ARIELLE:
Mother leads me away from the revelry, away from the unsettling intensity of those blue eyes, to an upper chamber not far from the ballroom. Here, high above the city, I can gaze out over the entirety of Khavena, bathed in the ethereal glow of the night. I sigh, the beauty of it momentarily eclipsing the turmoil within.
"You're going to miss this, aren't you?" Mother asks, her voice softer now, almost wistful.
"Why would I miss it? I am staying, right?" I ask, the words tumbling out in a rush of anxious hope. Surely this cannot be happening.
"Huh!" Mother sighs, the sound heavy with implications I desperately want to ignore.
"What? I am leaving, right?" I repeat myself.
"Yes, you are."
"With that Prince, right?" I press her for answers.
"Yes, with that Prince."
"But...why?" The question hangs in the air, fragile and pleading.
"He has chosen you as his wife."
The word hits me like a physical blow. "What is a wife? Why can't she stay with her family?" A wife is what you marry for so how does that work?
"Because," Mother says, her voice taking on that patient tone she reserves for my most egregious displays of ignorance, "it is her responsibility to stay by her husband's side and take care of him."
"Really? Take care of him?" It sounds utterly absurd. Men are not known to be cared for, as the maids told me.
"Yes. Just like Hera and Zeus, Amphitrite and Poseidon, Persephone and Hades."
"But Athena has no man to care for." It is a clear flaw in her argument and I point it out immediately.
"She had."
"Who?"
"Hephaestus."
"But she was never with him." Another clear problem.
"Because she ran away." A small smile comes to her.
"Why?" I ask curiously.
"Just don't do it." The smiles fades and she holds my gaze.
"But where will this creature...."
"Not creature. Man. He."
"Okay, where will he take me?"
"Home. This is your destiny, Hennessia. You're fated to be with Caith Saint Callum."
"How do you know that?" It all sounds so preposterous and unbelievable.
"I got a dream of this. Trust me."
"But I know nothing about men." It is the most pertinent point, surely? How can I possibly be expected to embark on this... adventure, when I am utterly ignorant of the subject at hand?
"You'll learn from him," Mother says, dismissing my concerns with a wave of her hand. "It's amazing when you do."
"Really?" I say and I wonder to myself what is amazing.
She sighs, a sound that speaks volumes about her waning patience. "Just...try to keep an open mind, Hennessia."
Just then, Azriel bursts into the room, her face flushed with urgency. "Oh. I was looking for you, Mother," she says, her gaze flicking between us.
"Why?"
"You need to be down there, controlling the Amazons, before the situation goes entirely haywire. The whispers are growing louder and, I fear, more rebellious by the moment."
"Okay. Here I come."
With a final, fleeting glance in my direction, Mother sweeps out of the room with Azriel, leaving me alone with my impending doom...or, perhaps, if I am to believe Mother, my destiny. We return to the ballroom in time.