Page 43 of Wayfinder
“I am happy for you and Praxxan, and you know how much I love Priemba,” I began.
“Yes?” My sister’s expression softened.
“But I want a true mating—like our parents—blessed by the goddess Valana, two parts of the same whole.”
Even as I uttered the words, deep down, I doubted a goddess-blessed union would be as perfect as what I felt with Pearl. Nothing would ever be as perfect as her.
“And you can’t have that with Pearl?” My sister’s tone was slightly teasing, which made my hackles rise.
“She is human,” I reminded her, aggravated by the redundancy. My heart spasmed with pain at every acknowledgment that Pearl could never truly be mine.
I did not expect my sister’s reaction.
Jala laughed.
“It’s not funny,” I grumbled.
“It is.” Despite dancing with amusement, her eyes held warmth and care.
“You enjoy my broken heart,” I snapped, shifting in my seat as I pondered taking my leave.
“Don’t be stupid.” Jala quipped, then took a deep breath and leaned forward, laying her hand on my knee. “Do you remember the years after the Vaktaire-Romvesian skirmish?”
“Vaguely.” I was still in the midst of my education when the skirmish ended. Even though my father had been a warriorin many battles, my abilities as a Wayfinder insulated me from danger.
Jala reached out and ruffled my hair, taking me back to earlier years when we lived happily and innocently with our parents.
“Do you perhaps remember how many of our Vaktaire warriors returned home with Romvesian females they claimed as mates?”
I nodded, remembering one of my father’s comrades. He’d returned from the war with a Romvesian countess chosen as a mate. However, when they stood before the priestess performing the valakana, the female died. My father’s friend never recovered from the heartbreak. I’d been hunting in the fields near our home when I found his body hanging from a tree limb, his neck broken crookedly. That’s what I remembered most. The reason I always wanted a true mating with a female who could survive the ritual.
“I remember how father’s friend grieved when his chosen mate died during the valakana.” I didn’t embellish. There was no need. Jala knew.
“Do you remember how mother and father questioned the death?” Her voice was soft, lost in memory.
I shook my head. After I’d found the body, my father arranged for me to spend some time away at school.
“You were so young. They tried to protect you.” Jala patted my knee.
“Protect me from what?” I straightened.
Jala pursed her lips as she contemplated her next words.
“Our parents suspected the priestesses of ethnocentrism. Many in the order... even in the echelons of Vaktaire government... believe our species superior to others.”
I straightened further, warmth beginning to flicker along my spine. “What are you saying?”
Jala frowned, sadness etching her lovely features. “The belief that other species could not withstand the valakana is untrue. Nothing more than rumors started by the priestesses to keep the Vaktaire bloodline pure. It began with the Vaktaire-Romvesian skirmish, but their efforts became especially prevalent when our warriors began Earth protection duty. The priestesses saw humans as an inferior race and feared what we now know to be true, that our kind can mate successfully with humans.”
I blinked at my sister, shock making me mute for a moment. “But the mates who died....” My mind flickered back to my youth, witnessing unsuccessful valakana and the devastating wails of the mates who lived.
Jala’s face twisted in a scornful expression. “Most priestesses used intimidation, and coercion to oppose interspecies mating. But our parents discovered evidence that many were murdered during the ritual to substantiate the rumors. While the valakana can be uncomfortable for other species, only rarely is it deadly.”
I sat up, my heart hammering with a mix of shock, anger... and hope.
“Our parents discovered this?”
Jala’s hand tightened on my knee. “Yes. And they worked to stop it. They were part of an envoy taking evidence of the priestesses' misdeeds to the Alliance....”
