Chapter 7: The Shape of Resentment

That night, Kael finished his breathing practice early and sat at his desk with the notebook open.

The pain was a little easier now. The heat reached his chest on every attempt. The dark mark under his ribs had not changed in a week. He wrote it all down, then put the brush aside.

“I have a question,” he said.

You always do, said Maltherion.

“Last time we made a deal, you said I could ask about the world, the church, and the goddess. I am asking about the war.”

Which war?

“The one you fought. A thousand years ago.”

Maltherion was silent for a moment.

That is not a small topic. Be specific.

“The church,” Kael said. “When it was formed. Who led it. Whether they were always united, the way they say now.”

Hm. A reasonable question. The voice settled. Before the war ended, there was no church. There was the goddess, her seven chosen leaders, and the archangels. After I fell, the leaders spread out to teach people how to worship. Each one built her own following.

“Her own?”

Each leader ruled one part of the world. Each had her own temples, priests, and relics. They called themselves one church because the goddess asked for unity. But the unity was only on paper.

Kael wrote seven leaders, seven branches on a spare page. “Were they friendly?”

In the beginning, yes. They had just won a war. But victory does not keep people friendly for long. Soon they were competing. Who had more believers. Who held the goddess’s favor. Who guarded the most powerful relics.

“They still compete today?”

I would be surprised if they did not. There was a dry note in the voice. Seven people with equal power and one prize. Someone always wants more.

Kael looked at the page. He drew a circle with seven lines coming out of it and tapped the pen on the center.

“The church is strong because it is one body,” he said. “Everyone follows the same goddess, obeys the same rules, and fears the same punishment. But if the seven branches are fighting each other in secret, that same unity is a lie. If one branch falls, the others might not help. They might even be glad.”

That is a clever reading.

“It is the most obvious one.”

Not to most people.

Kael closed the notebook. The old man in white robes who had watched him at the garden party served one of those seven branches. He did not know which. But now he knew to ask.

At breakfast the next morning, Kael put on his best face.

Lys was already at the table, eating quickly because he had a sword lesson. When Kael walked in, Lys looked up with an easy smile.