"Is this the Anointed Lord's opinion as well?" Voivode asked.
"I would never presume to speak for her when not specifically authorised to do so, upon a specific matter."
"Of course."
The light that was funnelled down to the Anointed Lord's audience chamber was fading by the time Kesar entered. Katherine Makennon was already waiting for him, her long dress and woven hair as radiant as the room itself. "I overhead the debate," she said. "Most interesting. Is there anything to Rhodon's concerns about this Sister DeZantez?"
"Probably not, but anything is possible."
"Taking an arrow is a very affecting thing, I suppose," she reflected, "especially when one can't then take personal revenge on the man who did it. It's possible he simply resents her having cheated him out of such revenge."
"The odds would favour that interpretation, yes."
"I've never played the odds, Rodrigo, you know that. You made the right call. Let's keep an eye on everyone who was involved with this matter: DeZantez, Rhodon, DeBarres, everyone."
"As your will, so mote it be," Kesar agreed. He backed out of the room, leaving Makennon to her devotions.
Epilogue
Gabriella had finally accepted the duty to tend the church in Solnos until a new Enlightened One could arrive, but it was obvious to Crowe that she didn't intend to stay long. She spent most of the first day after they arrived by Erak's grave.
Crowe found her there when he came to say goodbye. If he never saw another member of the Faith or the Brotherhood again, he'd be very happy. With one exception. "I'm sorry about…"
"You said that before. At the time."
"I thought you might be more willing to believe it this time, Dez," he said. "And also, I'm going."
"I thought you might."
"Church isn't my kind of place. Sooner or later the new Enlightened One will get the roasting gibbets working again, and… I've got loads of sins still unaccounted for."
"You could confess them to me."
"No, I couldn't. Not to you." He sighed. "I know you think you'd be doing me a favour, but sometimes I just don't want to be a burden. Seriously." He gestured towards the church's stable. "I don't suppose you could spare a horse?" He was already eyeing a strawberry roan that looked right for him.
"No, I couldn't."
"Pity." He threw a saddle onto the horse, and mounted up. "What can I say? I am a horse thief, among other things." He galloped off down the street, half hoping she'd pursue him, but also glad she didn't.
"You'll be paying for that someday, Sinner!" he heard her call. She didn't sound particularly convinced.
Gabriella watched him go, feeling a momentary pang of regret. She went back into the church and knelt before the altar. Closing her eyes, she prayed for strength and wisdom.
Though she concentrated on her prayer, and on envisioning Erak swooping in the clouds of Kerberos, she kept having to bat away an annoying thought. It nagged her and worried her like a terrier with a rat and wouldn't let go. So she prayed for an end to that tiny torment as well.
She prayed for the chance to find out why Rodrigo Kesar, surely the most respected of the Anointed Lord's Eminences, had switched Kell's assassin. There was no doubt in her mind that he had done so, but she could not imagine why. She knew she couldn't simply ask him, or accuse him, so she prayed for guidance in the matter.
It was a prayer that she somehow knew would be answered. Some day.