Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 85108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
“Sorry, your Holiness. I just…had a difficult time getting my partner to come to this ceremony,” Andi said apologetically.
“And why was that?” the priestess asked, arching an eyebrow at Thrax.
“Because I didn’t fucking want to go,” he growled rudely as he finished taking off his boots. The long grass felt cool and ticklish against his bare feet.
The priestess’s frown deepened.
“The Goddess cannot cleanse one who does not wish to be cleansed.”
“Yes, he does want to be cleansed, he just doesn’t know it!” Andi exclaimed quickly, stepping forward. “Please, your Holiness—this is a matter of life and death. The Goddess herself came and spoke to me and told me my partner’s life was in danger. He has to have this ceremony!”
“I see.” The priestess looked Thrax up and down.
“This woman makes a passionate plea on your behalf, yet I see you are still unwilling, Warrior,” she said. “Why do you not wish to be cleansed?”
“Because I don’t fucking deserve to be cleansed!” Thrax growled. “You don’t know what I’ve done—I don’t even deserve to live!”
“Thrax!” Andi gasped, and now the tears were back in her eyes. “Don’t talk like that about yourself!”
“It’s true.” He looked down at the priestess. “I’m a murderer and a rapist—a Broken One. I’ve done things and had things done to me that have stained my soul. Can the Goddess cleanse me of all that?” The priestess looked him up and down again silently and Thrax felt the dull rush of shame filling him. “Just like I thought,” he muttered. “There’s no hope for a bastard like me.”
“There is always hope,” the priestess said sharply. “The Goddess can cleanse any sin…but you must be willing to be cleansed. First you must come with me, to the Sacred Fountain.” She looked at Andi. “And since the Goddess spoke to you on your partner’s behalf, you must come too.”
“Good luck, doll,” Kat said to Andi. “I’ll stay here with the weapons and the shoes—you two get the job done.”
“We’ll try.” Andi looked troubled—as she should, Thrax thought, since he still didn’t want to go through with the ceremony.
“You do that.” Kat gave her a hug and then the three of them—Thrax, Andi, and the priestess, went deeper into the Sacred Grove.
They walked through the trees until they came to a small clearing. In the center was a fountain which had a statue of the Goddess. She had a stern but kind face and she was holding a chalice in both hands. Silvery water bubbled from the cup of the chalice and poured into the basin below. It looked dream-like in the “moonlight” from the dimmed, artificial sun.
“This is the Fountain of Cleansing,” the priestess told them. “But before the ceremony begins, I must Look Into you,” she told Thrax.
Thrax wanted to back away from her. He’d never had this particular psychic procedure before, but he had heard from other warriors who had, that it was intensely uncomfortable. But the priestess was waiting quietly and Andi was too.
It was the look in his partner’s eyes that finally convinced Thrax to kneel. The anger she’d shown him earlier was gone—replaced by deep concern and caring. She was squeezing her little hands into fists at her sides and staring at him as though she could will him into cooperating with the priestess.
She cares about me so much, he thought. Maybe she even loves me.
He didn’t deserve Andi’s love, but he couldn’t ignore it either. Unwillingly, he knelt in the grass and waited for what came next.
32
ANDI
Andi watched anxiously as her tall partner finally sank to his knees in the grass. The priestess stepped forward, her long white robes swishing, and placed her fingertips against his temples. Then her eyes rolled up in her head, showing only the whites—which were light green—and she began to Look into him.
Thrax stiffened visibly and nearly jerked away as the priestess began the procedure.
“Fuck! Feels like you’re shuffling though my memories like a deck of cards,” he complained hoarsely.
“I must See in order to Know. Now be silent!” the priestess commanded.
Thrax subsided but there was an unhappy look on his face as the priestess continued.
“You had a happy childhood and parents that cared for you,” she murmured, her eyes still turned inward as she spoke. “But then I see it—your ship was taken by slavers. And they sold you…sold you to the Mistress.”
A low moan broke from Thrax’s throat and he trembled under the priestess’s fingers. But he didn’t try to pull away—maybe he was too deep in the trance, Andi thought. Maybe he was watching what the priestess was seeing as she Looked into him.
“She ‘trained’ you,” the priestess continued. “Ah, I feel your pain—she broke your barriers, she took what she had no right to take. She made you feel both pleasure and shame—they were connected.”