Pariah (The New Covenant Series) (9 page)

Pulling away, I said, “You prob
ably just smell this pasty crap the healer put on me.” I shrugged.

He shook his head slowly. “
You
do.
You
smell like lavender. You smelled like lavender the night of the introduction too. It’s you, not the healer’s herbs.”

“Well, does lavender smell good or bad?” I ask.
I hope he’s not saying that I stink.
He released my hair and laughed.

“You’ve never smelled lavender?” He raised his brows, a smile
still hung on his lips with unbelief.

“Not that I know of. I don’t eve
n know what it is,” I admitted, sitting up straighter. It wasn’t my fault I didn’t know. I’d never seen lavender, let alone smelled it. Or if I had, I didn’t know it.
What does lavender smell like? It sounds pretty. That’s a good sign, right?

“It is an amazingly fragran
t purple flower. I have some in my garden. I’ll bring you some so you can smell it.” He smiled, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Well, it’s not like I have
a garden up here, you know.” I scoffed, crossing my arms in front of my chest. He just laughed lightly and nodded, looking down.

“I should probably get back o
utside unless you need any more information,” he said, nodding toward the door.

I shook my head. I didn’t nee
d to ask any more questions. My heart sank at the thought of being left alone in my room. Though knew he’d be just outside, I couldn’t see out my door and didn’t know what lurked behind it. I felt small and nervous, my chest grew tighter, and my breathing became rapid again. He started to get up, but I grabbed his hands and pulled him back down.

“Please don’t leave me in here,” I begged. “I’m afraid.”

“I’ll be right outside your door. You should get some sleep,” he said, his thumbs rubbed the backs of my hands.

“If you leave me alone in here, I won’t be able to sleep.”

“Solara, I can’t stay in here. I don’t want to cause any more problems for you and Miss Annette—”

I interrupted, “You can leave a
fter I fall asleep if you want. Just...stay with me until I do. Please?” I begged him with every fiber of my being not to leave me alone. Altair was out there somewhere. He wasn’t behind a locked door in a little stone cell.

He was home, or maybe he was outside my door right now. His
freedom scared me more than anything. He finally released a breath and agreed to stay until I fell asleep at which time he said he would move to guard my door from the outside.

I fell asleep against his chest
, listening to the sound of his heartbeat and the rhythm of the air rushing in and out of his lungs but woke to the dust motes dancing in the sun beaming through my window.

M
iss Annette rushed into my
room, closing the door quickly behind her and taking a deep breath. I could hear Lil outside and then Rachel and Wesley. “They want to see you, but I wanted you to have the option of getting cleaned up first,” she said, catching her breath. I nodded and threw the quilt off of my legs. I spoke through the wood, telling them that I was fine and was going to take a bath and get ready and would meet them in class. Lil continued to protest heavily but eventually silence was the only sound on the other side of the door.

Miss Annette poured wat
er into the tub and removed the kettle from the fireplace, dumping it in as well. The steam wafted up to the ceiling. She tested the water and nodded. She’d seen me naked plenty of times, and I was comfortable with her staying in the room as she always respectfully averted her eyes. “This might hurt. But you need to get the herbs off of you before you go to class. The healer said to apply the paste again before bed tonight to get the most out of its healing properties,” she said, helping lift my dress over my head. I shimmied off my underclothes and stepped into the small metal tub, wincing as the warm water bit into the green shackles that encircled my ankles. I breathed in and sat down and dabbed the seaweed-colored paste from my wounds. They didn’t look as bad as they had after I had initially cleaned the blood off of them.

It was awkward walking into class. My hair was twisted into
a long wet braid, courtesy of Miss Annette, and I was dressed in a fresh cream linen gown that was fitted to my body at the waist and draped to cover my ankles. The wrist wounds only showed when my sleeves rode up. I tried to keep my arms down and ankles crossed to keep the others from seeing my embarrassment.

I’m sure Aria would have some smart remark about me liking it
rough or something. She was so perverted and sick and evil. The only thing I couldn’t hide were the scrapes along the sides of my mouth. I tried to keep my lips pursed and head down as much as possible. My hair provided a curtain, avoiding everyone would be hard but might allow me to save some pride.

The morning passed slowly, and when we were dismiss
ed for lunch, I retreated into my room with my food before even Lil could catch me. When she banged on my door and pleaded with me to let her in, I just kept chewing, remaining silent. I didn’t want to face her or anyone, and I definitely wasn’t ready to explain what had happened to me in detail, which she would undoubtedly demand. She loved me, and I knew it, but I just needed room to catch my breath.

I didn’t have the same luck in the afternoon. Lil scooted
her chair next to me and grabbed my hand, giving me the look that she knew everything. She was there for me and loved me. I squeezed her hand back. Miss Annette wasn’t joking about having different instruction. Mr. Wesley taught us about life in the kingdom, society, expectations, and rules. Once we were married, if one of us wasn’t revealed by God to be the chosen, we would immediately go home with our new husbands. Our belongings would be packed up and sent to us in the days following the wedding ceremony. Wes’s eyes caught mine, and a small smile crept on his lips as he talked about how we would be going home with our husbands that night. I hoped no one else noticed.
Could he really get the council to approve our union?

All couples united by the kingdom’s council would be given a
house in which to begin their new lives. All basic needs—food, clothing, kettles, water, firewood, candles, everything would be provided as long as we contributed to society by working productively at the jobs the kingdom provided us. We would be free to garden on our own should we choose to do so. The main rule was that any grievances we would have or someone would have against us would be taken directly to the council for them to decide how to best proceed as their experience made them wise and unbiased judges of all situations effecting the kingdom and its inhabitants.

Later that evening, I decide
d that, number one, I was going to stop trying to formulate an escape plan. The reality was I was going to be married at the reveal and had no say in which my groom would be, so I just had to accept that fact and hope for the best that the just God everyone spoke of would not punish me by pairing me with Altair. Number two, I had to face the girls. I invited Lil and Rachel to my room that evening and told them everything. I didn’t shed any tears as I recounted Altair’s insanity, but both of my friends cried for me. I was all out of tears and hope for escaping my future.

My wounds faded surprisingly
quickly with the assistance of the paste the healer provided. Only faint pink bracelets remained on my wrists and ankles. The corners of my mouth healed completely. Miss Annette started making me an herbal tea that the healer sent over to help with any residual stress that remained after the events of that night. It did help me rest less fitfully at night, having staved off the nightmares. I no longer woke up screaming for help.

The day of the reveal was a whirlwind.
My wedding day
. Women that I’d never seen before scurried through our hallway from one room to the next, helping Miss Annette prepare our bodies for the evening’s events that lay ahead. Miss Annette wouldn’t admit it, but she didn’t believe any of us would be the chosen. I agreed.

Aria was, well, Aria, and I was not religious at all. I mean, I didn’t
know much about any of it, but I supposed that I believed in God and Satan, heaven and hell, but I wasn’t interested in the belief consuming my life. If any member of our trio stood a chance, it was Lil. She was sweet, kind, and quietly faithful. She would definitely be
my
choice.

Pleasant, unfamiliar wo
men flew in and out of my room, bringing water, cloths, soap, and containers of various lotions and liquids. I was mercilessly scrubbed by these strangers. My hair was washed twice and lathered with a lotion-like substance that smelled like vanilla and exotic flowers. Then rinsed and rinsed and rinsed until nothing remained but my long tresses and the warmly intoxicating scent that lingered on them.

I was roughly
dried off by two rather large women, who were anything but gentle, shoved into my robe and pushed into a chair to the side of the tub where strips of fabric had been stacked beside. The door slammed open, and in strode a confident plump woman with fiery red curly hair tied in a bun, freckles over every inch of her exposed skin. She knelt before me and placed a container beside the chair and wiped her hands dry on her apron.

“What’s that?” I asked, motioning toward the pottery she
just brought in. She just laughed heartily and said, “Oh, you’ll see, dear!” The other women in the room laughed with her at the inside joke to which I was not yet privy. She opened the lid of the pot and placed it to the side and stirred its contents with a spoon.

It was golden.
Honey?
It seemed thicker than honey though. She spread the warm, sticky stuff on my shin in a long, thick line and then covered it with one of the strips of fabric and rubbed it down.

“What are you doing?” I tried
to back further into the wooden chair but had nowhere to go. She looked up and grinned and said,

“On three. One...two...three!”
And ripped the fabric off of my leg, along with all of the hair that was attached to it. To say that I screamed wouldn’t do it justice. I’m sure my shrill reverberated through the entire fortress tower. The pain didn’t get any easier to bear either. It was the same with each strip. I actually think this woman enjoyed herself. She laughed until tears sprung from her eyes. I had tears in my eyes too, but I certainly wasn’t laughing.

I was placed in the sunshin
e that my window provided while three women divided my hair amongst them and combed the tangles away and continued combing until it was damp instead of dripping wet. They spread lotion on my skin and massaged my shoulders, neck, and back with deliciously fragrant oil. I’d never smelled anything so beautiful. “What is this scent?” I asked, inhaling the floral notes wafting up from my skin.

“Lavender, miss,” the young l
ady answered as she kneaded the knots from the back of my neck.
So this is what lavender smells like. It is amazing.
Next, three different women filed in, and several left my room simultaneously. The three new women—two petite and one very tall, all thin and pretty young, close to my age, began to style my hair. They combed, braided, twisted, pinned, yanked, and tortured my hair into submission. They stood back when finished, and I took in my reflection. It was beautiful. The council mandated that our hair be put up in order to leave our backs bare.

The backs of our dresses would be o
pen as well. From when I chose to pay attention in class, the Lord would place a mark on the back of his chosen, which would indicate her arrival to all who saw it. I couldn’t remember what the mark was supposed to look like or if anyone even knew.
Should have paid better attention.

My hair was a mass of pinned curls in the center surrounded
by swirls of thick braids with small braids spiraling into those. How they got all my hair up was beyond my comprehension. But it looked amazing, and I was pleased. Next came makeup.

The girls powdered and painted
me and lined my blue eyes with charcoal. My lips were like plump cherries. The powder made my skin luminous and hid every blemish. After they’d finished, I was left alone in my room, wrapped in my towel and robe. Miss Annette was the next to enter, holding a white bunch of fabric.
My dress.
“It’s almost time, Solara.”

She made me some of the he
aler’s herbal tea, and I sipped its warmth as she unfolded the white mass of fabric.
Oh. My. Goodness. It is so beautiful.
I covered my mouth and sat the cup down. “It’s lace. I doubt you’ve ever seen the fabric. I was able to purchase some from the trader and had this made especially for you. It should fit your body perfectly if the seamstresses did their job right. Come on. Let’s get you dressed.”

She had brought white un
dergarments and corset as well. She laced the corset tightly. My body jerked in response to her domination of the garment. It was cut lower than any I’d worn before as the dress’s back would be open. She helped me maneuver the dress over my head without disturbing my hair.

It slid silkily
over my skin and hugged my curves perfectly. White lace draped over my body from its high neckline to the delicate sleeves that stretched to my elbows down to the completely open back that formed a
V
whose point sat dangerously low for my comfort. She slowly buttoned the silk from the end of the
V
down across my bottom, where they ended. The fabric slithered tight against my waist and upper thighs, flaring out from the knee to the floor. A small train trailed behind me. Miss Annette slipped beautiful white satin heels onto my feet. The toes of the shoes were pointed and elegant.

She backed away and looke
d at me and smiled, pursing her lips together. “Only missing one thing,” she said, reaching into the pockets of her apron. She pulled out a set of pearl studded earrings, which I slid and pinned into place, and then she clasped a necklace strung entirely with small delicate pearls around my neck. Grabbing my hand in hers, she said, “You look beautiful.” She rubbed the backs of my hands, and her thumb grazed the obsidian on my right ring finger.
My mother’s ring.
“Never take this off, Solara. Promise me that.” She looked in my eyes, brows tight, mouth pursed.

“I promise, Miss Annette,”
I muttered, taken aback by her sudden change in demeanor.

“You need to listen to me. You have to trust me. Look at
me.” With those words, she grabbed my gaze, holding it hostage with her own. “Solara, I need you to trust Faric tonight. Do you understand?” she slowly enunciated through clenched teeth.
What? Why Faric? Wasn’t he getting married? I wasn’t marrying
him. Was I? Was Altair up to something? What about Wes? He said
he had connections.

“Why? What’s wrong?” I asked
, cautiously awaiting an answer she would never give.

“Just trust me. Trust Faric. H
e alone has your best interests in mind. I can’t tell you anything more in case I’m wrong, but please promise to trust him. Please, Solara,” she begged. “I can’t let anything happen to you.”