Page 41 of Tortured Soul (Soulless #1)

Lola

I stood frozen as Mother adjusted my dress, humming softly under her breath. Through the window, my eyes met Aghen’s worried ones. He was wearing his leather armor, the one he already had to repair about a dozen times because of his past battles.

He wasn’t supposed to be waiting for me. Father gave him chores to punish his constant defiance. If he saw Aghen here, my brother would be in trouble. What a great twentieth birthday we both had…

“You’re so pretty,” Mother sang. “Although, you need some more meat on your bones. I heard Amyntas likes his women a bit fuller.”

Bile rose to my throat but I choked on it as she pulled harder on the back string of my dress, pushing my breast up to the point they were almost spilling out of the already indecent cleavage.

“The first thing he’ll want to look at will be your hips. They’re wide, but not enough. So let’s bring his attention elsewhere, shall we?”

She circled around to stop in front of me, inspecting her work with her hands behind her back.

“Hm. Something is missing.”

I bet there was. She was never fully satisfied when it came to me. She should have been grateful to have been blessed with twins. Having a girl as well allowed her to sell me to the damn Dragons without batting an eye while her son was to be named heir of our clan.

I squared my shoulders and held back my tears.

“Oh, right! I can’t believe I forgot.”

She turned around to rummage through the boxes on the small table next to her bed, coming back with a black velvet pouch .

“He sent this ahead for you to wear.”

My throat bobbed as she took out the choker necklace and inspected it. It was a black velvet band with an opal pendant, surrounded by artfully carved Dragon wings. The sight of it alone made my stomach churn all over again.

“They do have strange tastes,” she mused as she went back behind me to put it around my neck. “You’re to wear it until you’re wed in a year.”

I knew not to be fooled by her cheery tone. If I were to remove it, she’d probably beat me for disobeying.

Again.

The hate I felt for the woman was endless.

“Perfect!” She clapped her hands happily as she faced me again for a final inspection. “Or at least, as good as you'll ever be.” I turned my head to the side, finding Aghen’s eyes again. “Scouts have said that he should be arriving before the sun sets. Aren’t you excited?”

I looked at her then, in silence. Whatever I had to say would not get me anywhere. I hoped my eyes were enough to express how mad I was at this whole situation she and Father had forced me into.

“I was nervous too when I was chosen to carry your father’s heir. I know it must be intimidating. You must be thinking how hard it will be to compete with his other wives attention, but you won’t need to. You’ll be carrying his heir. You’ll hold a special place.”

Or I wouldn’t. Father was not a fucking Dragon, and they were not known to be kind, even to their partners.

“I knew I was right to refuse your hand to your father’s warrior two years ago. That something like this would come up.”

And I had been grateful, then. Thinking that she actually cared. That she didn’t want me to end up in the same situation as her. That I would get to choose, like some other girls from our clan. Like my sisters from other mothers.

How clueless and naive I was.

“Now, out and get on with your tasks.”

She dismissed me with a wave, turning back to look at her reflection on the large polished plate hanging on the wall.

I didn’t wait another second before escaping the house .

Aghen was waiting with his arms crossed over his chest, his foot tapping anxiously on the muddy ground. He inspected me, his face pulled taut as I walked closer.

“Not a word,” I said, placing my finger on my lips and tilting my head toward the cliffs. The last thing I needed was him commenting on how ridiculous I looked, squeezed in this dark dress, my breasts almost spilling out, the stupid necklace like a claim around my neck.

He nodded, gulping silently before he grabbed the empty basket by the door and walked with me.

People bowed slightly as we passed, greeting us before scurrying away to do whatever they needed to do.

“What did she say?” Aghen asked, unable to wait until we were out of earshot.

I glared at him and quickened my pace, only stopping once the village was far behind us and no one was around.

“Ania, what’s going on? Father wouldn’t tell me anything and forbade me to go with the scouts.”

“Dragons are coming here,” I blurted, suddenly crushed by the weight of the events. “They’ll be here before nightfall.”

He frowned, physically jerking back. “What do you mean, Dragons?”

I gave him a side look. “Dragons. Astrals?”

“But why? They dwell on the other side of the world, why come here? I won’t take over Father’s position until another year, on our next birthday.”

I sighed, fidgeting nervously, looking around, paranoid that someone might overhear.

“Because it turns out our parents sold me to their Shard Carrier. He needed a Maiden to carry his heir, and I apparently made the final cut. You know what? I always wondered why mother was so adamant on keeping me pure when our other siblings were free to do whatever they pleased…It could have been any of our half-sisters, but it had to be me. Of course, that bastard wants me . I’m the Heir's true sister. An anomaly that never happens. He’s probably hoping his heir will be stronger because I kind of have Heir’s genes too. What a moron—”

Aghen’s eyes widened, lips parting in shock.

“No. No, no, no, they can’t do that,” he said, voice turning frantic.

“I met their clans when Father was invited to Amyntas’ shard transfer ceremony.

Amyntas’ mother, the previous Maiden? She was miserable.

She was pregnant, and from what I gathered, she spent most of her life shitting out Dragons’ offspring, and—”

“You must have misunderstood,” I interrupted him sharply.

“Shard Carriers can only produce one strong seed, resulting in only one pregnancy for their heir’s carrier.

He can’t have bred her more than once. She can’t have spent her entire life pregnant, it’s not—no.

It must have been one of his other wives. One that carries his other children.”

“Oh no, you misunderstood me, Ania. The whole fucking clan used her as breeding stock. She gave birth to Amyntas, then since his father couldn’t impregnate her with more of his own, let the other male Dragons have their turn.

She didn’t carry only his heir. She increased their number while slightly strengthening their fucking lines. ”

My heartbeat turned erratic in my chest. My throat felt like it was filled with sandpaper.

“No. Astrals—Dragons are assholes, but there are rules,” I said, unable to believe that they could do something like this.

“Since Astrals cannot reproduce within their own species, the Maidens carrying the heirs are special, revered. Even the other wives are coveted and carefully selected from diverse human clans. They can’t disrespect the Maiden like that, it’s not—”

“Father knows about this, Ania. He’s seen it too.”

He couldn’t. I knew I was not his heir, and he cared less about me than he did Aghen, but he was a decent man. He wouldn’t.

“That’s why he didn’t let me go with the scouts,” Aghen growled, pursing his lips, walking around in circles in front of me. “You’re fucking twenty. They can’t do that, it’s not—”

“Girls younger than me are being married off to—”

“But not here,” he spat. “Father never allowed it! What happens in other neighboring clans doesn’t matter, it’s not how things are done in ours.”

I threw my arms into the air, resuming my walk toward the cliff edge, where I knew the narrow stairs led down to the shingle beach.

“Well, apparently it is now! Because Amyntas is on his way here and I was dressed up as a fucking busty present for him!”

I lifted my skirts to climb down the stairs carefully as Aghen picked up the basket from the ground to follow me, only to be stopped in his tracks by our Father’s voice calling him .

“Aghen!” he yelled.

“Fuck,” my brother gritted out, casting me an apologetic look. “Take the basket and be careful, okay?”

I scoffed. “What’s the worst that could happen? I break my neck and never have to push a fucking Dragon out of my body? Let alone many?”

He started to walk toward our father. “Don’t make jokes about that.”

I rolled my eyes, holding the basket close while trying not to step on my own dress.

My brother and father’s voices were now only angry whispers echoing above me, so I focused on the steep steps.

Mother could at least have given me decent footwear before sending me to collect the stones. The pebbles were already killing the soles of my feet through the thin layer of the shoes.

I walked awkwardly along the bottom of the cliff, listening to the waves coming and retreating on the rocks, trying to ignore the growing anxiety crippling my mind.

I wished Aghen never told me about the previous Maiden. I wished he had the nerves to reject the heir position like he told me he wanted to do so many times. I wished our Mother actually liked me, and our Father would stop letting her do as she pleased.

When I reached the entrance of the small cave, I was so mentally worn down that I didn’t hear the tumble going on inside.

I froze on the spot, my eyes widening, fingers clasping the handle of my basket tighter.

A man was holding a sword in one of his hands, the other one outstretched in front of him, dark red smoke escaping it toward a—

My heart stopped and I stumbled backward. The movement made the stones shift under my feet and catch the attention of both the man and the monstrous thing writhing and screeching on the ground.

Oh, I was in so much trouble now.

Something fluttered to life in my stomach, pulling me toward him but I forced myself not to move. My ears ringed, a distant voice echoing in my head. “ Ours .”