Bride of the Sea (The Prophecy of Sisters #2) - Hayley Faiman Page 0,48
to smile and thank someone when they showed you a kindness and that’s exactly what she did.
Aaric’s guard Hagen watches me, his eyes staying glued to my own. To his credit, even before I had the dress, he never looked at me below the neck. Don’t ask me why, but I appreciated that more than he could ever know.
I’m humiliated. Tears stream down my cheeks, my stomach twist so hard that I clutch it constantly. The pain is so intense, I wonder how I can even breathe anymore. Dropping my head, I focus on breathing, slowly in, then slowly out.
Whimpering, I refuse to ask for anything. It doesn’t matter, there is nothing that I want right now anyway.
“Liv,” a soft voice whispers.
Lifting my gaze, I’m met with Runa and Hillevi’s eyes. They look concerned. Hagen hasn’t moved, so I assume that they’re allowed to be here.
“You must cease crying, Liv. Too much water will flood and ruin our crops,” Runa rasps.
“What?” I ask.
“Your tears, they’re causing rain. Your anger causes wind and waves of the sea. But your tears, they cause rain along with the wind.”
Shaking my head from side to side, I wipe the tears from my eyes as I stare at her in disbelief. The seeress’s lips twitch into a smile. “You didn’t know?” she asks. “It seems as though your emotions control certain aspects of the weather, mostly, the sea. Which is fitting and makes us believe even more so that you are the Sea Queen.”
“The what?”
Runa takes a step forward, her eyes glitter forest green as she takes me in. I watch as she lifts her hand and murmurs some words that I don’t understand. Her body trembles and my back arches forward, my eyes focused on the ceiling, unable to look anywhere else.
Then I fall to the side, curled in a fetal position while the room goes silent. I hear Hagen’s deep timbre, then the seeress and Runa’s voices speaking their native tongue before the creak of the metal doors. Opening my eyes, I look up and suddenly I am surrounded by women.
Runa reaches forward, her hand cupping my cheek. “He will not accept you back in his bed, yet or at his side. However, you will have your own rúm. It will take time, but we know that you will win him over.”
“I do not want to win him over,” I rasp, my voice weak and trembling.
Seeress shakes her head, her lips curving up into a sad smile. “You may not want it, but you will, Liv. For you were gifted to him by the gods, your fate is not yours to decide, they have decided it for you. Just as they have brought you here against your will, they decide all.”
“In my world, we decide what we do and what we don’t do. What we want and what we don’t want,” I snap, my voice no stronger than moments ago and I hate how weak I sound.
Runa laughs softly as she helps me to a sitting position. “You are not in your world any longer, Liv. You are here in Wolfjour Ail, in Attleview. Here only the gods and the king decide anything. We are all at their mercies.”
I snort. “What god or goddess do I talk to about my raw deal?”
Both the seeress and Runa look horrified by my question. It shouldn’t surprise me that they think I’m nuts, since I think this whole place is unbelievably insane, including them and my stupid ass husband combined.
“I believe you’re sent by the goddess of beauty, love, and fertility, Itla. You may pray to her, sacrifice to her,” Runa mutters as she helps me stand to my feet, the seeress wraps her hand around my waist as soon as I’m upright.
“I already did that,” I grunt. “All it got me was ignored by my husband and thrown in this fucking place.”
“Vedite is the goddess of kindness. That is who I pray to,” Hillevi says.
“I really don’t give a shit. None of it matters. As soon as I find my sister, I’m getting the fuck out of here and away from that asshole,” I snap.
The seeress and Runa both look at one another, then shift their gazes back over to me.
“What?” I demand.
“You cannot leave,” Hillevi informs.
“Why?” I grind out.
There is another moment of silence, too long of a moment and if I could run away from them, I would. My stomach clenches and I shake my head a couple of times.