Page 130 of Threaded
The woman nodded, still grinning.
It was Ciana who spoke up next, her voice wavering slightly, the only sign of her shock.
“But …how? We could never get away with openly worshiping Zadione at the damn Solstice …” Her voice trailed off as she glanced at Mariah out of the corner of her eye. “Could we?”
Mariah just watched the woman, reading the wicked expression still settling itself across her face.
And she knew. She knew then what she needed to do, what had to happen, how to change the Solstice.
“I read in my mother’s diary that Zadione wasn’t only the Goddess of Death, but the Goddess of Passion and Wild Things.” Another nod from the woman. “That’s what it will take, isn’t it? Order for Qhohena … and passion for Zadione.”
The woman’s violet eyes were almost feverish. “And you know just how to achieve that, don’t you, Your Majesty?”
Mariah’s mind flashed with memories of past Solstices. It was common for those over eighteen to participate in the celebrations across the kingdom. For most, it was a night of quiet closeness, a time to spill a few drops of blood into the earth and celebrate the renewed flow ofallumeinto the land with the magic of companionship.
For Mariah, it had always been something … different.
She’d tried to forget how intense those nights always were for her, but the memories came flooding back. With them came the additional recollection that whatever it was that consumed her on those nights had appeared to extend to those around her.
She’d never thought much about it. Blamed it on her desire to be different, to be as unappealing to her society as possible so she could one day escape without being missed. She’d never thought it had been a sign of something so, so much more.
Something that could shift the future of Onita forever.
She gave the woman a nod of her own.
“There is one more thing, Your Majesty.” The woman took a step back, beginning to retreat into the darkness of the library tunnels. She pulled her hood back over her head, her features once again concealed. Just before she disappeared, she turned her head back over her shoulder, and Mariah swore she saw a flash of violet.
“The pillars are the focus. Do not forget them.”
And with that, the woman whisked around, vanishing from the room without so much as a trace.
CHAPTER54
It had been two weeks since the attack during the parade.
Two weeks since Trefor had been shot. Two weeks since Cedoric had died.
Two weeks since Mariah had given herself to the darkness in her soul and claimed a life with a smile on her face.
Two weeks since Andrian had again refused her in all the ways that really mattered there on that balcony.
But with her new resolve and revelations about the upcoming Solstice, she felt somewhat grounded again. Not whole or anywhere close to the way she’d been before, but a spark was lit in her soul, giving her purpose beyond just dragging her body out of bed each day.
Now, though, sitting again at one of the many conference tables she could never seem to escape from, she wished for nothing else than to disappear back into some sort of solitude. Anything was better than fading off into boredom to the sound of the endless droning of the men who joined her at that table.
Lord Hareth was harmless enough. Despite the wary glances he repeatedly shot her way, he hadn’t done anything specific to make her hackles raise.Yet.
Lord Shawth, seated to his left, was another story entirely. Mariah watched him closely and swore his watery blue-gray eyes hid some sort of secret. She was particularly unnerved by the smirk he kept plastered on his face; but, then again, his thin mouth was never not twisted in some sort of jilting expression.
She refused to meet the gaze of the third Royal sitting at the table. Lord Laurent set her the most on edge, had her constantly brushing her fingers over the hilt of her grandfather’s dagger.
A death threat would be enough to make anyone a bit paranoid.
Thankfully, none of the Royals paid her much attention as they prattled on about some trouble with the trade routes along the coast, likely caused by more issues with the pirates who roosted in the Kizar Islands. Mariah’s presence was more a formality, something she was expected to attend with Ryenne now indisposed, and she was happy to let her mind wander to the legends she’d grown up hearing from her father about those bloodthirsty sea-faring people who called the chain of islands in the Mirrored Sea home.
Somehow, someway, she would find a way to go there. To see those islands from the stories of her youth with her own eyes.
She knew she should be paying more attention to the Royals’ conversation as it swirled around her. That she needed to be more involved. As she’d promised Ciana, she had no intentions of being a mere figurehead to these weaselly men.