Divinity

"I am branded."

Kai

I move my feet to the pulsing beat, ever conscious about my dancing.

   An elbow slams against my back.

   “Play along.” Izek shouts to be heard over the music.

   Just as the words fall from his mouth, a spotlight trains on us, the rest of the party blanketed in darkness.

   Everyone gives a wide berth, so we’re not struggling for space anymore.

   I flash Izek a quizzical look. What’s happening?

   He smiles weakly and crouches down. On one knee….

   Oh no… I swallow thickly and try to smile. The Divine, if anything, are actors and it is only are job to put on a show. It feels way too forced, so I slap my hand over my mouth in shock.

   Cradled by his fingers, I see a box, cloaked in dark blue velvet. He cracks it open.

   You know how in the movies, when the pirates stumble across a treasure chest just lying on the beach, and when they go to open it, beams of light pour out of the chest?

   It was kind of that same feeling when I see the diamond.

   My breath hitches as I stare at it. I don’t even realize it’s a ring.

   “Diana, patron of the hunters, queen of the moon.” Izek’s voice carries a mix of apprehension and warmth.

   I inwardly shudder.

   “I ask of your hand.” His voice carries over the hall with a rippling effect.

   Whoops and whistles resonate around us, beaming smiles dancing over their respective bodies.

   Izek’s lips move in unheard words, a smile stretching out his lips. His dark brown hair falls over his forehead, sticking in clumps from his hair gel.

   Someone nudges my side, their low and scratchy voice murmuring. “Say yes, foolish girl!”

   Time speeds up around me.

   I push his hair out of his face, nodding, as if I were in love with him.

   In another life, at another time, with two other people, this proposal would have been perfect, and a distant part of me swoons.

   His fingers curl around my chin, forcing me to look up to him. His eyes, so warm yet so calculated.

I’ve been here so long and every word is calculated,

Never questioned or debated,

All this practised poses,

I could wreck this if I had to,

But I’m the wreck so what would that do?

My masterpiece will fall apart.

It was over before the start.

I close my eyes as his lips press against mine.

   A tingling warmth rushes through me, at the same time, guilt and apprehension wearing me down.

   Give them a show.  I hear a gruff voice murmur near me, perhaps the same as before.

   I furl my arms around him, one of his neck, the other resting on his chest. His fast paced heartbeat drums through his chest.

   My thoughts whirl. One part of me is so focused on those around me, taking pleasure in this imprisonment, but only the most part, I’m overwhelmed.

   And a tiny part of me wonders, what to do the God’s think of this?

A blue, blazing fire shines brightly in the garden, built by the daughter of Persephone, decades past.

   My thoughts swarm.

   Why would Jupiter condemn me –the Goddess of maiden ship– to a forced marriage?

   Why me?

   Why now?

   Why ever?

   And why was Diana accepting this mockery of her name?

   I raise my head to the heavens. “Why?” I murmur, barely audibly, to my immortal mother.

   Lightning crackles.

   “WHY?!” I shout, my voice dripping with rage.

   My fingers curl around the stem of a rose and I yank it out with all my force. This tiny thorns pierce my skin, not enough for blood to spill, but a white mark scars my skin.

   The fire crackles, rising to the height of the Gods and back down to nothingness.

   “Gods dammit, Arte-” The profanities roll of my tongue, so quickly I don’t even realize whose name I utter, until it’s too late.

   That in itself was an insult to Diana.

   I slink back down to the floor, balling my fist and stuffing it in my mouth.

   My teeth scrape against my ring, sending a dull wave of pain throughout my jaw.

   I unfurl my fist and examine the ring.

   It glitters by the fire’s blue light.

   I close my eyes.

   The ring is my forever binding to Izek. I will never be able to let this boy go.

   He will always haunt my present.

   I promise you that.

   Today, I am branded.

Hey guys, sorry about the extremley long wait and extremely short chapter... :/ Microsoft stuffed up on my computer so i couldn't use it. 

Hope you enjoy though, and don't forget to comment, fan, vote (i think you vote. Or do you like?) and PLEASE tell your friends. We kinda need all the reads we can get

Have fun and enjoy the last of your holidays :)