I lifted my head, speaking before I could think. “Of course, anything!”
A small smile of victory claimed her lips, and my stomach dropped.
“You may have this month to train and prove yourself. In return, you will also take this time to acquaint yourself with Ryker, your intended, and on your seventeenth birthday, whether you Ascend or not, youwillbe blood bonded.”
My breath caught in my throat as I struggled to breathe. Bonded? Tohim? I fought down my panic. “Is it really necessary to spend time together?” If I could avoid being in his presence, my chances for survival improved drastically.
Lilitha sighed and leaned back. Cain’s beady black eyes watched me from her other side, his tongue flicking in and out, tasting the air. “It is. I know you wish to postpone the Ascension, but if I chose not to, I’d prefer that you be with child before I Ascend—mingling with humans isn’t something I enjoy.”
My eyes widened, the world spinning around me, halting me in my tracks.She what?“You want me to. . .”
“To seduce your bonded,” she said, as if it should be obvious. I stared, uncomprehending. Cain’s hiss sliced through the silence and Lilitha shot him a withering glare.
“B-but we’re not bonded!” I stuttered, knowing how weak my argument was.
“The ceremony is just for formalities,” Ari said, chewing on her lip. “Though you may have to convince Ryker to change his ways. He’s aware of our expectations, but unlike Emperials, the Outlanders believe in being chaste before marriage.” A belief my people might not have shared in, but one I’d hoped to follow.
I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath, but the extra oxygen did nothing to appease the fear that gripped my soul. Every instinct within me rallied against the concept of giving myself in every way possible to a complete stranger. Regardless of the fact that I’d been preparing for this exact scenario my entire life, I struggled to rise above my internal opposition. Now that said stranger had a name, now that the aforementioned scenario was quickly becoming my reality, I was more terrified than I’d ever been in my life.
I didn’t want to die.
But in the end what I wanted didn’t matter. Who was I to question the empress' methods? Every sacrifice I made was nothing in comparison to what Lilitha had given and continued to offer to me and our people. It would be selfish of me to refuse her. I’d been born for one purpose only, to serve my goddess.
Though I had no idea how I would accomplish her desires. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad—the assassin’s hateful glare flashed in my mind’s eye. No. Good intentions aside, that man would be the death of me. . . Unless I was somehow able to change his mind. Maybe getting to know him, and allowing him to know me, would help to absolve his hatred. I lifted my chin, determination replacing my fear, and nodded. “As you wish, Mother.”
In the end, it didn’t matter. If I didn’t agree to my mother’s terms, I was already dead.
4
Requirements and Reservations
“Someoneneedstoslapsome sense into that woman!” Cassie fumed.
I sat in front of the oblong, gold leaf mirror, watching my sister storm around our bedroom, red-faced and tense. I hated that my actions caused her pain when ultimately she was the reason for everything that I did. Hopefully someday she’d see that.
“Cassie!” Ariadne said from behind me, her eyes narrowing in the mirror's reflection. “That’s no way to talk about the empress, let alone your own mother.”
Cassie spun to face us, making her loose pink pants billow about her legs. “You’re more my mother than she is. You gave up your life to be with Kaleah and me while we lived at the Sanctum. Where was she? What has she ever done to deserve the titleMother? She didn’t even give birth to us. Mariah did before her Ascension.”
“If I’m your mother, then what does that make Alex?” Ari asked around the mouthful of ruby tipped pins she was currently weaving into my hair. Her demeanor remained neutral; seventeen years of living with Cassie had tempered her.
“Ugh!” Cassie collapsed onto the large canopy bed to my right, sinking into the turquoise covers. Like everything else in our double suit—the dressers, night stands and desks—it was identical to the one on the other side of the room.
Cassie rolled onto her side. “How can you be so calm?”
Calm?I would have laughed if I was able, yet it took every ounce of control I had to remain seated, straight-backed and straight-faced. One slip on that hold and I would be on the floor sobbing. “It’s what’s right.”
“Right for who?” She pursed her lips, glaring.
A booming knock sounded at the door, and I jumped. In the mirror, the bedroom door opened, and Alex sauntered in, decked out in a sleeveless gray tunic and leather pants.
“Hey—wow, what’s the occasion?” Alex stopped mid-stride, his gaze honing in on me. “You look. . . extravagant?” I grimaced, my hands bunching in the silky red material of my skirt. Thankfully his attention was pulled elsewhere when Cassie jumped up from the bed and raced across the room, throwing herself into his arms.Good. He could comfort her better than I.
“Did I miss something?” Alex asked, holding my sister close and stroking her back. “I thought I was just coming to pick Cassie up to go see more of the street vendors for the Harvest Festival.”
“The ghoul is taking her from me,” Cassie mumbled into his chest.
Alex’s eyes grew big. “Wait, what?”