The Dark God's Bride Trilogy, #3 by Dahlia L. Summers Read Free Book Online Page B

It was partially blocked from view by the hand still wrapping around it. Realizing that he was following her gaze, she diverted her attention to something else. She began looking for anything that would not induce a damn heart attack.             
    “You are confined to this room until I figure out what is going on around here,” he issued an order.
    “Confined? You can’t make me stay in here. I have a lot of chores to do.”
    “You should not be doing chores in the first place.”
    “But Lizzie and the baby…”
    “I will have someone see to them.”
    “How long do I need to stay in here? This is no solution.”
    “No,” he said as he left the bedside and pressed his palm against the surface of the wall. A barely visible film that spread like liquid quickly coated the entire room before it disappeared from view. “It’s a stalling tactic until I pinpoint the problem and come up with a solution.”
    Amara was surrounded by uncannily silence and stillness. She couldn’t even hear the lawnmowers running anymore. Even the sunlight shining into the room seemed strange. Usually she could see the nano-particles dancing festively in the light rays, but now they were frozen in their place. It was then that she realized that he had time-sealed the room.
    She blinked at him.
    “You know more than you let on, Amara. Will you tell me now or do you want me to find out on my own? Either way, I will get to the bottom of this.”
    “You’ll just be wasting your time. The Oracle said that it is almost always impossible to change the hand that Fate dealt.”
    “So you admit that you know what is going on around here?”
    “No, I can’t say that, but I do know that when Death comes calling, one should obey. That is the natural order of life.”
    “I don’t give a damn about the natural order of life! Now answer me, who is this Oracle?”
    “The Oracle is… a wise woman who could divine all of the answers of life. She is also Artemis’s mother and a good friend of my father. She was the one who told me…”             
    His eyes were inviting her to continue.
    Was there any point in hiding it? “…that I would not be able to live past my 23 rd year.” He didn’t say anything so she went on. “I’m not one to believe in superstitions, but I’ve asked around about the Oracle. She had never been wrong about any of her predictions.”
    “ You knew ,” he said condemningly as though she had done some unforgivable crime. “ How long have you known? ”
    She slowly raised her hand to show him all five fingers and said very softly, “… Five years.”
    “And when was I going to be told of this if I had not queried?”
    “Why would I—” she dropped her sentence when she saw an ugly expression on his face. She then gave him the short and honest answer, “I didn’t plan on telling you.”
    “Never?” he pressed on.
    She shook her head.
    “How could you be so careless with your life? You have no right to surrender your life without my permission!”
    She was offended by his choice of word. “Permission?!”
    “You need my permission!” He retorted. “My consent! Your body, your heart, and your life are not your own to do as you please anymore! They’re mine and you have no rights to give any part of it away! I am the one who determines your fate. I am the one who determines if you should live or die, not you and most definitely not this ‘natural order of life’!”
    He was coming at her like a fully enraged bear. All that was missing was the pelt, some fangs, and some claws. All of the other elements were there. He caught her ankle in his hand and lifted it to her eye level. “This is proof that you belong to me,” he said, referring to the blood seal that was permanently engraved in her skin. “I shield you, I shelter you, I provide for you, but in return, everything that you are belongs to me. That is our covenant, Amara! ”
    His callous hand tightened around her ankle