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With each hit, Naia’s body swung in the air, and the shackles around her wrist bit into her skin.
Naia’s whines echoed through the silent hall, filled with faces eager to witness the punishment of the High Sea Goddesses’ eldest daughter. Vex, Astrid, Malik. Mira’s attendants. Middle gods from distant lands Naia recognized, but never cared to remember their name.
And Solaris with his attendants.
Naia’s arrival was of resistance. A blur with her screeching and snot draining down her mouth as she threw her fists at those who held her down. It took five gods to brace her. Raksa, the bastard, along with Vex and Malik, and a few hesitant guards.
During the first few strikes, Naia had bitten off the tip of her tongue from the pain. There was a precision in the way Mira spun her whip. A speed that made it impossible for Naia’s body to mend before being split open again.
The slickness of blood ran down the backs of her legs, its nauseating odor permeating so violently in her nostrils that, after a few minutes of it, she could no longer smell it.
Tattered ligaments of her backside hung from her flesh. She slipped in and out of consciousness, and each time she woke, she wished she could peel out of her skin and drift off to wherever Kaleo was.
The agony flooding her soul, surging through her insides, eventually became too much to process, and she subconsciously retreated to the farthest, most secluded place in her mind to hide.
“High God of Death and Curses,” Mira said, once it was over, “I summon you.”
Naia lifted her chin from her chest, pulse firing.
The shackles binding her wrists came undone. Her feet hit the floor and a lightning bolt of pain shot up her legs. The pulsating wounds in her back dropped her to her knees, colliding her elbows against the floor. She whimpered. Tremors convulsed throughout her body. It hurt to breathe, to move.
A sound sliced above her, the disorientation of power and time tangling.
The dignified presence of Cassian hovered over, sucking the air out of the room. She lifted her forehead from the floor to find his boots inches from her head. Swathed in a dark robe, his pale blonde strands peeking out from the sides of his drawn-up hood.
He spun slowly on his heel, surveying his surroundings.
“Vex. Malik,” Mira ordered.
Both stalked across the room and grabbed hold of Naia and jerked her up by the arm to a sitting position.
Cassian dropped his chin to gaze down at her, his topaz irises lacking their usual brilliance, impossible to decipher.
Something collapsed in her at the sight of him. He was a possibility—a bridge—to Kaleo.
“Bring him back—” Her sob devoured her words. “Please. Bring him back.”
Cassian flicked his eyes up to Malik, over to Vex, and back down onto Naia. Then, he bent forward, hands joined behind his back. “You know I cannot do that, Lady Naia.”
“He—” She hiccupped through her tears. “Is he okay?”
“Your beloved has crossed into my land,” Cassian told her. “He is free of suffering.”
It gave her peace, but not nearly enough to heal the ache stretching apart her heart.
“I am here to curse you.” He placed his hand on her shoulder, and it surprised her how gently his fingers cradled her. “Your confinement to Kaimana begins today.”
The branding of Cassian’s mark was painless.
Cassian’s presence in front of her blurred and she blinked to rid the tears from her eyes. There were many things she wanted to say to him. Please don’t tell Kaleo about this, about who I am. Please make sure he finds peace.
“Perhaps when you return to your land, you can do a better job of handling your prisoners,” Mira’s resonant voice interrupted Naia’s thoughts.
The corner of Cassian’s mouth twitched as he straightened and looked back at Mira. “Vale is confined, Lady Mira, as his punishment. However, we are both well aware Nohealani Island is his creation, despite what the mortals believe. Do not blame me for your faults.”
“He hid her presence on the island for half a year, Lord Cassian,” Mira replied in a terse tone. “It is evident he is not shackled.”
Naia lifted her chin, sucking a stunned breath through her cut lips. Fresh tears welled in her eyes. Father had watched over her from the Land of the Dead and protected her, just as Marina had said.
