Chapter 66: Half of a God

Everyone in the Hall of Seven Doors waited for Kai to respond, and it took him so long that somewhere up in the gallery, a baby started crying and its mother quickly shushed it.

Kai looked at the golden stone in the beam of sunlight, and then at Draven’s smile, and then at Elowen’s sword. All of the lies he had ever told came back to him, and he remembered how each one of them had felt when he told it, like a door that he could slip through any time he wanted. For the first time since he had arrived in Veyrath, he felt like there were no doors left for him to use except the truth.

"No," Kai said. "I am not a god."

The gasp went around the entire gallery like a wave, and Elowen’s sword stayed completely dark.

Draven spread his arms wide and turned to face the seven churches with the biggest smile Kai had ever seen on his face, looking like a man who had just won a fortune at the gambling tables.

"There you have it," Draven said. "He has confessed, and the sword has proven it. The God of Failure is not a god. I believe we can proceed, Justiciar."

"I’m not finished," Kai said.

Draven turned back to look at him, and for one brief moment, Kai saw a flicker of doubt cross his handsome face.

"I am not a god," Kai said. "I never claimed to be one, except on the very first day, when I was trying to keep from getting stabbed. I’m just the person she fell on." Kai placed his hand on his chest, right over the warm spot where she always rested. "But she is."

[Kai, are you sure?]

"Yes," Kai whispered. "Please come out and introduce yourself."

[Lesser Manifestation. You have ten minutes]

Golden light poured out of Kai’s chest and began forming the shape of a woman beside him, first her hand, then her arm, and then long platinum hair falling down over a thin white dress. Two golden rings hovered above her head like a halo, and once the light had faded away, Syraphim was standing barefoot on the marble floor of the Hall of Seven Doors with her hands clasped in front of her.

No one screamed, which surprised Kai a little. Instead, the Hall of Seven Doors went dead silent, the kind of silence that only comes when thousands of people are holding their breath at the same time.

King Rowan was leaning so far over the edge of his seat that he was close to falling out of it, and he didn’t even seem to notice. Princess Seris had stopped writing for the second time in her life, and she was staring at her page with her mouth hanging open. On the Radiant Church’s bench, Sunny rose to his feet and bowed his head, the same way he had always bowed before the statue of the Mother, and Kai noticed that his hands were trembling.

Over on the Ironwatch bench, Captain Brekk slid right off the end of it and landed on one knee on the marble floor.

[Faith gained. Hallard Brekk: +4%. Status: Embarrassed.]

"My name is Syraphim," Syraphim said, and her voice was soft, but it could be heard in every corner of the Hall. "I am what is left of the Radiant Mother. Forty years ago, she told your High Priestess that she was dying. When her time finally came, she gathered up what was left of herself and let it fall into the world, and I fell on him." She glanced over at Kai and smiled. "I did not choose him. I am told that she was not very good at aiming."

Up in the gallery, the fish woman let out a loud wail.

"I am unable to act on my own," Syraphim said, and she turned slowly, looking at each of the seven benches in turn. "Every spell he has ever cast has come from me, and whenever one of them did not land where he was aiming, it was because I went where I was needed instead. He did not ring your bells, Nerine. He did not open the mouths of your sisters, High Sister. He did not make your wheat grow, Elder Hollis." She turned back to Kai with a look of so much affection that it made his heart ache. "But he is the one who allowed me to do all of those things. He is the one who walked into every room, and he is the one who asked."

Elowen’s sword remained dark through every word of it.

Kai looked over at Draven, and he couldn’t resist teasing him just a little.

"So you’re right," Kai said. "I’m not a god. I’m half of one."

Garrick was the first one to laugh, a big, hearty laugh that rang all the way up into the dome, and then the smiths behind Brannoch started laughing as well. After that, the widows in the gallery joined in, and before anyone knew it, half the Hall was laughing. They weren’t laughing at Kai, though, and it was more of a nervous laugh, the kind people let out when they have been holding their breath for too long.

Draven was the only person near the middle of the Hall who wasn’t laughing. He studied Syraphim for a long moment, and then he turned to Hale with the calm manner of a businessman who had just come up with a new way to make money.

"It appears that we have been testing the wrong individual," Draven said. "If this is truly a goddess, then let her prove it. She can strike the Sun Mark herself."

"I am unable to," Syraphim said. "As I already told you, I can only act through him."

"Then we are even," Draven said with a smile. "And since Mr. Mercer has already confessed to everything my witnesses would have said, I see no reason to call them. I withdraw my witnesses, Justiciar. Let us proceed with his witnesses, and then with his proof."

Kai knew exactly what Draven was doing, because he would have done the very same thing in Draven’s position. The sooner they got to the Sun Mark, the less time Syraphim would have left to stand beside him.

Hale knew what Draven was doing as well, but the law was the law, and he nodded slowly.

"The witnesses for the God of Failure may step forward," Hale said.

Bors was the first one to stand up. He walked all the way across the Hall in front of everyone, sat down on the bench on the other side, and crossed his arms with a big smile on his face.

"I sit on this side now," Bors said. "He said sorry."

After that, they stood up one by one. Mira held up her bill of sale and showed everyone that her name was written on it twice. Nerine told them about the bells ringing under the water, and Elder Hollis took his hat off and started rambling about his wheat turning gold and green until Hale had to strike the floor with his cane to stop him. Lysa stood up beside High Sister Aurel and told them how she had been kidnapped in the night, and how the God of Failure had found her in a cellar full of salt.

All of it was true, and Elowen’s sword stayed dark for every word.

[Five minutes]

Once all of the witnesses were seated again, Hale turned to face the bench in front of the tear door.

"Former High Priestess Celestine," Hale said. "You wished to speak before this Conclave. Do you wish to speak now?"

Celestine stood up with Liora by her side, and she lifted the black veil away from her face. Every widow in the gallery gasped at once, because the face they had known as the Weeping Saint was the face of the High Priestess who was supposed to be dead.

"Not yet," Celestine said, and her voice was quiet, but it carried all the way across the Hall. "My words are buried under that stone. They have been there for forty years, and I was too afraid to bring them to light. Once the proof has been shown, I will tell you everything."

Draven’s eyes narrowed a little, and Kai caught him glancing down at the Sun Mark.

"Then we will proceed with the proof," Hale said, and he struck the floor with his cane. "It was proposed by Elder Voss of the Iron Father, and no church has refused it. The god must strike the Sun Mark at the center of this Hall with a single blow of his divine power, from thirty paces away."

Elder Voss walked up to the Sun Mark and counted out thirty paces from it, with his iron boots clanking against the marble as he went. He stopped in front of the tear door, so close to Celestine’s bench that he could have reached out and touched it, and dragged the edge of his gauntlet across the floor to make a line.

Kai walked up to the line and stood on it. From that distance, the Sun Mark looked very small and very far away.

[Three minutes]

Syraphim walked over and stood beside him, so close that she was almost touching him, and she gazed out at the Sun Mark with him.

"Whatever we find under there, we will face it together," Syraphim said.

"Even if it’s bad?" Kai whispered.

"Especially if it is bad," Syraphim said.

Kai raised his arm and pointed his finger at the Sun Mark. He didn’t try to miss on purpose or look for a loophole this time, because he wasn’t going to cheat anymore. He aimed at the Sun Mark as truly as he had ever aimed at anything in his whole life.

Behind him, he could hear Mira whisper his name.

[One minute]

"Minor Smite," Kai said.