Page 107 of The Reader
I was surprised that he agreed, but then again, Friar had made a good point. It was a small win.
The sound of hoofbeats reached my ears, and then Signa was there. She stepped inside the room, Askel guiding her by the elbow. Either he had already briefed her, or she knew even morethan I did, because she was completely silent as she made her way across the room.
“I heard I am here to perform a binding ceremony?”
“Yes.” Leif held out a rolled-up scroll.
A chill weaved it’s way down my back. He had been planning this. Enough to pack the scroll.
Signa didn’t move to take it, the cloudiness in her eyes making it obvious to me, but Leif still tried a second time.
“She’s blind,” I breathed.
The knife lowered a hair. “Oh.”
I smirked at the embarrassment that flowed from him.
“It’s okay, boy, I know the words. Knife?” Signa held out her hand, palm up.
Otho cleaned a knife on his pants before pressing it into the matron’s hand. It wasn’t until she was moving closer that I recognized it. It was the one he had given me before I’d headed into Malheim to rescue Collum.
“You first, boy.” Signa motioned for his hand, and before I could blink, he had offered it, and she had sliced through the fleshy part, blood dripping onto the stone tiles.
She held out her hand again, and I offered mine without her asking. The slice was quick, clean, and surprisingly painless for the blood that welled.
“I, Signa, ask that the power of the earth bind these two beings . . .” She paused. “Leif Hansen and Runa . . .”
“Wormald,” I volunteered.
One of her eyebrows raised, but she continued on, not questioning it. “Runa Wormald, until the earth claims them once more. Do you both agree you are entering this binding of your own free will?”
“Yes.” Leif didn’t hesitate.
I looked at Otho, my heart breaking as I took in his hunched shoulders and downturned mouth. “Yes.”
“Then put your hands together, and it will be done.”
Leif didn’t hesitate, his cut hand colliding with mine, the blood mixing before dripping down to the tiles.
I didn’t know much about the Seid binding ceremony, but I felt nothing as our hands remained pressed together. I had thought I would feel something when I bound myself to another, and it saddened me that I didn’t, even if it was to a man I now hated.
“It’s done,” Signa announced before turning back toward Askel. “Now, take me back.”
They weren’t even out of the room when Leif backed us toward the door, the knife still at my throat.
“You got what you wanted, now let me walk normally,” I insisted.
“Not a chance,” he seethed.
That’s when the tears flowed. The reality that I would be spending the rest of my days with this horrible excuse for a man settling in my bones.
But even as the tears tracked down my face, I kept my gaze fixed on Otho, who watched us go, fire in his gaze.
This wasn’t over.
To be continued . . .
TO BE CONTINUED
