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"I'll try," he promised. "It won't be easy, but I will try."
"After all, what's the worst that happens? They send us back early?" And I grinned. "I'm not sure I see the downside."
Chapter 40
Nariana
The ladies were giggling at something when we walked in, but the moment they saw Talin, all of them fell silent. Thankfully, the smiles stayed. A pair of women stood, moving to sit beside someone else, effectively giving us a loveseat for ourselves. Talin guided me to it.
"I hope we're not imposing," I said as we sat down.
"No," Pia assured me. "I just never thought I'd see the day when Talin would join us in the parlor. Tire of your brothers already?" she asked.
He chuckled, scooting back to lounge casually on the pink-and-yellow striped seat. "Mama, I think I was born tired of them. How have you been?"
"I'm making do," she assured him. "Now, introduce your desire to her new family."
I didn't miss the casual way she said that. Glancing up, I met her eyes and Pia nodded, making it clear the acceptance had been intentional. In that moment, I decided that I liked this woman. I also had a feeling she was the reason Talin had been raised so differently from his brothers.
"Pia is my mother," Talin said, gesturing as he named each person. "Then my oldest sister, Lina. The next is Abril, but she's not here. Reylie is coming tomorrow, I believe - the next youngest. Then there's Nena, who's between me and Thiemo, and Yamina's the youngest." He paused to direct my attention across the room. "And this is Maela, my brother's wife. Beside her is my Aunt Jelica, Dad's sister."
I recognized Maela's face. She was the woman who'd come into the Temple of All Gods looking for the High Priest of Temptation. The one I'd spoken to so long ago. I wasn't sure if she knew who I was, because she didn't show any sign of it, but I had definitely met her before. I also understood now why she'd been so nervous about going to the temple herself. It sounded as if the pair hadn't been married that long when the baron had fallen ill.
"A pleasure," I told them all.
Jelica just lifted a brow at me. "Is it really, child?"
"I'm honestly not sure, but I'm hoping," I told her.
"Good answer," she said. "So where are you from, Priestess?"
"Outside the city," I admitted. "I can tell you that my parents were very poor farmers. I also know that I became a priestess about the age of ten, so have now lived longer in the temple than anywhere else."
Jelica looked at Talin. "You matched with a farmer's girl?"
"I matched with the woman who impressed a god," Talin corrected. "Although I find it rich that you've decided society suddenly counts so much, considering the man you wanted to marry."
"I wasyoung!" she snapped.
"And left a spinster because of it," Talin reminded her. "Nari, Aunt Jelica fell in love with a cobbler. My father refused to allow her to marry the man, so she made sure they'd be caught together. The baron didn't care. He made it clear that she could now accept a place as someone's second wife, or she could remove herself from society. She chose the second option."
"I hope you lived an expensive lifestyle," I said.
Talin's grumpy aunt actually smiled at that. "I did, actually. And each time he complained, I reminded him that it would've been a lot less expensive if I'd been allowed to follow my first dream, but that he'd left me no other option."
Pia sighed. "He was just trying to look out for you, Jelica."
"No, he wasn't," Lina said. "Papa wanted to expand the family control in Calseth. Never mind that she's the only reason the rest of us had any choice in who we married. Mama, he wasn't that generous."
"This," Talin said, gesturing between the group of women, "has been going on since before I was born. You see, Ranndor makes strong men and stronger women, and my brothers haven't figured that out yet."
"But you," I guessed, aware that people were listening, "were mostly raised by your aunt and mother, and they made sure you knew how to respect a woman's place in the world?"
"Oh, I like her," Jelica said. "Does she run your life in the temple too, Talin?"
"She does," he promised. "See, for priests of Zeal, the rules are completely different. Power between the sexes is equal. Men cannot impregnate women. We're all made sterile by our god. Women don't even suffer monthly courses - but we arealltrained in such things. The realities of childbirth too," he told his sister-in-law. "Which is why I'm glad to see you joined us. How are you handling being a mother?"
She blushed. "I'm fine, Talin. He's almost seven months old now."
