Bound By Blood (45 page)

             
“We of the bloodlines Lakéém, Vãlãh, Mã
rquisŕa and Veŕatü renounce our bonds and loyalty
to
Evil. We dispel
the waste of the Dark Matter. We reject our oaths and demand our freedom! In the name of the Goddess and the God
of Many Lights
, hear us now and set us free!
By the laws of the old w
ays, so mote it be!
”

             
And then there was silence…

             
There wasn’t a soul anywhere who did not hear the four bloodlines of Evil renounce their ties to them.
Chymeŕah
and Kaléé stood there with their jaws dropped while standing over
Samanthŕa’s
body in shock. The
realm
s became quiet again. A shift of great power merged
divisive bloodlines
to their favor
,
but what did it mean?
What could this all mean?

~
Chapter 14
~

Starvation

***

So does come misery’s rain,

Saturating the grip of
starvation
and pain.

Speak not
of
your suffering in vain.

For this is the weathe
ring
of all beautiful things.

***

             
“
I
t was dim-witted
,
Samanthŕa
!
Sometimes I don’t understand you. Here you go on and on lecturing us on how we need to embrace our gifts, sharpen our
skills,
and make ourselves stronger
,
t
hen you intentionally deny your own
gifts
and make yourself weak!”
Dezarãe
hissed at her.

             
It had only been a few hours since
Samanthŕa regained
consciousness. It was only a few more hours since she
had been
able to get out of bed and move around. Her head was still a bit dazed and her body weak
.
For the last hour or so, her sisters
had
stood over her shouting. Was this her karma? Her splitting headache told her it had to be.

             
Morrgãyne
jumped in. “Why don’t you just
A
waken? Why would you almost kill yourself in order to avoid it? Do you fear being with a man that much? I am so sick of hearing how prideful you are. How no man will have power over you or shall make you his slave. Not all men are like our father
,
Saman
thŕa
,
and you are one person who should know that. And they say
you
are the enlightened one?”
Morrgãyne
snorted. “Who ever heard of a
P
riestess being so foolish? Keep on and you shall lose that to
o
.”

             
“It doesn’t matter now
,
does it?”
Keysãe
said sadly. “Her one chance at
A
wakening is probably dead
or lost
.
Maybe you will be blamed for that as well. After all, would Staphãyn betray his own people if you
had formed the bonds between Vii and
Strygĩ
? H
e would have been stronger
and
not
have
fallen for the trickery of a Phãegen wench.
He would have had a chance.
" Now they spoke over her, not to her.

             
“That’s if St
a
phãyn was even her Awakener.”
Samaŕah
snorted. “There is still a chance that Dǒntáe is
,
so maybe there is hope for her yet if she stops acting so foolish. I mean really
,
Samanthŕa;
it is time to grow up. The way you are, the way you act has brought ruin to us all over the course of the years.”

             
“Oh, you mean like her mischief?” Sameŕald rolled her eyes. “If she had followed the rules and stopped acting so much like Chymeŕah
,
then Dĩas would not have sent us all away.”

             
Samanthŕa
didn’t say a word. She wasn’t sure why they kept harping on this
Dǒntáe, St
a
phãyn
thing. She knew she didn’t have enough strength though
,
to tackle that subject.
And to be honest, she was enjoying being able to hear just what they thought of her. Shocked, but enjoying.

             
The six of them left her chamber. They were wasting a new night by yelling at her. They
w
ould
rather
be
with the Brothers right now,
and they said so before storming out,
not have
to deal with
what didn’t make any sense to them, which they saw as
their sister’s stupidity.

             
It
certainly
wouldn’t make sense to them
,
Samanthŕa
thought. Everything they had accused her of were the very things she
’d
convinced them of
, rather
than the true reason
,
which was the curse and the prophecy. Why should she tell them about that? Why should they be plagued with the worries she had been losing sleep over
?
Why should their
A
wakening
s
be anything more than what
they were
supposed to be? A time when a Vii became a complete woman and came into her own, finding the one who shared her soul
?
Would they even care for her problems or would they just blame her for them?

             
Her sisters thought of nothing else
,
and why should they? They thought
little
about Evil
,
or
St
a
phãyn
.
They thought
little
about
this truce
Dĩas was
besto
wing
on
them. Someone
or something else would take care of all the
details,
as always. There was no reason for them to worry about it. They were not selfish. They were simply a product of their environment
-- a
n environment
Dĩas created
for them that they ha
d
not yet found flaw in. It seemed that
Samanthŕa
was not the only one who was caged. Her sister’s cages were simply invisible and not so easily
discerned
. Not like
Samanthŕ
a’s
cage
,
which
was bluntly obvious.
Their minds were on their
A
wakenings
, t
he very thing every other Vii kept her mind on. It was completely natural and unfortunately, normal.

             
“You seem to take a beating very well
,
”
Daŕ
ēus said
as he moved from the shadows of her chamber.
“I
had
come to check on
you
,
truly not expecting to find
your
sisters crawling down
your
throat.
”
He
didn’t appear to be
amused
,
or
impressed
.
             

             
“Not now
,
Daŕ
ēus
. Please. I am not sure how much more I can listen to
o
. Save it for when I am stronger. You will be able to yell more then. It will have a more satisfying effect, I assure you.” Her voice seemed weary as she bundled up in her lounging chair in front of the fire. She pulled the many blankets around her shivering body.
Catching her image in a distant looking glass, she knew h
er eyes were slightly dark
circled
. Her color
was
drained.

             
“It’s obvious that you are still hurting. I can tell this by what you are doing and are not doing. Plus, you have failed to curse me for being in your chamber
, cloaking myself so that I remain unseen,
and listening.” He grinned. “You also failed to buck up against your sisters and do anything other than accept their thrashing.”
             

             
“That is of no concern to you.” She attempted to
smir
k.

             
He sat down beside her in another chair. He took a deep breath while his body relaxed.
He
looked tired.
His arms went up and pulled
away
the piece of leather holding his long hair. He shook his head like a wolf might shake the water from its fur, letting his hair free. “Believe it or not, I don’t think I can top that
,
”
h
e said
,
concerning
the criticism of
her sisters. He raised a brow at her and flashed a mischievous smile. His mood was warm and inviting. She found it comforting.
She laughed but started to cough. She did manage to smack him with a pillow
,
though.

             
"
You are becoming relaxed with me. This pleases me greatly
,
”
h
e admitted
.
“
Either that or
you
are just
too weak and tired to put up a fight. It could
be
either
,
but
I
prefer the former
.
”
             

             
“Don’t bet on it
,
”
s
he warned smoothly
. “
I must make this moment serious though.
Did you find
St
a
phãyn
?” When he
shook his head
no, she sighed with relief.

             
“Your reaction surprises me. I expected a pout or something.
Is there some reason you do not wish your brother found?”
h
e asked slyly.
             

             
“Why should I? You all mean to kill him.” She was blunt and bold.

             
“The masses might have labeled him as guilty but as for myself, the jury is still out, which brings me to the matter at hand; tell
me of your brother. Tell me
why
it is you believe he is innocent.” He reached
over
to the table near him and poured her some
of the
hot broth which someone had brought before he came. He sniffed it, showing how protective he was
.
He handed it to her and she thanked him with her eyes.

             
“Is it because you believe he is your Awakener? Is that why you asked me what would happen if an Awakener were dead? I mean, I doubt you would think of him
as
dead
,
but maybe renouncing his bloodline is pretty much the same
in
comparison.” He was searching, drawing
her
out
by
her thoughts.
She was starting to get a feel for him now and some of what he did.