Bride of the Traitor (The Prophecy of Sisters #1) - Hayley Faiman Page 0,56

pinch my eyes closed as her hand touches my chest. I feel my entire body warm at her touch. Then my back arches, my torso pushing forward toward her. She hums, her voice smooth and calming as my heart begins to slow down from its rapid beating.

“Open your eyes, Your Highness,” she rasps.

I force my eyes to open and am greeted to the sight of her now brown eyes and kind smile aimed at me. She tilts her head to the side, watching me with a smile.

“You will be all right. We were worried,” she admits.

“Worried?” I ask.

Aleida steps forward, her hands wringing together at her waist. “You and Merek have become very close. If the warrior and his bride do not fall in love, the prophecy will not begin to unfold.”

“I thought you didn’t want it to unfold?” I ask.

Aleida grins and Godiva full-on smiles. “We want what is meant to be, to be. The prophecy must unfold if it is meant to. However, sometimes people put walls up around their hearts when true love isn’t what they expected it to be, or when they expected it to happen.”

“You broke down my walls?” I ask.

Godiva shakes her head. “Nay, Your Majesty. All I did was look inside your true heart to see if you held affection other than friendship for our dear Merek.”

“And?”

She shakes her head. “You know the answer to that, but we had to be sure. If the prophecy is resisted, if it is ignored, or if one partner shuns the other out of anger, it can have dire consequences, we needed to make sure that wasn’t about to happen, and it isn’t. You have deep growing feelings for our king.”

I snort. “Bullshit,” I bark. “I hardly know the man.”

Aleida takes a step forward, at the same time Jasmine releases my arms. Aleida takes my hand in hers and squeezes gently.

“He is not an easy man to love. His heart is so closed off that I cannot sense his feelings at all, whether it be love or hate, Your Majesty. I do know that as a child he was full of loud feelings. They would practically glow around him. One day they will return, when he finally allows himself to love, to trust, to hope.”

“Since I haven’t seen him in a month and a half, I’m not holding my breath for any of that to happen,” I admit, my voice softer and full of more hurt than I would like to admit.

The witches don’t say another word. In fact, they leave me standing in the middle of my room, feeling out of place. When the door closes, I hear the lock being flipped into place, then I’m surrounded by my girls.

“What was that?” Ellyn asks sliding her arm around my shoulders.

“I don’t know,” I whisper.

Jasmine clears her throat and I lift my gaze to meet hers. “Merek is smitten with you, it is perfectly clear,” she says. “He is also loyal to King Elias and would never betray him.”

“He’s told me that he loves Elias, deeply,” I admit. “I don’t know what I would do without Merek’s help. He has helped to make this place feel almost like home. You girls have aided in making me feel almost happy to stay here.”

“Almost?” Katrina asks, obviously a bit upset by my words.

Smiling, I reach toward her and take her hand in mine. “Sisters. I miss my sisters, that’s all. If they were here, even with Elias being a giant dickhead, I would be blissfully happy.”

Katrina’s eyes widen at the same time Ellyn giggles. “Dickhead?” Jasmine asks.

Grinning, I shift my gaze to the side, then bring it back to them. “Asshole, jerk, mean, dickhead.”

“I think I like your phrases.” Katrina laughs.

“Are you hungry, Sybilla?” Jasmine asks.

Shaking my head, I take a step back from them. “I don’t know what I am, but I feel funny,” I whisper.

“Funny?”

Placing my hand on my lower belly, I begin to sway and then before I realize what’s happened, I’m falling and I’m unable to catch myself before everything goes black.

ELIAS

I gasp, leaning forward and emptying the contents of my stomach. Something is wrong, very wrong.

“Elias?” Lief asks, guiding his stallion toward my side.

Sitting up, my entire body sways. Squeezing my thighs, I force myself to stay on the back of my steed. My gaze lifts to meet Lief’s. “I’m fine,” I rasp.

He shakes his head once. “You are not,” he announces.

“We will make our way back to Aerilon, back to the castle. We