Pariah (The New Covenant Series) (29 page)

My eyes begged him to agree.

He shook his head. “Martus? Our leader? His sons? I didn’t even know he had sons. Do you even know how to sail?”

“He has twin sons. They g
rew up in the kingdom, but they brought me to him. I need to get out of here and off of this island as quickly as possible. I rode a boat over here, and I think I can manage fine by myself. I promise to send word regarding the location of your boat.” I could see him churning over the information and considering everything.

“We’ll leave now. I’ll swing t
he boat far out to sea until we safely pass the island, and then we’ll curve back toward the mainland. I’ve sailed these waters my whole life. You’ll be safe. But if anyone asks, I’m going to tell them that you’re a witch and that you compelled me to help you. They’d believe me with those eyes too.”

He smirked, but his eyes held fea
r in them too. He was seriously considering the possibility of me being a witch. If only it were that simple. I could grab my broom and fly back to the mainland. We packed up and left under cover of darkness. I helped Cain row in between heaves. History had a funny way of repeating itself. I definitely didn’t have it in me to be a seafarer.

As the sun sunk below the
horizon, we caught sight of the shore—glorious land that might end the ever present dry heaves that shook their way through my core. Cain secured the boat to a nearby tree and shoved it up onto the sandbar. I dragged my bag off of the boat and walked to a nearby piece of driftwood and plopped down on it. Cain sauntered up and smiled. “Landlubber.”

“Ha. Ha. You’re hilarious. R
eally. You’re just too much,” I groaned, grabbing my stomach.

He smiled and handed
me some water, which I promptly vomited toward his feet. He jumped back, and I laughed then.

“Well, at least you can still laugh
. I’ve never seen anyone get so sick before in my life!”

“I’m a true anomaly. A freak of nature,” I muttered, kn
owing it was actually true, even though my ability to vomit repeatedly had nothing to do with it.

Cain stretched his arms over
his head and yawned. “Well, I’m going to get some firewood and get a fire going. We’ll camp here, and I’ll head back at first light.”

I nodded, and he set off int
o the woods to find firewood. I headed to the water and washed out my mouth, washed my face, and changed my dress, pulling on the light-yellow long-sleeved, ankle-length cotton gown that I’d grown to love. It was gloriously comfortable. I rummaged for my mint leaves and chewed a couple to get the rancid taste off of my tongue. Cain returned shortly thereafter, built a fire, and I settled down in front of it. My back rested against the big hunk of gnarly driftwood I’d previously called a bench.

He ate happily, offering me food every so often. I couldn’t
stomach anything yet, so I politely declined. He understood and smiled. I’m glad he was so amused by my misfortune. “Hey, thank you for sailing me here. I really do appreciate it. I’ll try to repay you sometime in the future. I know that the items I gave you weren’t sufficient.” I looked down, not knowing how I could possibly repay such kindness to a stranger.

“I accepted your offer of both the items
and your work around my home. You’ve more than paid your debt, Lara. And you are most welcome.”

I squeezed out a smile. “Hey, can I ask you a question?” he said.

“Yeah. Of course.”

“Your eyes are weird,” he said.

“Yes, they are. What’s your question?” I teased.

“I’ve never seen anyone with
purple eyes before.” He stared openly at my eyes. “Me either.” I smiled.

He smiled too.

After a while, I sank down in the soft sand, using my satchel as a pillow and drifted off to sleep in front of the warm fire.

At dawn, I woke up before Cain
had begun to stir. I looked up and down the beach and saw nothing. No sign of civilization whatsoever. “Where are we?” I asked myself under my breath.

“The mainland,” he answered groggily in a deep sleepy voice.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s okay. I need to get up and start packing.” He stretched.

“Do you know where we a
re in relation to the kingdom?” I asked.

“What do you know about the kingdom?”

“A lot. I grew up there,” I admitted. He looked at me strangely.

“How old are you?” he asked, crooking his head toward me.

I exhaled. “Seventeen.”

“I’m twenty. I should have seen you at some point.”

“What? You grew up in the kingdom? I thought you were a seafarer?”

“Well, I kind of grew up both places. My dad was a seafarer,
but my mother’s parents, my grandparents lived in the kingdom. Father would take us to visit them often while he was away on journeys. I split my time between the two. Martus would send my father and his men to search the ocean for new lands. But I’m off track. I’ve never seen you.”

I cleared my throat. “I was
a potential and grew up in the fortress tower.”

He laughed. “Holy crap!
Oh sorry. Um. I’ve never met a potential before. Wait, are you married?”

“You could say that my life is one big scre
wed up story. And you definitely don’t have the time for it all. But I
was
married. He was killed.”

“Well,” he said, “sorry about t
hat. I didn’t know...about your husband. Hey, at least you aren’t the chosen, right?” he joked.

I just stared at him. “Right?” He smiled.

I winced.

“You’re not the chosen. You were married.”

“Well,” I started, “that’s where the story gets interesting.” I explained how the seafarers had infiltrated the kingdom and got me out of there before my mark appeared. I told him everything as fast as possible so he could hurry up and sail home. About Altair and Wes, about Annette and my parents and the twins and about Ruth and Jacob and the gang, how I ended up at the seafarers, and why I had to escape. I unloaded everything on him.

And when I was finished, I felt
so much better. More free. Like a weight was taken off of my shoulders. “So now you know my story. What about yours? Other than being raised alternately by your father and grandparents, I mean.”

“Well, I have no siblings. I was
married when I turned eighteen, but my wife, Cora, died a year later during childbirth. Our son passed away as well.” He cleared his throat and looked away. I could see the tears shimmering in his eyes. I swallowed the ball in my throat and apologized for his loss. I couldn’t imagine how he’d survived. “My mother died after a long illness. My father never came back from his last voyage, so I’m guessing he’s dead, but the question lingers.”

He continued, “Can I ask you something? And
you can totally say no if you aren’t comfortable.” I nodded. And he looked up sheepishly and grinned. “May I see your mark?”

I laughed. “Sure.”

I didn’t feel too uncomfortable. He’d seen me in my bikini before anyway. My dress laced in the back, so I asked him to loosen the laces and open the back of the dress. He gently unlaced the sunny ribbons and pushed the cotton aside, revealing my bare back. I heard him exhale. “Wow.”

“I know. It’s weird, right?” I
explained how I’d received the mark and how Maylon had helped me and then gave her life trying to buy me time to escape. Guilt poured over my head like water. Maylon and the boy, Wes—they’d been killed for me. I guess I could take credit for the deaths of the councilmen too as they died because of their refusal to wed me to Altair. Then there was the imprisonment of Lil, Rachel, and Annette. I was a dangerous person to befriend.

He studied the markings for a
few minutes, and then carefully laced my dress for me. I showed him the translation Marcus had given me and he studied the paper intently. “How can you be sure that the markings were interpreted correctly?” he asked, squeezing his brows together in concern.

“I guess I can’t. I mean, I can’t read Aramaic. Can you?” I smiled. “I guess I just have to go on a little faith. But my gut feeling is that it’s true. It’s right. Is that crazy?”

He shook his head and muttered, “No. It’s not crazy, Lara.”

“Solara.” I told him. He cocked his head to the side, questioning abrupt comment. “My name is Solara. My friends call me Lara though.” smiled.

“Lara it is then.”

“Do you mind if I hang out with you one more day to see where it is we’ve landed and help you get situated somewhere. I don’t feel right just deserting you here. It isn’t safe. I mean, for women, and everything.” He handed my paper back, and I carefully folded it and placed it back in my bag.

“Sure. But you have to
leave tomorrow at dawn. Deal?” I offered.

“Deal,” he accepted.

“Ouch!” I hated briars before, but now I absolutely loathed and detested them. Another one just tore into my calf. These thorns were enormous and lethal too—long, curved like talons and exquisitely sharp. The vegetation we were attempting to carve our way through was thick and heavy with the moisture that hung in the air. Sweat poured from my head, trickled down my back and between my breasts.
Ugh. Talk about hot mess.

Cain slashed through the u
ndergrowth with his machete. It was certainly handy. I’d have to get one for myself. We stopped to wipe the sweat away as best as we could. For the fifth time in the hour, I rolled the sleeves of my buttercup-colored dress up.

The mixture of sweat and humi
dity slowly unrolled them as we trudged deeper into the forest, though I’d never seen the forest so thick before. The leaves were thick and green, the brush tall and riddled with briars. Long fibrous vines hung down from the evergreens, their hairy tendrils reaching out to cling to anything within reach.

“Uh, Cain?”

“Hmmmm?” He hacked through a patch of briars and brush, blocking our path.

I stepped carefully to avoid
another large briar bush. “Have you ever seen a forest like this? I mean, is it possible that we’re lost?”

“No, this is pretty dense, but my plan is to make it up there.”
He motioned to the top of a very opposing mountain that lay in the distance. “I think we could get our bearings and start toward civilization.”

I handed him the small leathe
r pouch of water, and he gulped some down, streams flowing down his chin and throat. I gulped some too before securing the pouch across my body and starting forward again.

“L
ara’s gone! She’s gone! She
isn’t in the room. She isn’t at the beach. Martus hasn’t seen her. She’s gone!” Fist met table in fury.

“What? What do you mean she’s gone? Did you check with

Lil?” he asked, looking annoyed over the book he held in front of his nose.

“Did you hear me, Faric? She is
gone. Lil and Matthias haven’t seen her either. She’s gone. She left.” I sat in the chair opposite my twin and raked both hands through my hair.

“She’s probably just walkin
g or something. Maybe she wants to be alone. Just give her some time. She’ll be back before dinner, I bet.”

“No,” I said dejectedly, my eyes
feeling heavy with dread. “She won’t. She took her bag, some clothes, and her stuff. She’s not coming back.”

Faric put the book down on a nearby table and leaned forward,
placing his elbows on his knees. “Brother, it’s not like you’re
really
married. If she wants to go, let her. You know Athena wants you.” He shrugged and raised his brows at me.

“You don’t understand,” I groaned.

“Hey, you love the girl. I get it. But if she left you, she obviously doesn’t feel the same way, bro. Let her go. Maybe she just needs to figure out the whole chosen thing on her own you know?” he asked, tilting his head to one side.

“She’s Ladybug,” I fin
ally admitted, watching Faric’s eyes closely.

He blinked hard and shook
his head. “What are you talking about Riven? You aren’t making any sense.”

“She. Is. Ladybug.” I paused
on each word to make sure they sunk in to his thick skull.

Faric’s face fell. “Ladybug? Does Annette know?” I nodded.

“When were you going to tell me, Riven? Or were you?” he roared.

Standing up, I roared, “Do you even care? Or are you still
mad that she ‘took your mommy away from you.’ Do you get it now? Annette
had
to leave us. She knew. She knew from her birth that she was the chosen. Annette protected her until she could no longer do so. Solara only learned about everything before the introduction.” I shoved his chest, pushing him back out of my face.

Faric cursed under his breath. “I
get it. And I do care, Riven. I just don’t know how to fix it now. How do we find her?”

Shaking my head, I admitted
, “I don’t know, but we need to before Martus does. He’s pretty much lost it since I asked if he’d seen her. He’s definitely put two and two together. I’ve heard the guards gathering for the past hour. A search party will be dispatched soon if it hasn’t been sent out already. You know what he wants from her, right?”

Exhaling, Faric nodded. I could
see turmoil swirling inside my brother’s eyes. “What’s the plan?”

He stood silent for a long t
ime and then his head jerked up at me, a strange smile pulled on his lips, curling them in an evil smirk. Faric’s eyes flashed from deep teal to a strange green. I stumbled back, catching myself against the wall. Grinning maniacally, he answered, “We find the chosen, brother. Let’s go.”

F
aric secured Jacob’s boat to the small wooden dock. The wind and currents had been favorable, and we’d made it back much sooner than I had imagined possible. Thunderheads built overhead and lightning began to flash over the sea in the distance. Rumbles were barely audible, but I knew we were in for quite a storm. Matthias and Lillian ran up the path to Ruth and Jacob hand in hand. The two were becoming inseparable and annoying. They disgustingly enjoyed touching and giggling with one another despite Solara’s absence.

I could
think of nothing else. When she left, she’d taken a piece of my heart with her. I know she thought we were friends, but I wanted to be so much more. I’d told her that I had applied to marry her, but I didn’t think she had any idea how deep my affection for her ran.

She’d really gotten under my ski
n. The kiss with the strawberry flirtation had been almost too much for me to handle. I could easily have lost control with her but somehow managed to restrain myself. I knew she’d never forgive herself or look at me the same if I helped her betray Wesley adulterously. Even though she’d been released of her marriage with his death, as Altair planned, I knew the feelings there were still tender and didn’t want to push her yet. I wanted to bide my time and slowly see if her feelings for me would become as intense as those I held for her.

I enjoyed being her husband, even if we were only pretending.
The feel of her long soft fingers intertwined with mine, of her plump bowtie lips touching mine gently, the smell of her hair— lavender and femininity. I had to constantly remind myself that we were only pretending. I had to guard my heart in case in the end she didn’t want me.

Faric started toward me and Rebekah. His eyes hadn’t flashed
crazy green again, but something in him had changed. When he realized who Solara was, that she was Ladybug, it was like an entire different side of him appeared. A side that I wished would remain hidden forever. Until that moment, my brother had never scared me. Afterward, he terrified me and what was worse,

I terrified myself. We were twins
. What if the evil that emerged in him was also lingering under the surface in me just waiting to be released?

“Coming, brother?” Faric yelle
d back at me. He held Rebekah’s waist, and the two sauntered toward the house. She looked over her shoulder and winked at me. My skin crawled. I knew she wasn’t the sweet girl she’d been around Lara. She’d always been a manipulating witch. That’s why Faric loved her. I don’t know what he told Lara to get her to bargain for their union, but it had undoubtedly been a lie. They had been betrothed for a few years and knew a wedding would take place upon his return.

The next morning’s light sho
ne through the window, slapping me in the face. I dragged my hands down my face and stretched to wake up. Faric and Rebekah, who had camped out across the room from me were gone. Ruth came in from her bedroom.

“Good morning,” she said. “Your
brother was sure in a hurry to leave this morning. Jacob went down to see him off.”

“What? Where’s he going?” I
asked, my voice still hoarse from sleep.

“He said he was going to
find Solara. You didn’t know? I thought it was weird that you weren’t going, but he said you were staying with Athena.” She looked uneasily at me. “Rebekah went with him. They are taking Jacob’s boat back out. If you run, you may be able to reach them before they set sail.”

I grabbed my shirt and sho
es and took off running out the door. Jacob met me halfway down the trail. “Whoa. Your brother’s gone. They’re already out of sight.”

“Where? Where were they going to look for her, Jacob?”

He shrugged. “Not sure, just said he’d find her. I hope he can. I’m not sure where he’d even start though. How do you find someone who doesn’t want to be found?”

“Yeah.” Maybe she didn’t want to
be found. Maybe she was lost or hurt. I had to find her. I had to get to her before Faric. He was possessed or evil or something. I couldn’t forget how his eyes flashed and the arrogant malice held within their depths.

“Aaaahhhhh!” I gasped for air. Sharp
pain erupted in my back and shoulders. I grabbed my stomach and collapsed onto my knees. Jacob came to help me, but after I could only answer his questions with more pants and screams, he ran to get Annette and Ruth. The two women ran to me as fast as they could. Ruth’s stomach hit my back before she did. Another burst of pain ripped through me. Annette’s eyes grew wide and frantic.

“Jacob, we need to get him inside. Now!” she yelled. Lillian
and Rachel came running outside. Jacob grabbed me under the shoulders and Lillian, Rachel, and Annette grabbed my knees. Violent tremors tore through my body and cold sweat dotted my flesh.

“What’s happening to me?” I g
ritted out between the torrents of pain.

Annette ordered them to pl
ace me on my stomach and to get water and rags. She sent everyone outside to look for ginseng and some other herbs that I couldn’t hear over my screams. Shaking and sweating, I gripped the blanket on Jacob and Ruth’s bed, praying I wouldn’t tear holes through it.

When everyone had gone out
side on the hunt for healing herbs, Annette wetted some of the rags and dragged them over the back of my neck, shoulders, and back. “Shhhhh.”

“Am I dying?” I shivered out.

“No, you are in transition, Riven.” Aniya knelt beside my head and said in a calm steady voice.

“T-transition? What are y
-you t-talking about, Aniya?” I screamed through another bout of pain when I felt my skin tear open at the blades of my shoulders on both sides.

“You’
re one of the fallen, Riven. Do you know what that means?” She bent down to look at me in the eyes. I tried to open mine to meet hers, and then another portion of my back ripped open. She grabbed my hand and held it tight. Black dots swirled through my vision. I was going to black out. Maybe for the best. “N-no.” I shook out.

“Riven, listen carefully to
my words,” she said then leaned down to my ear. She started speaking in a melodic, beautiful language that I didn’t recognize at first. Then scenes from my entire life flashed through my life and not from only this one. I was in heaven. The Father stood beside me as we strolled around the shore of a glistening lake. My wings fluttered behind me. I had wings. I was an angel.

Then I
saw Lucifer, the most beautiful and charismatic of all of us, and he had his arm around me, whispering about how great earth was and that I should go with him, be independent, indulge in all the world had to offer. He said that the Creator loved humans more than he loved us, that he had given them everything and that we only need to travel to the Earth to get a taste of that glory for ourselves. The next scene was terrifying. I was falling—falling from heaven toward the earth. When I woke up, I had no wings. I was a baby. I saw Martus and my mother. She held me wrapped tight in a blanket. Martus held another squirming infant—Faric.

I felt the sadness of when Father to
ld us that Mother wasn’t coming back. Abandonment and anger filled me as he placed us on the ship to the kingdom. Apprehension upon meeting my new family, Annette and John. Happiness as John took us fishing, played ball with us. Joy at family dinners and holidays. Jealousy when Annette brought an infant girl home. Love as she grew bigger, and we tried to be big boys and play with her gently. She was so tiny and beautiful—Ladybug, Solara. Sadness and heartache when Annette left with Ladybug.

Happiness as John told us he wo
uld be our guardian forever and that Annette would be visiting as she could. He explained she had been assigned an important job in the fortress and that one day we could visit her there. Boredom with school studies. Awkwardness with the village girls who wanted my attention. Sadness and determination as I decided to leave the kingdom once I reached the age of emancipation and headed off to discover myself. Fear and awe upon seeing the forbidden city. Amazement to see the treasures that I could pull from the ruins and exuberance as I began trading.

Anger as I discovered my brothe
r had been placed as a guard in the fortress. Relief as I captured him without a hitch and chained him in the cave, assuming his identity. Awe as I saw Solara for the first time. No woman I’d ever seen compared to her. Her beauty left me breathless. Nervousness as I ushered her to the introduction. Fear and anger as I pulled Altair from her there. Hope when I applied for her hand. Disappointment and grief when she was married to Wesley.

Terror when Annette told me to get
her out of the kingdom that she was the chosen and that the council would take her if they found out. Arousal when seeing her with Wesley that night out of her dress then back in the beautiful garment as she knelt to drink from her hands at the stream. Anger at myself when I snapped at her and told her to cover herself.

Horror when the angels marked her.
Helplessness when I rushed her to Maylon. Jealousy when she danced with Jonas. Amazement when she sang with me. Fright when I found Maylon dead and Solara gone. Frantic fear while searching for her. Anger when I found her with Faric, although thankful that she was unharmed. Happiness while introducing her to Jacob and Ruth. Amazement and arousal upon seeing her in a bikini at the beach actually carefree and enjoying herself. Anger at Athena’s sharp treatment of her. Disappointment that I let Athena touch me at all, despite needing a distraction from Solara. Sympathy as she vomited during the entire voyage to the seafarers.