The entourage stopped before the cathedral entrance. Cardinal Theresa, the archbishop, and several priests had emerged to receive them. The line of faithful stretched the full length of the compound, bodies packed close enough that the courtyard felt half its true size.

Elena and Kai were lost somewhere in the crowd behind.

The Paladins accompanying the visiting Cardinal were wrapped in black ceremonial armor edged with deep crimson. Smooth, mask-like helms hid their faces entirely, broken only by thin red slits that glowed where eyes should be — cold and unblinking, like embers that refused to die. Heavy circular insignias of aged gold hung from their necks and chests, clinking softly against the dark metal with each measured step, as if bearing both faith and judgment in equal measure. Every one of them stood immovable. Less like guards, Elena thought, and more like executioners waiting for a sentence to finish being spoken.

There were others whose faces could be seen. Elena identified a man and a woman standing near the carriage that had stopped, the man positioned in front, waiting for the Cardinal to descend.

He was scarred. Half his face hid behind a brutal iron mask bolted tight with red-lined steel, the metal fused to flesh in ways that suggested it would never come off. One eye burned crimson through the slit, sharp with pain and hard-won restraint, while old cuts and grime marked skin that had survived too much to ever be clean again. His coat hung heavy with insignias, seals, and dangling relics—each one earned rather than bestowed, swaying faintly as embers drifted past him like dying prayers. He looked less like a Holy Paladin and more like a weapon that had learned how to endure.

The woman standing behind him waited with the same patient stillness. She also wore the black and red, but her uniform wasn't a ceremonial gown like the other Paladins.

The armor she wore was battle-scarred and practical: dark plates covering her shoulders and arms, straps and buckles crossing her exposed midriff where dirt and ash had settled into the creases of her skin. A crimson cloth hung at her hip, embroidered with an ornate golden circle surrounded by seven rays, while a glowing red insignia marked her armband. Her eyes — touched with an unnatural pink luminescence — surveyed the surroundings with cold calculation, moving from face to face without lingering, dismissing each in turn.

'She's walked through hell to get here,' Elena thought. 'And she's looking for someone who followed her back.'

While Elena still studied the woman—an Inquisitor, she was certain now — the Cardinal was already stepping out of the chariot, assisted by her guard.

She wore the traditional black habit and white wimple of the Eternal Light Church, her long chestnut hair spilling out from beneath the veil to frame a kind, patient face. There was something maternal in her expression. A gentle smile that reached her half-lidded eyes, as though she'd heard a thousand confessions and forgiven them all. Even her generous chest, which folded and rippled her habit with every step, somehow added to the impression of warmth rather than detracting from it.

Elena found herself bewildered for the second time.

She tried not to dwell on it. Instead, she focused on the Cardinal as the woman walked forward to meet Cardinal Theresa.

'She has the look of someone who would offer you tea and listen without judgment.'

Elena had thought Cardinal Theresa looked kind when she first laid eyes on her. But this woman... she made Cardinal Theresa suddenly seem cold by comparison.

'No. That's not right.'

Elena frowned at her own disloyalty and chose instead to see two wonderful women, nuns both, perfect as far as mortality allowed.

From her position in the crowd, she observed them with so much focus that Kai and everyone else seemed to disappear around her.

The visiting Cardinal approached Cardinal Theresa with a small smile touching her lips. Cardinal Theresa, strangely enough, was not smiling at all.

In fact, she looked irritated. Perhaps that was understandable — the situation with Cade had pushed her to the edge, especially after hearing about two of the Thorn Sisters' deaths and the Inquisitor who had never returned.

And now, without warning, another Cardinal visiting. Though Cardinal Theresa seemed to believe it was merely an ordinary visitation. For some reason.

"Sister." The visiting Cardinal touched Cardinal Theresa's shoulder the way a mother might touch a wayward daughter. "Are you not happy to see me?"

Cardinal Theresa's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. "Of course I am, Your Eminence. I simply wasn't expecting you."

"Were you not?" The visiting Cardinal's voice carried no accusation, only that same gentle patience. She tilted her head slightly, and the gesture reminded Elena of a mother catching a child in a small lie. "I sent word three days past."

"The roads have been difficult. Messages go astray."

'That's not true.' The thought came unbidden. 'The couriers arrived yesterday. I saw them myself.'

Elena immediately crushed it. It wasn't her place to question Cardinal Theresa's words.

And yet — the lie sat strangely in the air between the two women, obvious to anyone watching closely.

The visiting Cardinal seemed unbothered. Her smile didn't waver. If anything, it deepened, crinkling the corners of her eyes with something that looked almost like affection.

"Then I'm glad I came in person. Some things shouldn't be left to parchment." Her gaze drifted past Cardinal Theresa to the cathedral entrance, then to the compound beyond. Taking measure. "You've been busy, I see. The reports mentioned difficulties, but I confess I didn't expect to find quite so much... activity."

The scarred Paladin with the iron mask shifted his weight. A subtle movement, barely perceptible, but Elena caught it. He was watching Cardinal Theresa now with that single burning eye, and there was something assessing in the way he held himself.

Cardinal Theresa's composure held, though Elena could see the effort it cost her. "We've had some incidents. Nothing the diocese cannot handle."

"Two Thorn Sisters dead. An Inquisitor missing." The visiting Cardinal spoke softly, almost regretfully, as though she were listing the symptoms of an illness rather than accusations. "A heretic loose within the city. These are not small things, Sister."

Elena's breath caught. She hadn't known the situation had spread beyond the diocese. Had word traveled that quickly, or had the visiting Cardinal known before she'd even departed?

The female Inquisitor behind the visiting Cardinal had gone very still. Those pink-luminescent eyes swept across the gathered priests and faithful with clinical detachment, cataloging faces, positions, potential threats. When her gaze passed over Elena, it lingered for just a moment — long enough for Elena to feel the weight of being truly seen by someone trained to find rot beneath the surface.

Then the Inquisitor's attention moved on, and Elena remembered how to breathe.

"Your Eminence." Cardinal Theresa's voice had gone formal, all warmth stripped away. "Perhaps we should continue this conversation inside. Away from curious ears."

"Of course." The visiting Cardinal patted her shoulder again, that same maternal gesture. "We have much to discuss. The Seat of Radiance is concerned, you understand. They want only to help."

The words were kind. The tone was kind. Everything about the woman radiated compassion and understanding.

So why did Elena feel like she was watching a trap close?

Kai appeared at her elbow suddenly, his presence startling her. She'd forgotten he was there entirely.

"We should go," he murmured, barely moving his lips. His eyes were fixed on the Paladins in their ceremonial black, on the red-eyed slits of their helms. "This isn't something we should be watching."

He was right. Elena knew he was right.

But she couldn't move. Something was happening here—something larger than Cade, larger than the dead sisters, larger than anything she understood.

The visiting Cardinal walked toward the cathedral entrance with Cardinal Theresa at her side, and the contrast between them struck Elena suddenly. One moved like a woman who had already won. The other moved like a woman who didn't yet know she had lost.

The scarred Paladin fell into step behind them. The female Inquisitor followed, but not before casting one last look across the crowd — a look that found Elena again, held her for a single heartbeat, then released her.

A warning, perhaps?

Elena finally let Kai pull her back into the anonymity of the crowd. Her hands were trembling, though she couldn't say exactly why.

"Did you see?" she whispered.

Kai frowned. "See what?"

Elena looked at him with disbelief and shook her head.

'This one is dumb.'

The cathedral doors closed behind the Cardinals and their entourage with a sound like judgment falling.

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