Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
Briar
I forced a smile as, over my mother’s shoulder, Rosalie stepped into view. My sister had knotted her dark hair on top of her head to emphasize the sharp angles of her beautiful face and bright green eyes.
My sister had already gone through her Needing; as my mother knew she would, she returned to Nightshade with her hair a mess, naked, and with the glow of someone who’d been thoroughly fucked and loved every second of it.
She’d been enveloped within a circle of night casters and led to the temple. Once there, she’d given herself over to Mond in a binding that forever united her with the moon god. If she’d been a male, she would have bound herself to Lune.
They kept everyone too young for the Needing out of the binding ritual. Once again, the sounds emanating from the temple left little to the imagination about what they did up there.
The binding ritual lasted three days, during which the oldest unbound individuals took care of the youngest until it ended.
Rosalie and I came into existence after binding rituals.
According to my mother, she’d wanted Rosalie, but I somehow managed to implant in her womb despite her use of potions to prevent such a thing.
She told others she’d planned for me. She could never admit that she, the queen, had failed to protect herself against an unwanted child, but she whispered the truth to me more than a few times.
Rosalie’s father was a high, powerful priest. He’d sometimes come to see her and my mother, but my father never visited.
She told me that he was also a priest, and while all babies went through a blood ritual to learn of their father—even those conceived within the bonds of wedlock—I never believed that.
I suspected he was someone lowborn, and that’s why my mother hated me and was disgusted by my existence.
As the queen, she could have found a way around the blood ritual.
It was risky to do so, as the ritual kept family lines from being entangled, but she wouldn’t care about that if it meant saving herself some humiliation.
When I was younger, my mother also told me about how she’d tried to rid herself of me while I was still in the womb, but I refused to go. When I was a child, that revelation cut deeply, but discovering freedom in No Man’s Land and Seth saved me from being destroyed by my mother’s truths.
If I hadn’t found him, I probably wouldn’t have survived my childhood with any semblance of self-worth, but his friendship proved I wasn’t broken; she was. Someone as good and kind as Seth could never like me if I were as awful as my mother believed.
Later, his love and mine for him further proved I was worthy of far more than my mother claimed. I would be better and do better than all the other casters because I would be kind and good like him.
His happiness, our love, and dreams gave me hope for a future that never came, but I still held out hope we could flee to the sea. We would find a way.
“It’s time to let her go, Marina,” another priest murmured.
They had no way of knowing exactly when my Needing would strike, but they sensed a new power building within me. I felt it too as it simmered beneath the surface, waiting to break free.
All casters went through the Needing and emerged with their powers greatly enhanced.
Now, I could cast simple spells like creating light or a glamour, but I couldn’t do a full glamour where I could change my height and weight as well as my face and hair.
I couldn’t make fire, and my powers were limited.
Once this was over, I’d be far more powerful. Although, those older and more adept at using their abilities would still be stronger than me.
Depending on which side I claimed, I’d either draw most of my energy from the moon or the sun instead of the earth, which I did now. Since I had no intention of claiming a side, I didn’t know if that would change.
I didn’t know what happened on the day caster side when they returned home, but I suspected it wasn’t the same as the night casters. It didn’t seem likely they’d leave the harem, without having sex with anyone, only to return home and have a giant orgy. I could be wrong, though.
My mother stared at me before reluctantly stepping aside. Rosalie hesitated before doing the same.
This was it; I was finally going to be on my own. Once I entered the harem, they’d have to start the journey back to Nightshade.
I was sure my mother would prefer to stay to ensure I didn’t run, or position guards on the doors to stop me from leaving. However, that wasn’t the tradition, and while my mother was queen of the night casters, even she couldn’t go against the ways of our kind.
Every caster, male or female, faced this stage of the binding alone. It was within these walls that we were to learn our true selves, and no one could remain behind to influence our path. The walk back was a solitary journey meant for reflection.
I didn’t look at my mother or sister as I strode toward the black door on the bottom floor of the harem. My hand shook as I grasped the knob, and I took a deep breath before stepping inside to face the horrors within.