Page 133 of Scourged
“Oh, and Mariah?” She turned on her heel, meeting Drystan’s stare over her shoulder. He once again lounged against the wall beside Andrian’s door. His gaze was soft, understanding, compassionate.
“No one faults you, you know. You went through so much—more than any of us can ever understand. And he did, too. Do what makes you happy, whatever helps you heal. All of us will support you, no matter what. Even Sebastian.EspeciallySebastian.”
She smiled at him, his words soaking through her skin, sitting within her chest. She still wasn’t sure what she’d done to deserve men like him. It was a very different love than what she felt for Andrian; it was the love of a brother, a warrior soul who would lay down his entire life, everything he had, while demanding nothing from her in return.
“Thank you, Drystan.”
“Goodnight, My Queen.”
She pushed through her doors, escaping into the comfort of her rooms and the soft bed waiting for her.
Mariah only sleptfor a few hours before something woke her.
A power brushing against her skin. The whisper of a night breeze through her room, despite the closed windows. A brightness glowing behind her closed eyelids, shimmering and pulsing.
But when she shot awake in bed, everything in her stilled. Even the eddies of her magic were banked.
Standing at the foot of her bed, hands folded peacefully, long, gilded hair sweeping across her full figure, stood Qhohena. She was ringed in golden light and a crown of snowdrop blossoms, so brilliant they made the crown of Onita look like a cheap mimicry, rested atop her brow. An easy, warm smile graced her lips, her eyes twin aureate pools.
“Hello, Mariah.”
Mariah gaped in response.
“Am I asleep? Is this a dream?”
An answering snort sounded from the other side of the room. Mariah whipped her attention to its source.
Now, she was certainly convinced she was dreaming.
Zadione leaned against the closed window, her silver light just as brilliant as her sister. She looked as she did when she first appeared to Mariah in her dream, and again in that cell in the bowels of Khento: dark, silver-dusted skin, waves and waves of silvery hair, a crown of animal bones woven into the thick tresses across her brow.
“No, you are not sleeping. You are very much awake. And we are very much here.” Zadione shot a quick glare at her sister. Qhohena only sighed, eyes closing for a moment before resting again on Mariah.
Who could still do nothing more than stare, slack-jawed.
“I told you the last time I visited, my child, that the more we connected, the more I could speak to you. The more corporeal I could become.” Qhohena unclasped her hands, spreading them before her. “You did what I asked. You are learning to trust again. To love again. And because of that, I can be here now.”
“AndIam here because I have been speaking to you for your entire life, and you have always listened to me.” Zadione stepped closer to the bed, eyes narrowing. Mariah watched the goddess warily; she knew that predatory look filling Zadione’s expression.
She’d worn it far too many times herself.
“Except for now, of course.Nowyou decide to ignore the one warning I always gave you and listen to my older sister instead.”
Mariah swallowed. “I seem to recall you telling me that since I had fallen into weakness, I would need to learn to make it my retribution.”
Zadione stiffened. “Yes. I did say that, did I not?” She stalked even closer until she stood beside her sister at the foot of Mariah’s bed. The two of them were something out of a painting: silver and gold, light and dark, life and death. Sisters in every way, but opposites too, flipped sides of the same coin.
“So, dear little queen,” Zadione said, folding her own hands, mimicking her sister. “How do you intend to seek your retribution from your current situation?”
“That’s enough, sister,” Qhohena murmured. Her voice was so soft, so quiet, yet held so much power. A reminder that while Zadione was the goddess of wildness and strength, Qhohena was one of stability and might.
Zadione didn’t acknowledge her sister, but she closed her mouth, opting instead to lock Mariah with her sharp, silver glare.
Mariah swallowed down every ounce of apprehension she had and stared back.
Despite her shock, she felt no fear before these two beings. They were immortal, and wielded powers far beyond what her mind could comprehend, but she knew they cared for her in their own way.
“We did not come here to scold you, Mariah.” Another quick glance at her sister. “Despite my sister’s words, she agrees with me that you are doing well. Remarkably well. She will not admit it—not aloud—but she knows you need him. What he can offer you.”