“Listen to me now,” she proclaimed. “I am birthed of the Scribe Virgin. I am of the Chosen Sanctuary. So when I say unto you the Bloodletter, my father, bore no other male issue, that is fact.” “Untrue,” the male breathed. “And you—you cannot have been born unto the Mother of the race. There is none born unto her—” Payne lifted her glowing arms. “I am what I am. Deny it at your peril.”
