The outer district temple was locked before the first worshipper stepped inside. Closed doors. Voluntary attendance only. Two of Elizabeth's clerks at the side entrances with ledgers.
Kaelara's people on the roof and in the alleys. Lira's residual sensors placed at the four corners of the main hall and one more under the altar stone.
Aiden stood at the rear wall with Vesper on his left and Selene on his right. Elizabeth faced the room from the low platform. The Mother's Kiss was supposed to be simple under the new rules:
a shared current, short, controlled, no open bond in mixed company until the residual was gone. Twenty-three people had signed the ledger. Most of them had taken the Kiss before. A few were new.
The current opened clean.
For eight minutes it stayed clean.
Then the residual spiked.
