Chapter 18: The Circle Room

The High Priest did not run.

He put the silver key back inside his collar, turned to face the crowded plaza, and opened his arms.

"People of Sunreach," he said. "You have been deceived."

His voice carried to every corner, mild and sorrowful.

"Two sealed souls stand among you, and they have stirred the sickness. I will restore the order of the Dawn."

His eyes found Shiori's.

"Kneel, child."

The pull took her in the ribs.

It was a hundred times worse than the bridge.

Her left shoulder blade blazed, and her knees buckled, and she hit the stone on both hands before she knew she had moved.

"Shiori!"

Kaedan went down beside her.

His ears flattened, his teeth showed, and every muscle in his big frame strained against a rope she could not see.

The silver at their backs shone through their clothes, and the whole plaza gasped.

"The Rite of Recall," the Priest said, almost gently. "It is mercy, and you are tired."

Sera tried to speak and the pull caught her too.

She fell to one knee on the steps with her mother's arms around her.

Shiori dragged herself an inch, then another.

She could feel the cord tightening, towing her across the stones toward the white-robed man and the little door behind him.

"Don't fight it," Kaedan said, through his teeth.

"What?"

"The pull runs to him. To the key. Don't fight it. Let it take you."

She understood.

She stopped pulling backward, and let the cord run, and it slid her across the paving.

Beside her Kaedan did the same, and he did not stop at her side.

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