Even as Joy raced ahead through the night, her horse cutting across the darkened fields like a streak of shadow, she did not for a single second believe that her sisters could ever fall prey to Cassius's so-called charm or manipulation.
The very thought was absurd.
After all, these were not ordinary women.
These were her chosen warriors—brilliant, unshakable, and unbending in their faith.
Each one of them was a pillar of devotion and discipline, a daughter of the Goddess, trained to resist every form of worldly temptation.
They had resisted wealth, flattery, and flesh—everything this world had to offer.
Joy's jaw clenched as the wind whipped her hair back.
"They don't drink wine." She murmured under her breath, almost to reassure herself. "They don't eat meat. They don't indulge in pleasure or vanity. They have rejected every luxury, every sinful distraction..."
"...They live only for the Goddess."
And that was exactly why she had handpicked them.
