrugged. “I’m not at liberty to say, exactly…”

  Ernest clenched his fists. “Okay, let’s say they’ve been turning into monsters somehow… did you really have to do that with your sword?”

  Frost tilted her head and grimaced. “I… may have overdone it. I’ve had a lot going on, so my head’s not exactly clear at the moment…”

  I sighed. “At least we’ve dealt with the situation for now. I’ll do everything I can to make amends for this, even if that’s not completely possible. With any luck we’ll be able to treat the rest of the priestesses, and they’ll recover. I am genuinely sorry that this came to pass. Please believe me when I say it wasn’t my intent.”

  Solana would give me an earful for this, no doubt. I had promised not to stab any priestesses.

  Aifé cleared her throat and spoke. “I wouldn’t say this matter is dealt with.”

  “What’s wrong, Aifé?”

  “I’ve been here at this temple for a long time, Rosa. The sacred vessel was already here when I arrived… I lead the purification ceremonies.”

  Ernest went pale. “But you’re perfectly sane, revered mother!”

  “That’s… not quite true, Ernest.”

  I stood and walked over to Aifé and put my hand on her shoulder. “What do you mean? What’s wrong?”

  “It speaks to me. It’s been whispering to me for years, with her voice – she wouldn’t say those things but she’s always saying them, and at times it’s been difficult to ignore… I thought I was just going crazy, or Loki was tempting me to try and convince me to sin again. I promise I didn’t know, Hana. It was just so good to hear her voice again…”

  Shit. “Aifé, it’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  Ernest wrung his hands. “Still, revered mother, it’s fine! We’ll sort all of this out, I’m sure. Lady Rosa said we can treat the other priestesses, so we can treat you too!”

  Frost chose this moment to speak up. “Well… I’m not exactly certain that’s possible. We’ll try, but we’ve only managed it successfully twice so far… and those people weren’t turning into trees.”

  “How many times have you tried?”

  She frowned. “Four.”

  That’s certainly not an encouraging success rate.

  Aifé began to cry again. “It’s been a long time, Hana, and I’m not in great health… If you must choose between me and the others, you should choose the others. They’re young and pious and will be able to live good lives. You can’t sacrifice someone else for my sake. You and Helian won’t really be safe as long as I’m around. It’s talking to me even now.”

  Not acceptable. “Frost, what do we do? Will it go away if we destroy the ritual vessel?”

  She shook her head. “Probably not. And they’re very sturdy… it was pretty difficult for Helian to break my sword, and that was only possible because it was unusually thin.”

  “Helian broke your sword?”

  Wait, what the hell? “Wait, your sword was a cult relic? How much have you neglected to tell me, Frost?”

  She shrugged and looked very guilty. “I didn’t think it was important since it was all dealt with…”

  Ernest was clearly overwhelmed. “I don’t understand… the sacred vessel made all the priestesses sick? We have to kill the revered mother? This can’t be right.”

  Aifé smiled grimly and turned to him. “It’s alright, Ernest. We all meet our end eventually. It’s better than knowing that I could hurt someone at any moment. I already did enough harm by letting this happen right under my nose. I should have noticed…”

  There had to be something we could do. I wasn’t just going to stand back and let her die, not after all this.

  I noticed then that Frost was deep in thought. “What is it, Frost?”

  “I think I might be able to do something about this. But revered mother, it’s not going to work unless you sincerely want to be free.”

  I took her hands in mine. “Please let her try, Aifé.”

  She nodded. “I understand. I… I know she’s not coming back. It’s not going to trick me with her voice.”

  Frost turned to Ernest. “I’ll need you to step away for a bit. This is a state secret.”

  “What? I… okay, I understand. I think I’m going to go get some fresh air…”

  After he left, Frost held her off hand to Aifé’s head, and radiant gold light erupted from the crest emblazoned on it.

  We would need to have another discussion about dragons.