Chapter Fifty-Six: Marie

Morning reached far slower than I thought it would; then again, tossing and turning only makes one accountable for every ticking second.

The open dome-shaped room I am guided to after breakfast is spacious and devoid of excessive furnishings, merely two pillows on opposite sides of the altar at the centre.

Light trickles in from the open roof. Typically moonlight pools in from the opening during mating rituals at night, but even light from the sun is enough for rejections.

Marko enters the room with his father from the other door on the opposite side. He has on the same loose-fitting cream gown I do because, before the goddess, we must all present in humility, with no jewellery, makeup or fancy clothing. Yet even bare, he still manages to still my beating heart.

In an instant, the turmoil inside me vanishes at the realisation that I still…want him, despite the pain he inflicts carelessly.

I want to cry, wail, weep so the despair inside me at what I lose from this event lessens, b