Somanca ( The Healer)

Chapter Twenty-three

I stared blankly at the man who stood across the path covered with flower petals. The man who wished to shackle me to him for the rest of my life. He was garbed in his royal finery which consisted of a layered robe with an embroidered sash that had the royal Crest emblazoned in the front, as well as jewels.

I wore a matching robe that was tailored for a female body. I couldn't even appreciate the beauty of the gown. Too me it weighed heavily on my body. And the reason behind it was even more disheartening.

I kept stealing glances in the crowd gathered in the heart of the village in the hopes of spotting my one true love but it proved fruitless.

I couldn't help thinking back to that day I witnessed her getting wed to the late Queen's wife. I wondered if she felt the same loss and heartbreak I'd felt that day.

Truly at that moment I could have given anything for her to be the one I was going to meet down the isle. It was like being wheeled to my doom.

Even though I was not held against my will physically, the force of the King's stare shackled me in place. The warning behind that stare was enough to make me cooperative. My cooperation ensured Amanti's survival. But to what end? Would he continue to hold her captive for the rest of our lives? I wouldn't put it past him.

If I had been an ordinary maiden with no gifts other than my beauty would he have been dead set on making me his? Somehow I doubted it.

Though it was truly a blessing to be gifted with healing it came with a bitter curse of unhappiness. It seemed every time I experienced just a sliver of happiness something always happened to take that away from me.

This happened to my mother as well. She had been heavy with a child of a man she had loved with all her heart, even if they had only been together for a night. She had been happy, content, but the previous king just couldn't stand that.

I wondered if my life ended right then and there, who would the king obsess over. Would he continue a pursuit of another healer just to condemn that person to the same fate as I.

I found the king truly pathetic and unbelievably cruel. He was not even worthy of the title of King. He was a fiend; a demon disguised as a man.

I couldn't let him. If the great Calima was not going to intervene then I would have to stop this madness no matter the cost.

When I reached the end of the isle he was quick to grab me by my hand as we stood before priestess Azhara who was going to officiate our union. He proceeded to hold my hand in a tight grip like a possessive lover.

I stared straight at her, pleading with my eyes for her to not go through with this. She looked at me in pity but otherwise didn't show that she was going to stop the ceremony any time soon.

I was on my own. I realised in agony.

I cast my stare down as she began saying the rites of a union. " We have gathered here under the tree of oremina, before deity Calima, to bless this couple in this union. "

" First I ask for the wives of the king to come bless their sister wife and to show their acceptance for her." The King's wives hurried to the front in excitement.

Each one placed a silk ribbon on the hands locked in a grip. The priestess tied the ribbons around our locked hands. " From this day on you shall be one. Your hearts will beat as one and your souls shall exist as one. "

I found the priestess' words quite absurd. The King had already given his heart to his two wives. And even if he hadn't already belonged to them I would never surrender my heart to such a beastly man.