Page 58 of The Sirin Sisterhood (The Sons of Echidna #2)
Lai
“Freya, Freya, Freya.” Lai grinned, joining her at the bench as the celebrations went on all around them. It was nice to be able to say her name without feeling like someone was holding his tongue.
The gardens were decorated with garlands of colorful ribbons, and the witches filled the village with singing and laughter as they danced and wove around blazing fires made of sweet, fragrant woods.
Every few minutes, a new woman stumbled over to Freya and congratulated her, kissing her forehead before being dragged back into the dance by her impatient sisters.
“Weird to have my name back.”She smiled, patting the spot beside her and inviting him to join her.
She looked regal in her new dress. A kokoshnik made up of gems and glowing feathers sat on her neatly braided hair, the pattern of feathers repeating over the hand-embroidered masterpiece of a gown, the three firebirds of myth dancing around the skirt much like their descendants danced around the fires now.
Freya looked like an illustration from a fairy tale book—serene and wise, waiting to bestow a blessing on an unsuspecting hero.
“When I saw that rabbit bolt, I thought I’d never hear it again.
”She swirled a cup of sweet, fermented drink and let out a graceless belch, breaking the illusion of the poised maiden.
“I barely got any sleep last night. I told my sisters I’m going back with you.
They cried, but it’s not like I’m going away forever, you know?
Just to help out my other family. Get some answers. ”
He wanted to wish her luck. Getting answers from his father was about as easy as getting affection from him, only under dire circumstances, with the specter of death looming over him to loosen his tongue.
Even thinking about it irritated Lai. He wanted answers as well, but he wouldn’t be able to get anything from Aris until the damned man was out of Eleanore’s grasp.
“Have you seen Lucy?”He changed the subject as Agata barked instructions, and everyone gathered together for the main event. “Not like her to miss this.”
Another name that finally rolled off his tongue instead of being trapped at the tip of it. A blessed relief.
“Not since last night, when she asked to borrow a dress. I gave her one to keep. Today is a day of celebration; I wanted her to have something to remember it by.”
Lai sighed, watching as the student witches pushed forward a cart, grunting with effort under the weight of an effigy of a goddess.
The divine figure was fifteen feet tall, give or take, made of wood and straw and dressed in colorful clothing, a little like what Freya was wearing.
Once the very flammable statue found her spot in the middle of the village, each student brought out their offerings, draping colorful bead necklaces over her neck and arms and tying embroidered scarfs to her.
“Freya! Moi ogonyok ,would you do us the honors?”Agata called out to her sister, lit torch in hand. All around the effigy, the students danced and sang old songs to the ancient gods.
Freya smiled and extended her hand to Lai.
“Join me?”She asked in a barely audible whisper.
“Asking me to share your spotlight? Careful, I’ll hog all of it.”He smiled back. “It should really be Lucy, but something tells me your sister would rather have you do it. Lucy may have tread on a few too many toes as it is.”
“Couldn’t have done it without her, though.”She took the torch, holding it with a little more care than Agata had. The firebird sister was not afraid of the flames. “Do I say something?”
“You are now one of the leaders of the coven. Say something inspirational and oddly ominous.”Lai nudged her closer.
The woman chuckled and cleared her throat as she raised the torch high, hand in hand with her twin.
“Sisters! Let this fire cleanse us of all dark energy! May it burn away all of our troubles, and may its light guide our actions!”
An ecstatic roar erupted as students danced around Freya, pressing against her, the excitement and anticipation growing unbearable.
She laid the tip of the torch at the base of the wooden Goddess and watched the fire spread as the coven cheered and cried.
It crackled and snapped, kissing its way up the body of the straw goddess like a lover’s burning caress.
As it burned, a chant rose from the women surrounding it, interwoven with the crackling embers, marking the beginning of a ritual as old as time.
The Goddess, a divine symbol of creation and destruction, succumbed to the flames.
In an enraptured trance, the coven danced around the pyre, offering gifts in worship of the deity, the billowing smoke delivering their devotion to the heavens.
“Weird that Lucy is missing this.”Lai looked around for her but saw only Klein. His brother looked just as confused, scanning the crowd.
As the flames consumed the straw figure’s remains, its parts slowly fell away in clumps.
Each tumble of scorched wood sent a firework of glowing embers that lit up the pyre, the dying fire casting little light now that it was sated.
The sparks drifted slowly down like falling snow, settling where the blacked straw had fallen away, hugging the bare shoulders of the charred corpse hidden inside the Goddess.
Freya was the first to see her. She gasped, backing away, her shaking hands clapping over her mouth.
“No. Oh Gods, no!”Lai hauled himself onto the cart, grabbing for the woman, but the fire surged to life beneath his feet as he stirred it.
Klein grabbed him and hauled him down, smacking out the flames that Lai couldn’t even feel in his horror.
Despite her charred black skin, he recognized the silver chain on her hand.
The second half to the one he wore on his own wrist.