The wedding dress was one of Kaye's old priestess dresses—white with beads and feathers threaded on. It already had a low-cut back for Kaye's wings that would show off Kindra's mark, and although the sleeves had to be let out a little and it brushed the floor, it fit well. It lay on the cot with the things Obsid had sent, and Kindra stared at it. She didn’t want to die in a dress. Perhaps Obsid would let her change back into a warrior outfit for the sacrifice.
The door flap opened and Kaye entered, looking like she hadn’t slept at all.
“I thought you would return last night,” Kindra said.
A sad smile graced Kaye’s face. “You needed Gar more than you needed me. And he needed you too. He would never forgive himself if he let you go to your death without saying goodbye.”
Kindra looked at the flute. “He thinks I’m coming back. He’ll never forgive me when he finds out I knew.”
“He will.” Kaye twisted one of the beads on the dress. “I’ll help you put this on.”
It reminded Kindra of the Warriors Ceremony, when Kaye helped her dress while her back was bloodied. Kindra still didn’t have a name, and now she never would. Eoin hadn’t taught her to fly.
She tugged at the dress once it was on, uncomfortable, and sat so Kaye could pin her hair up. Her sister’s hands shook, and Kaye stabbed Kindra twice with the first pin. “Sorry.”
“Are you going to stay and be a priestess?” Kindra asked to take her mind off the ceremony.
“No.” Kaye reached for another pin. “I’m going back with Bryant.” Her hands didn’t shake as badly as they had been, but she dropped the pin and stared at it for a moment.
“Will you marry him?”
Kaye nodded and picked up the pin. “I’d like to.”
“Good,” Kindra said and winced as that pin stabbed her too. “If you have a girl, name her after me.”
Tears began to roll down Kaye’s face. “She’ll be nothing like you.”
“That’s probably for the best.”
Kaye pinned the rest of Kindra’s hair in silence, then changed into one of her old priestess dresses. Kindra fingered the obsidian necklace, but it reminded her of Corbin’s necklace and the arrowhead that signified killing a chief. She couldn’t make herself put it on.
There was a knock on the doorframe and Monk entered. His eyebrows lifted as he looked at her. "You are a woman."
She glared at him as Kaye fixed one of the pins in her hair. "I don't need your protection or smart mouth right now."
"On the contrary—you need more protection today than ever before. Oak is a dead man. I would be surprised if he doesn't try something drastic." Monk grinned. "But I'm not here for that. I'm here to make sure you walk out that door when you're supposed to."
Her eyes narrowed and she stood, shifting her foot so her normally-wide warrior stance wouldn’t step on the hem of the priestess dress. "You don't trust me?"
"I trust you more than any other woman in the tribe, but my father will be chief tomorrow and he doesn't want you changing your mind."
Before Kindra could reply, the drums started calling people to the ceremony and her stomach clenched. She turned to Kaye, trying to squelch the panic rising in her chest.
“I’m sorry,” Kaye said. “It should be me in your place.”
“No.” Kindra wrapped her arms around her sister and held her as if she’d be washed away with her tears. “I’m glad you got away, and glad I saw you one last time, even if it was full of grief.” Kindra kissed Kaye’s cheek and released her.
Kaye put her cold fingers on Kindra’s forehead. “Aleda protect you,” she whispered.
“And you,” Kindra said before she pressed her lips together and watched Kaye duck out of the tent for the last time.
The drums stopped and she could just hear the beginning of the ceremony as 'Trina' called Chief Obsid from his tent. Kindra could imagine the Goddess, dressed all in red, as she spoke.
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"I am the one who quickens your heart and deepens your breath. I ache in the loins and tighten the chest. I am tender and gentle, quick and insistent. From birth until death, desire persistent. I am the sweet release."
The drums stopped and Kindra's heart beat fast with anticipation. "Who's calling Obsid out?" Usually the groom's mother called him out of his tent to meet his bride.
"My mother. When father told her why you were doing this, she agreed to play Trina."
The noise of the people grew louder as Obsid neared her tent. Kindra stepped to the door, heart pounding, palms sweaty. “Kaye’s going to tell you something in two days,” she said, staring at the door flap. “Please forgive me when she does.”
Kaye’s voice, stronger than Kindra imagined it could be, sounded outside as she spoke the part of Aleda. "I am the one who brings breath to your lips and light to your eyes. I bring sun to your days and moon to your nights. I am winter and autumn, summer and spring. I bring joy to the song, I make your heart sing. I bring life, I bring death. I am sunrise and sunset."
The drums stopped again, and Monk grabbed Kindra’s elbow. “Forgive you for what?”
Kaye called out, "I am Aleda, Goddess of the Highest Earth, and I call you now, Kindra Odion, to meet your betrothed."
“Kindra?” Monk said and squeezed her arm, but she opened the door flap. When she stepped out, a cry of derision grew from the crowd, and it was only Kaye’s eyes she could meet. Kindra held her right hand out and it shook as Obsid took it in his left. Kaye bound them together and Kindra finally looked at her new husband.
He wore a black tunic over black pants, and a necklace of obsidian that matched the one he gave her, save the arrowhead in the middle. His dark gaze settled on her neck with a frown. "You were to wear the necklace."
"I haven’t killed anyone yet."
His gaze met hers and the look in his eyes made her take a deep breath. There was nothing husbandly in that look.
"That will be the last time you disobey me," he said in Obsidian, tilting his spear towards her until it touched her neck. "Do you understand?"
She held her head high, remembering when Osprey held the blade to her neck, but Gar wasn't here to save her this time. "Yes," she said as steadily as she could. “From what my sister says, I won’t have long to disobey you anyways.”
“So now you understand what it truly means to come as a sacrifice.”
Kindra forced a smile. “I’d rather be a sacrifice than carry your son. If I had known, I would have said yes the first time you proposed.”
She turned and they took the few steps to the High Priestess, who stood next to the bonfire in the center of the circle. Kindra was glad for the warmth—a cold wind blew down from the north and she had no cloak. The hissing of the crowd subsided as the High Priestess held up her hands.
"Great Mother, Aleda, we call you to witness this joining of Devon Obsid, chief of the Obsidian Nation, to Kindra Odion, warrior of Fie Eoin. Trina, Goddess of Lovers, we call on you to bless their joining with love and fealty. Eoin, God of War and Peace, father of the Odion line, we call on you to protect this joining from those who wish to do it harm, and protect your Bride in the summers to come."
It wasn't the normal invocation for a wedding, but a small rebellion to remind them all who Kindra's true husband was. She kept her eyes on the High Priestess, ignoring the hissing crowd and the hateful man at her side as she spoke the vows that would tie them together.
As Kindra became a true bride, the God answered his invocation with a vengeance.
The screams began in the north part of the village, and everyone looked that way. "What is this?" Obsid glared. Kindra thought it must be the final, desperate act of Oak.
But it wasn't Oak who stepped out from between the tents, a dagger to the throat of an Aledan woman. It was Pike. And behind him was the Obsidian Army, led by Corbin Marcello.
Terror crawled from Kindra's arms and legs to the tip of her scalp. "No," she breathed and turned to Obsid, who looked just as shocked and betrayed as she felt. "You tricked me."
His glare fell on her. "That is an Aledan. You betrayed me!"
"That is your army!" She tried to pull her hand free, but the knot held tight. "Cut me free!"
"So you can betray me again? Never."
Kindra punched him in the face with her free hand. Obsid stumbled and she grabbed the dagger from his belt, slicing the cord that bound them. Pike was advancing single-mindedly in her direction, and her honor guard surrounded her, pushing Obsid out of the way. Corbin motioned and Obsidians swarmed them.
One by one her guard was pulled away, leaving Kindra with only the dagger and the fire at her back. Pike grinned as he stepped closer.
"If you weren't so ugly, you'd look like a priestess."
Kindra held her tongue and he cocked his head to the side. She'd never been able to resist talking back before.
"What's your warrior name, little girl?" He taunted and jabbed at her with the end of his sword. She dodged it and he laughed. "Is it Obsidian? Or maybe Traitor."
"You're the traitor," she said, and he swung wildly. She deflected, but the small obsidian blade shattered in her hand. Weaponless against a spear she had a chance, but a sword? If her dress didn't catch on fire, he was going to skewer her.
He swung again and she ducked, the blade so close it clipped one of the pins in her hair.
"Kindra!"
She looked up just in time to see her sister fly into the circle and drop a spear. As Kindra's hands folded around it, she knew it was her father's. If she had Fennec's spear, then where was Gar?
There was no time to look for him. Corbin pointed to Kaye and yelled to the Obsidians. "Grab her!"
Kindra lunged at Pike, but a spear against his sword wasn’t enough. He’d slice it in half, and she’d be weaponless again. He pushed her back towards the fire. She heard Gar's voice somewhere in the crowd as Pike swung wildly, and as she stepped back, the hem of the long dress caught under her foot, and she fell.
She saw Gar push through the crowd before her temple hit a rock. Everything went black as the sounds of battle engulfed her.