Bride of the Traitor (The Prophecy of Sisters #1) - Hayley Faiman Page 0,85

a pickup on prom night, it was cliché and awful,” I groan.

They all stare at me, completely confused by my words. “Oh.” I smile. “After a dance with my date. It was terrible, he too was gone before I could even roll over.”

We’re all sharing, but I notice that Jasmine doesn’t say anything. Her gaze is assessing and she smiles sadly, but still doesn’t speak.

“I want so badly for it to be him. Merek is so lovely, brave and strong,” she whispers. “But today he will not even look me in the eye.”

“He’s a jackass then,” I point out. “You deserve better.”

Katrina shakes her head. “He is nobility, and a warrior, there is no better.”

My lips twitch. “There is. A man who is strong and sweet, who cherishes you even if he is poor and common is better,” Jasmine states with a nod.

I watch as she turns and walks away from our huddle. She has a story. She’s not ready to share it maybe, but there is a story there and I’m so nosey and dying to know what it is. Today isn’t the time to ask her though, one day, when she’s ready, she’ll tell me.

Shifting my attention back to Katrina, I notice that she’s watching Jasmine as well. “She hides things, but I think she must because I have a feeling what she hides is painful,” she whispers softly.

“I think you could be right,” I agree.

“So, you’ll be ignoring Merek, then?” Ellyn asks.

Katrina’s gaze shifts from Ellyn to me, then lifts beyond me and I know that she is looking at Merek. Something crosses her features and I realize that it’s determination. “I’ll be ignoring him,” she snaps.

“Good girl,” I whisper.

Though, I realize that she is possibly much stronger than I am, because I don’t think I could ignore Elias, not even if I tried. I’ve fallen in love with him and I have a feeling that he already knows it and he knows that I will never deny him anything—not a damn thing.

ELIAS

Guiding Godiva and Aleida away from the rest of the crowd, I place my fists on my hips and look down at them. To their credit, they look innocent enough, but I know these two old witches have to sense Sybilla’s powers.

“She holds magic and you have not told me, why?” I demand.

Aleida blinks, her gaze shifting behind me, then back to meet my own. “I did not sense it within her, Your Highness,” she breathes.

“Until?”

“Yesterday. The weather, it wasn’t charged by nature, by the gods of nature. It was magical. I wasn’t sure if it was her or not. Why do you think that it is?” she asks.

Clearing my throat, I debate not telling either of them about how I discovered that my wife holds magic. I know not of what this means for the prophecy, but I know that it has something to do with it.

“We had a disagreement. She became emotional, she cried, and I heard the thunder, the rain and saw the lightning. It wasn’t the first time, earlier in the day I’d found out that she became emotionally upset and I predict that’s when the first rainstorm came from nowhere.”

“Gods,” Godiva breathes. “If her emotions wield the weather, she is strong, stronger than I imagined possible. I cannot sense her powers in the slightest, Your Highness.”

“How?” I demand. “You two told me you could sense them. Have you lifted the enchantment on suppressing them?” I demand.

Aleida shakes her head. “The enchantment is still intact, Your Majesty. She is stronger than that, it is something I have never witnessed before.”

“By gods bones, what are we dealing with?” I demand.

Godiva reaches for me, her frail hand wraps around mine and she squeezes. “Your bride and her magic can be a boon. You must not think of it as a curse, you must think of the good that it can bring.”

I almost snort, wondering how to make it work in my favor. If my farmers’ crops suffer, then all I have to do is make Sybilla cry for water. It is too great a burden. I do not wish to make her sad, to see her cry. It hurt my heart, twisted it and caused it to ache seeing the hurt on her face, I never want her to be sad another day in her life.

“You waver, Your Majesty. Do not. This will be a boon. We have no choice, but to watch the prophecy unfold the way that it is meant to.