Page 102 of Savage Union

I felt my heart sink. He was right—the contract made everything air-tight and ultra-legal. But then I had a thought—just a seed of an idea, from one of the old tales I’d been reading on Turk’s entertainment cube.

“I claim Turk as my Fated Mate, too,” I told the priestess. “Isn’t there some kind of test you can do to prove that we’re meant to be together?”

The face that was awake looked thoughtful.

“Actually, there is, my child. Though no one has asked that it should be performed for many years.”

“Well, I’m asking now,” I said firmly.

“Jessina, you can’t do this!” Lyrah hissed from her place in the crowd behind me. “We signed acontract!”

“No,yousigned a contract!” I snapped, looking over my shoulder at her. “You sold me to Grr. Malofice for the promise of a new wardrobe of designer clothes. Ineverconsented to this Binding.”

“You little liar!” she exclaimed. “You?—”

“Silence!” The voice—or rather voices—were thunderous. I faced forward at once and saw that all four of the Sympath priestess’s faces were awake now. “You will listen and not speak!” they all said, speaking in perfect harmony in that same, sonorous tone.

The sight and sound of all four of them talking at once shut everyone in the room up. We all just stated as the priestess continued.

“A test has been asked for—theTriuma Fatala!It proves the will of the Goddess—if two are meant to become one. And it supersedes all other Binding Contracts or agreements that might have been made before it,” she—or ratherthey—added.

“I really must protest!” Grr. Malofice blustered. “The money I have already laid out for this ceremony…”

He trailed off because the priestess was glaring at him with all four faces now. She was quite tall—almost as tall as Turk—and it was such a terrifying expression mirrored on all four of her visages that I didn’t blame him for falling silent.

“Now we shall proceed!” all four faces declared. “Bring forth the implements for theTriuma Fatala!”

There was a rustling behind her and a moment later two servants of the Holy House—also dressed in red robes—rushed up to her. One of them was holding a deep silver basin in bothhands and the other had a stoppered vial filled with some kind of pale pink liquid. She was also holding a long, silver ceremonial needle, I saw.

“Very good. You—come stand by me.” It was only one face talking now and she was speaking to the servant holding the silver bowl. The girl came to stand by her side and held out the bowl submissively.

The priestess looked at me and held out one long, white hand.

“Give me your finger, child. I require a drop of your blood,” she told me.

I held out one trembling hand and she jabbed my index finger with the ceremonial needle. I gasped and fought not to jerk my hand away. We both watched as a droplet of my blood fell into the center of the silver bowl.

At this point, Grr. Malofice spoke up again.

“I reallymustobject!” he exclaimed. “You haven’t even told us how this ‘test’ works!”

The burning red eyes of the priestess flashed.

“Be still and I will explain,” all four heads said in unison. “The proof is in the reaction. When the blood of two who would be Bound together mingles and is touched by the Tears of the Goddess, it will be made clear if they are Fated Mates or not.”

“Buthowwill it be made clear?” Grr. Malofice demanded. “That still doesn’t answer my question!”

“If the two are Fated Mates, a reaction will occur,” all four faces told him. “If they are not, nothing will happen. Observe—I will demonstrate. Give me your finger.” And she held out her long, white hand to him.

“I don’t see what this is going to prove,” Grr. Malofice grumbled, but he held out his finger and winced as the priestess pricked it. A drop of his blood fell into the silver bowl, mingling with mine.

“Observe,” the priestess said again. Plucking the stoppered vial of pale pink liquid from the servant beside her, she drew out the cork and let a single drop of the pink liquid fall onto the blood.

Nothing happened.

“Well?” Grr. Malofice demanded, glaring down into the bowl. “What’s wrong with it? Why isn’t it doing anything?”

“Because you are not this girl’s Fated Mate. Nor is she yours,” the priestess told him. “You want her only to ravish her body—you do not care about her heart, nor do you have any love for her soul.”

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