once for a long stretch.” She let out a sharp bark of laughter. “Shaardul went berserk during that time, almost wrecked our economy with sheer negligence.”

“How could she just slip away? Where were her guardsmen?” 

Ketaki chuckled. “Ah, so you don’t know the old Priestess too well then. Inanna was as clever as a fox intent on surviving a hard winter, and still is, from all accounts.” She shook her head nostalgically. “The love those two enjoyed—my, my, my, not human, we three used to say, but divine. Inanna was shattered when Shaardul passed, but she revived, oh yes, she revived. Some even think her invincible and perhaps she is—after all, which ordinary woman could thumb her nose at Takshak and continue to escape retribution?”

“Whe...

Please subscribe to keep reading.