Divine by Mistake by P.C. Cast Read Free Book Online Page B

marriage?”
    “Yes, my Lady. It is a marriage that is arranged for only one year.” She definitely wouldn’t meet my eyes.
    “Why was Rhiannon only marrying him for one year?”
    “That was the agreement.” She was suddenly oh so busy reaching for and then pouring something that smelled like honeysuckle into the water from one of the little bottles that sat on a marble ledge near the side of the pool. Yep, she was hiding something. Lots of something.
    “So, how do you expect me to pull off a handfast with a man I have never met?”
    “Lady Rhiannon has met him.” By the look on her face I was beginning to think that might not be a good thing. “I will present you and explain that you had an accident during the last Moon Ritual, and your voice has left you. I will speak for you.” Helping me from the warm pool she was totally businesslike, and I told myself that I would ignore the fact that she was matter-of-factly toweling me dry.
    “Okay, but what about the…um…intimate details of this handfast thing? I don’t even know this guy—I’m certainly not going to consummate anything with him!” And if he turned out to be the mirror image of my ex-husband, I was outta there.
    “Simply remember you are Lady Rhiannon, High Priestess and Beloved of Epona. The Lady Rhiannon is only touched when she allows it.”
    “Even by the man she is handfasted to?”
    “Yes, even him.” She sounded pretty confident. I must be a real bitch. Smile.
    The gauzy bit of nothing that she had carried into the room had somehow found its way into Alanna’s hands. Man, it really was pretty. It was my color, a shimmery golden-red that seemed to move by itself.
    “Please hold your arms out from your sides, my Lady.”
    Doing as she asked, I was a captive audience, entranced as she wrapped the diaphanous material around my body. Reaching behind her with one hand, she rescued two lovely woven circles of gold from the vanity, and expertly pinned one at my waist and one at my shoulder, much like a Highland kilt would wrap and hang (except that I didn’t think kilts were semitransparent and silky, unless purchased from MacFrederick’s of MacHollywood). Stepping back, she surveyed her work, making alterations and tucks here and there. She always had been good at crafts.
    “My God, it’s see-through!” And it was—not in a slutty, stand on the corner of Eleventh and Peoria Streets at midnight kind of way, but in a sultry Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra kind of way.
    “Oh, forgive me for forgetting.” She lifted a small triangle of the same gauze from the vanity (I thought it was a hankie) and held it for me to step into. Seriously, it was a teeny thong. Gosh, I felt so much better, so much more “covered.” Jeesh.
    “Please be seated, my Lady, and I will dress your hair.” Fine. I might as well have some part of me dressed.
    Frowning over my damp locks, she began attempting to work a wide-toothed comb through them.
    “Your hair is shorter than hers. The same, but shorter. I will arrange it up until it grows longer.” Seemed like she was talking to the hair, not me. Relaxing into her ministrations, I thought I’d enjoy my coiffure.
    I don’t know about you, but having my hair brushed is a borderline sexual experience, secondary only to getting a really great foot rub. Yum. Only Alanna reaching for a piece of jewelry could snap me out of my hairbrush trance (proving that jewelry can combat apathy as well as accessorize).
    She settled a thin gold band around my forehead, artistically arranging my swept-up hair to complement it. I turned my head from side to side to get a better look. The candlelight reflected off the polished gold and caught a diamond-shaped stone set in the center of the circle, making its facets flash. I leaned closer.
    “Garnet?”
    “Yes, my Lady. Your favorite stone.”
    “ My favorite stone?” My eyebrows crept up in suppressed amusement.
    She actually smiled at me, almost like my Suzanna. “Well,