Chapter 105: Ashen Convenant

The Cathedral still ticked with murmurs of whispered prayers and the soft shuffling of robes as Aric and the priest sat side by side. The priest, eyes keen beneath his humble hood, watched Aric for a moment before breaking the silence.

"what is it you think you have to offer us?" he asked again, voice thick with both curiosity and skepticism.

Aric's reply was as calm as it was direct. 

"Wealth. More than any of you have ever known."

The priest's brows lifted, a faint smile playing at his lips, skepticism writ plainly on his face. 

"The pockets of the fourth prince, deep as they may be, are hardly as vast as those of your brothers or other nobles. Why should I believe you could offer us anything more?"

"Just tell me a price," Aric replied, unfazed.

The priest chuckled, his eyes slipping from Aric to the bronze statues along the cathedral walls. "The church has become divided, boy," he said, voice dropping to a grave murmur.