Heart Fire (Celta Book 13) Read Free

Black Magic Cult, to have your title ripped from you, to exhort a mob to set fire to your home, and to force your family into hiding.”
    Tiana repressed a shudder at the litany of the destruction of her life, at the desperation and despair that had followed. The High Priestess had slammed her with that list for shock value, of course.
    Then the High Priestess stopped and turned and took Tiana’s hands, and Tiana realized she’d allowed her eyes to blur with scenes of the past; she blinked and met the older woman’s steady gaze. “But, Tiana, we all know that all those events that happened were wrong.”
    “He’s still in power, GraceLord T’Equisetum,” Tiana ground out. He was the lowest level of a Noble, “Grace,” as her father, her Family, had been.
    “But his power has been checked. He was a rising star in the NobleCouncil until he let his hatred of your father, of your mother’s religion, make him act impulsively and wrongly by requesting that the NobleCouncil strip your Family of their title and wealth in perpetuity.”
    He’d done it from calculated greed, not from wrongheadedness as most people thought, used the quick fear the NobleCouncil had had about the Black Magic Cult murders to spearhead that effort. Furthermore, Tiana deeply believed that he’d been behind inciting the mob that firebombed their home and drove them away.
    But the High Priestess continued. “He had hopes of being Captain of All Councils, you know.”
    Tiana wasn’t surprised; her nostrils pinched at the thought. But unlike the High Priestess, Tiana still believed,
felt
, the man was dangerous. He remained an enemy.
    “You are still angry at GraceLord T’Equisetum, and don’t open your heart to forgiveness.”
    Lifting her brows, Tiana said, “One can forgive after the wrongdoer acknowledges his or her harm and regrets the harm they caused. Despite what you said, GraceLord T’Equisetum has never stated he was wrong, never acknowledged in a public manner that he did my Family wrong. Just goes on spewing hate for anyone and anything
he
doesn’t consider good.” She stopped herself from adding that the man was a canker.
    “He has a right to hold his own beliefs.”
    “The main tenet of our religion, of our culture, is to harm none! He hurt my Family,” Tiana said quietly, when she wanted to shout it. They had never recovered the lost title, the Family estate, the home. Justice had not been done. Her parents had retreated to the secret sanctuary of Druida and were only now taking first steps out of it, years later, since her sister, Artemisia, had married.
    “Yes, he hurt you and your Family.” Lady D’Sandalwood squeezed Tiana’s hands, and she felt the boundless caring from the woman. “And that is the root of your ambition, dear Tiana, not that you want to serve the Lady and Lord, give yourself over to the Lady in selfless service, let her speak to you and through you.”
    “I am a good priestess!”
    “Yes, you are, but you will be a better one if you understand what you truly want, and I don’t think it is becoming the High Priestess of Celta. You serve best when you perform rituals with small groups and intimate circles. And your crafting of new rituals is better than that of anyone else in the Temple with your years.
Those
are the skills that High Priest Lord T’Sandalwood and I believe embody your calling.”
    Not rising to the top of the pyramid of success, but creating rituals for those at the top to use. Working with small circles. Hurt speared through Tiana.
    But she wouldn’t quit, wouldn’t modify her plan right now. She could still become High Priestess. She had years to try.
    “You love your mother.” A final squeeze of the hands by D’Sandalwood before she loosed Tiana’s fingers.
    “Of course I do!” Tiana replied instinctively.
    The GrandLady began strolling again toward GreatCircle Temple. “And your mother believes truly in the tenets of the Intersection of Hope, that there are four