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"None," he admitted.
So Talin shuffled his way closer. "Yeah. And how many have you watched as closely as the rest of us?"
"None."
Talin reached up to clasp Zeal's arm, the one not holding me. "We believe in Ela without doubt. We also believe in you. We just had to get to know you first."
"Am I a kind god?" Zeal asked, releasing me to turn to Talin.
"You're a fair one," Talin said. "Often kind, sometimes cruel, but always fair. You lack the bite of your brother, Ambition, but you're not as spineless as your sister, Compassion. You care more about us than Inspiration, are more tangible than Perception, and more aware than even Intuition. You are a good god, Zeal, and you'remygod."
Zeal leaned in slowly to press his lips to Talin's. I watched the pair kiss beside me, and when Talin's lips parted, Zeal didn't hesitate. He deepened the kiss, pressing a little closer, until my guardian moaned softly. Only then did Zeal lean back.
"The bites will heal before your class. Your aches are already fading." He stroked the side of Talin's face, then looked at Wraythe. "I give you my word that you will never need to choose, so long as I survive."
"I already knew that," Wraythe promised.
"But," Zeal said, "I need your help. All of you. I don't know who else I can ask."
My blood ran cold at those words. Zeal already needed us to save him, but that felt more natural. He was a god, and he lived on faith. What else was the job of a priest if not to build that? But this? He needed us to help him? What could a god not do for himself?
"Anver..." he said.
That made Wraythe sit up. "What's wrong?"
"I could give a man a fish, or I could teach him to catch his own. I want to teach him, but it will not be easy. He is fragile in some ways and so strong in others. Every human is. It's what makes you all so beautiful to us, but Anver? He..." Zeal's eyes jumped over to me. "He means something to me. I've become fond of him."
"Good," I told him. "You deserve someone."
"He's my best friend. You are my partner, but Anver listens. He has time for me. He makes me feel wanted in ways you simply can't, Nari. Not because you don't want to, but because things will always be between us, binding us in ways they don't with him."
"You love him," I realized.
Those strange eyes of his darted to the corner. "I think I do."
"Then tell him," I said. "Zeal, we like to hear it. It will help more than you know."
"I can't," he insisted. "Not yet. Anver needs to learn to love himself first. If I give him that, he will hold it like a lifeline and the lesson will be lost. He needs to save himself first, before anyone else can. He needs totrustthose around him. He needs to find himself in the midst of the temple, and decide what that all means. Anver is the fifth head. I never let him go. No, I didn't pair him with you, but that was because he made the wrong choices and learned the wrong lessons. He was supposed to..." His eyes jumped back to me.
"He was supposed to be one of us," I realized.
"He would've been your guardian. You four were so perfect, until he became distracted with earning glory instead of love. He judged himself by standards that did not fit. He saw his sacrifices as unimportant instead of miraculous. He wanted to be you, or Wraythe, or Eladehl. He chased all the wrong things and lost himself, so now I need to show him how to be found. It will not be easy, and I'm worried that I won't be able to repair him when it's done."
"What do you need from us?" I asked.
"Catch him when he falls?"
"Always," I swore.
He looked at Talin. "Hold him when he's weak?"
"Promise," Talin said.
Then Zeal turned to Wraythe. "Do not try to stop my golden one from being a weapon. Let him cut deep, and then remind him that the wounds were meant to lance the pain. When he can accept that, then push him."
"Toward what?" Wraythe asked.
"Toward Anver," Zeal said. "I do not know the outcome, but I know they will need to clash again, and clash hard. I know it will be brutal, but Anver needs to know that conflict can heal as much as hurt, and only my temptation can do that."
