Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 137958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 690(@200wpm)___ 552(@250wpm)___ 460(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 690(@200wpm)___ 552(@250wpm)___ 460(@300wpm)
This was when my mother sighed.
She, too, had learned what was worth the effort with Serena, and what was not, for she sallied forth without delay.
“Six nights past, I went to the standing stones.”
That got both mine and my sibling’s attention.
It had been a night with a tremor.
And after the last, the strongest, Mother had given her orders.
“The Beast rises,” Ophelia declared.
Both Serena and I jerked alert.
“Goddess be damned,” Serena snapped.
Mother’s face grew tight and she bit, “Do not speak such profanity!”
“That cannot be true,” Serena retorted, unrepentant.
“If you can say that, then your senses are not opened, and your body’s functions are not at their best for you cannot miss the vibrations of the veil nor can you miss fortnightly earthquakes,” Ophelia returned.
As was my wont, I forged into the opening breach.
“Is this why you ask us to conserve magic and drill?”
Mother looked to me. “No. We travel to Firenze and perform in parade before all the kings and princes of Triton for Mars weds, True weds and Cassius weds.”
I felt my heart thump hard in my chest.
True weds?
Who did True wed?
“Bloody parade?” Serena asked snidely. “In front of the entire realm?”
“Yes,” Ophelia replied. “As celebration for an alliance unseen or unheard of since beings walked upright. The entirety of Triton merged in peace.”
“Merged?” I whispered.
My mother looked to me and shook her head. “The nations stand. The Enchantments, my daughter, will stand. But forevermore, from these unions on, the blood of Firenze will flow through the royal house of Wodell. The blood of Wodell will flow through the royal house of Firenze. The blood of Airen already flows through all of Firenze. And the blood of the Nadirii will flow through the royal house of Airen.”
Naught was said to that as both Serena and I froze in horror and shock.
Queen Ophelia did not take her eyes from me.
“You will wed Prince Cassius,” my mother whispered.
Unable to stop myself, I burst from the basket, shouting, “No!”
“Dear goddess,” my sister breathed.
Ophelia raised her hand my way. “My daughter, I know you hold feeling for True.”
“I don’t hold feelings for him! I’m in love with him!” I cried.
She shook her head again. “My darling, you don’t know what love is.”
“She cannot wed an Airenzian,” Serena hissed into this exchange. “It’s revolting. Vile. It cannot be borne. Especially not a prince. Not that blood. Never that blood. It’s treachery.”
“There has been much loss over the years. So much loss. It is time we lay down our arms, my daughter,” Mother said to Serena.
“Really?” Serena rocked back on her heels, her eyes firing, her skin firing, everything about her firing. “And am I unaware, Mother? Have they recently passed a law that allows women to bear title to land?”
“Serena—” Mother began.
“Or that it’s unlawful that a man raise his hand to his wife, his whore, his maid?” Serena carried on.
“My fierce daughter—”
Serena did not give up. “Or that he cannot discard a wife, a whore, a maid, turning her to the streets with no money and no possessions as he finds another to see to his needs?”
“Serena—” our mother kept trying.
But Serena spoke over her.
“And what of when he forces himself upon her? Wife, whore, maid, woman who is but a stranger to him that he passes in the street? Will he face punishment for such heinous violations?”
“Prince Cassius is much different than his father, or the father before him, or the one before him,” Ophelia pointed out. “He took a wife. Only one and she was all he needed. It is told wide and with great heartbreak, stories of his open love and respect for her before she perished.”
“So Cassius is going to be the shining star in Airen’s sky who will change centuries of the degradation and subjugation, debasement, harassment, sometimes even torture and death of our sisters?” Serena demanded with open disbelief.
She did not wait for our mother to answer.
She drawled acidly, “Really, Mother, the Sisterhood was formed on the Night of the Fallen Masters. Spending decades amassing magic to put the males of Sky Bay to sleep so our sistren could slit the throats of their tormentors and steal into the night. It is direct of your blood,” she leaned forward on that, then back, “and mine, that our great mother was hung for petitioning the crown repeatedly, and when that went to no avail, organizing the women to protest and revolt. It was her daughter, again our direct blood, who hatched the plan that found our escape, our freedom, built our sisterhood and raised The Enchantments.”
“I do not need a history lesson, Serena,” Mother sighed.
“Yes, well, thousands of their retched men were assassinated that night, as was their due, and the Airenzian still did not learn. No, Mother, they punished the females left behind and continued their oppression,” Serena returned.