Mara - The Lady Grief (Completed)

23 The Other Fated

Time Immortal, A Cavern, the Underworld

Thane

The empty ache in my gut is an interesting feeling. Hunger. Interesting, considering that I am dead.

Something pools in my mouth, salty, metallic, foul. I spit onto the cavern floor in disgust. More blood fills my mouth, but every time I spit it out all that comes from my body is my own saliva.

"Feeling alright, Thane?" Patriarch Rimon looks up from the scrolls he is writing on.

"Fine," I reply shortly. Asshole. I'm feeling fabulous, chained in the Underworld.

Suddenly, Patriarch Rimon heaves a loud, aggravating sigh and chucks his charcoal across the cavern. "Foolish child," he hisses. Once again, the shifting face of the death god overtakes his features before Patriarch settles back down.

"Problems in the Underworld?" I ask smugly.

"No," Patriarch looks at me with a cruel twist of his mouth. "The Lady Grief will be sending you some more pain, young male. Be ready. Her duties never end, it seems."

I swear under my breath, letting my head drop to my chest. The pain is fine. I spit out more "blood" pooling in my mouth. I welcome the burning agony as it twists and batters my insides, now. I may be losing my mind, in love with the pain. Whatever is happening with this unknown lady means that I have some connection, however aggravating, to life beyond this infernal cavern.

"What is happening to her?" I ask. I don't expect an answer, but the sheer boredom of eternity in these chains makes me reckless with my words.

"Her lover has made an error," Patriarch Rimon shocks me with an answer.

"How does that cause me pain?" I prod, trying to keep the eagerness from my voice.

He tosses me a hateful glare. "Burned bodies trap souls, destroy their path to the Underworld, and cause them to wander the earth, forever, if not guided here. She will take on this burden, and you will feel it."

"Why me?" I say quickly.

He just sniffs, refusing to answer the question. I wait, watching him to see if he'll change his mind and tell me. The sound of weapons clanging fades to the background. It's just him and me.

"Who is she? Can you tell me that, at least?" I snap, out of patience.

He smirks. "The Lady Mara, daughter of Nateos. Left dead on the steps of the red and black temple and reborn in the month of Ajaru of last year. "

My stomach sinks, my vision becomes blurry. Ajaru, a year and a half ago... when my Parijan was murdered. Left on the steps... I suck in precious air to my lungs, but they won't fill properly. The vision from the sacred pool in the death temple dances through my mind. Left on the steps, my Parijan was left at the death temple... dead. She was murdered by me, by my House, and left at the death temple.

Gods... my beautiful princess, my Parijan, my Fated. She's alive.

She's alive... and she has a lover.

My roar of rage silences the seven warriors. Even Patriarch Rimon backs up a step. "Be quiet," he hisses. "That sort of anger brings things down here that you want no part of."

I thrash in my chains, blind and deaf with rage. "Not my female!" I snarl. "Not mine!"

His face swims in front of me, the black eyes of Nateos staring out from the wizened face of Patriarch Rimon. "She isn't yours, Thane of the First House. Not anymore."