The Rule
“Do you think I don’t feel the weight? Do you think I rest easy at night, knowing I have become both savior and slayer in the eyes of my people?”
“Then fall to your knees,” she said, voice trembling with something between sorrow and conviction. “Not before me—but before the One who sent Nathan. Lay down your pride. Repent. Be made whole.”
He stared at her for a moment, and something darkened behind his eyes—not fury, but the ghost of it, mingled with shame and defiance.
Then he leaned in, his breath brushing against her neck, his fingers sliding along her spine with slow, deliberate reverence.
“You speak of repentance,” he whisp