Page 64 of Earth Girls are Easy… To Dominate
“Return this to Bri-ahn after we have returned to the feast.”She instructed.
The guard shook his head, unsure of what to do. He glanced at Kaias, who in turn nodded curtly. Olivia bowed her head to her future husband in thanks.
“What the,” Brian took a step forward, but Kaias stepped in, blocking Olivia's view.
“Olivia has spoken,”he said.
Olivia's heart jumped slightly. There was power in Kaias’s words.
“Will you act appropriately, Brian?” Olivia asked, finding courage in the shield Kaias made for her.
She could hear Brian shift in his stance. He made a disgruntled sigh, and Kaias stepped away. Olivia nodded.
“Good,” she turned to the High Sister and smiled softly, “I apologize for that. We are ready.”
The High Sister nodded and turned to the forest. She stepped down, leading them into the courtyard. Kaias reached for Olivia's hand and grabbed it. Pulling her with him, he pushed past Brian and down the steps. Brian's eyes narrowed as he glared sideways at them. Olivia closed her mouth and pushed her desire to say something.
She didn't believe in Gods or whatever retribution they would have if she said something in the sacred forest, but she valued the connection she made with the Vrex people. If keeping quiet while she walked through an ancient space was what it took, she would push down her need to yell. Brian would get to hear it all once they were done with the ceremony.
They walked through the forest in silence. No one dared to make a noise outside of breathing. The foliage moved in thebreeze, brushing against each other, but no sound came from them. No animals rustled in the trees. Even the group’s footsteps were silent.
The High Sister pushed through a copse of trees, revealing a small clearing. Olivia gasped. She felt her hand being squeezed, and she quickly shut her mouth. Catching Kaias’s eyesight, she nodded her understanding. Kaias nodded and pulled her through the copse.
The clearing was a small circle of stones arranged in a henge. At the center was a large black obelisk. Veins of gold and iridescence decorated the obelisk in twisted patterns and runes. The High Sister walked to the obelisk, bowed her head, and spoke in a language Olivia didn’t know.
She held her breath and listened. Each tone rippled out, shifting the air surrounding them. The gold and iridescent veins of the obelisk shimmered with each note the High Sister spoke. It was like a song piercing through the hardest of hearts.
Loneliness and hope thrummed inside Olivia’s chest. She wanted to cry and pour out her heart.
Kaias squeezed her hand once, reminding her that she wasn’t alone in the clearing. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again. It wasn’t that she remembered not to speak; it was that she didn’t want to. Though the High Sister had stopped speaking, the language continued to hum out into the henge.
Slowly, the elderly woman walked to Kaias and Olivia. She placed one of Olivia’s hands onto Kaias’s chest and his onto Olivia’s. They let go of their clasped hands and put them on their chests. Olivia cocked her head to the side, feeling and hearing at the same time. There were two heartbeats, one strong and forceful, steady. The other was a flutter of energy, fluttering in and out, but just as strong.
The High Sister spoke again in that ancient language, instructing Kaias and Olivia. Olivia started to shake her head, unsure what was being asked, but stopped. She looked at Kaias and felt his chest hum in the same fluttering excitement of her heartbeat. Her own chest began to beat steadily. As the High Sister spoke, their heartbeats began to shift and transform, becoming a single rhythm.
If magic were real, this was the moment Olivia would say her beliefs changed. It didn't make sense, being able to synchronize each other's heartbeats, and yet, that was what was happening. It was as if the two were becoming one. Like the story of Koureshtka and Vrex, Olivia's heart was part of Kaias, and his was hers. There was no other way to explain what she was feeling.
The sound of the High Sister speaking died down into a whisper pushed out into the wind. The woman nodded slowly and waved her arms in the direction of the temple. Without any words, each person turned and walked back to the temple. Olivia rubbed her chest, feeling for any possible changes.
They stepped into the banquet hall in silence. The High Sister clapped her hands, looked around the room, and nodded to Eun-Ji.
“Thank you, Eun-Ji, for your work on this feast,”she said. Eun-Ji nodded and bowed her head in recognition. The High Sister turned to Kaias. “May we begin, Lord Kaias?”
Kaias locked eyes with Olivia and nodded. “Let us feed our bodies to strengthen our hearts.”
He directed her to a seat next to the head of the table and sat in his own space. “We may begin.”
Eun-Ji sat next to Olivia and squeezed her knee. The action made Olivia jump slightly, but she returned the concern with a smile. The food smelled good, a mixture of Earth dishes andtraditional meals from Vrex. The group ate, questions were asked about Vrex and the holiday, and Olivia translated.
She watched Kaias eat, laugh, and push food onto her plate. There was something different about him. The stiff lord she met earlier seemed replaced with someone more at home with his skin. It was as if the Heart Binding did more than what she thought.
Lord Kaias was right. A true Heart Binding wasn't about caring for someone. It was something wholly different. It scared and thrilled her at the same time. She wanted more. She wanted to learn everything about the forest and henge, about the language that danced in the wind, and as she watched the Vrex Lord she was bound to, she wanted to learn more about him.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“You want me on that?”Olivia looked at the creature in front of her.
The creature huffed in response, making her recoil. She had seen creatures like it pulling carts in the market, but never did she think she would ride one. The horse was the closest Earth equivalent to it. That is, if horses had six legs, a bone crown of their own, and were more reptilian than mammal. Lord Kaias snorted and patted the hard, jagged edge of its bone crown. A strange guttural purr rumbled from its stomach.
