Trinity - The Prophecy (22 page)

Daughters of Night: Sanctuary by Ashley Torbeck

PROLOGUE

Gaviyn – Present day

            
 
I never could have saved her life – I know that now. It’s funny; I never really considered myself a believer in things like destiny or fate, but they undeniably believed in me long before I ever realized it. That knowledge wouldn’t have stopped me, though. I would have gladly laid down my own life to save hers. But the Goddess had other plans. And as I sat there holding Carmen’s blood covered hand, begging for justice and peace like I’d done centuries before, my thoughts drifted back to the day I first lost my love.

1132, Scottish Highlands

The sun was setting behind the trees and the orange rays of late afternoon sunlight straggled behind, illuminating the dancing trees of the woods. She had promised to meet me in the setting sun at  our

meeting place just inside the tree line where the woods met the field before spilling out into the valley. So I waited on pins and needles to see her lovely face, just as I had waited every night of that week.

             
The sky slowly faded from bright oranges and reds to soft pinks, purples, and blues. I watched them change, in awe of their magnificence and the miracle of their existence, and still I waited. Anxious to hold her again, I began pacing ever so slightly, waiting for my love until dusk began descending upon me.

             
My ears caught the sound of soft giggles coming from behind me within the trees, and I whipped my head around with relief, but the source of the giggles was nowhere to be seen. Grinning, I moved inside the dark cover of the trees, looking all about me.

             
“Caroline?” I called out softly.

             
More giggles answered my call on my left, and I slowly turned, taking several steps before calling to her again, playing into the game she loved to play.

             
“Caroline? Where are you hiding, silly girl?”

             
A bright green shape dropped down from a low-hanging branch to the ground directly in front of me. Rising to its feet, it took on the form of the playful Aphrodite who had stolen my heart.

             
“I am NOT a silly girl, you arrogant donkey!”

             
I couldn’t stop the laughter that burst out of me, earning me an angry glare from the one I loved.

             
“You have such a way with words, my love,” I said, gently taking her hand in my own and pressing it to my lips gently.

             
Her skin was like satin, and I craved her touch. I looked up into her dark brown eyes, seeing the innocence and wonder of a young girl mixed with the curiosity of a woman coming into her own. At sixteen, she was hardly a woman, yet there was no doubt she was old enough to know exactly what she wanted. Her long hair was the color of the richest soil, her skin fair and free of any freckles or blemishes. She was perfect, and she was mine.

             
“You’re late,” I said, a half grin playing on my lips as I lowered her hand.

             
“I’m not late, you’re early.”

             
Her smile was gravity pulling me to her. I was completely helpless and in her total control; she was the air I breathed, the sun that warmed me, and the purpose for my existence. I knew in that moment that I would have gladly sacrificed my own life to prevent even a moment of suffering for the amazing beauty before me.

             
Unfortunately, not even that would be enough to save her from her family.

             
“Come away with me,” I said, drunk on her beauty.

             
“You’re mad!”

             
“I’m mad for you, Caroline. Please, come away. Let me take you away, and we’ll live together in a cottage in the woods, far away from the wrath of your family and whatever hideous ape they choose for you. We could live together in solitude, completely poor and yet richer than any couple in history with the love we share, if only you’d come away with me!”

             
My voice was begging, my eyes were pleading, but I knew the answer. It was the same answer I received every time I asked, but it never stopped me from trying.

             
“You know I can’t,” she said, her playful eyes going sad as she slumped slightly, raising her eyes to meet mine. “My father would never stop until I was found, and he’d have you murdered. And I couldn’t live with myself if anything ever happened to you.”

Her voice cracked as her eyes glassed over with tears threatening to fall, and my heart ached.

             
It isn’t fair! I thought to myself. She deserves so much more – she deserves me. I would care for her and spoil her with love. I would treat her like the royals who lived in the lap of luxury, never wanting for anything. I swear my life on it, I would go to the ends of the earth to make her happy in every possible way! Yet she’s damned to be miserable no matter who her father chooses for her.

             
“Nothing will happen to me, Caroline.”

             
“How can you say such things? You’re no prophet or seer, you can’t possibly know what would happen.”

             
Her eyebrows drew together in worry, and it warmed my heart to know she cared so much about a pitiful nothing like me.

             
“Because, my love,” I said, drawing her into my arms, protecting her like a shield and pressing her back against the enormous maple tree. “There’s nothing in this world that can keep me from you. And no matter where you go, I will always follow.”

             
There was a sharp intake of air when she realized she was pinned in a most unholy and impure way, which gave way to an infectious impish smile. I leaned my head down and she tilted her face upward toward me, her hands resting on my upper arms and mine around her waist. Gently at first, then with urgency, I pressed my lips to hers. The hunger for her kiss and her love grew every second as we abandoned chaste thoughts and succumbed to our need to be together, until I slowly pulled back and broke the kiss, leaving us both wanting more. We stood there gasping for air, incredibly aware of our sin and lustful thoughts, each fighting with every ounce of willpower against the urge to further act upon those thoughts.

             
“I have to go,” she said, her eyes not daring to meet mine.

             
Taking her chin gently in my hand, I guided her face back to mine, tilting it slightly and forcing her to look at me.

             
“I don’t want you to go.”

             
“Nor do I, but I do want us both to live to see the sun rise in the sky. So leave I must.”

             
“When can I see you again?” I asked, nearly begging for her attention.

             
“In three days’ time, I will be in the abandoned fields just north of my family’s land while my father is out to market. Come find me there at midday, when the sun is high.”

             
She kissed me lightly on the cheek before she tore away from me, her emerald dress flapping behind her as she ran blithely through the woods, slowly fading from my line of sight. It was dark, the sky lit only by the waning crescent moon. It was two nights before the black moon, as my employer liked to call it. I never cared for the black moon; it always seemed to be a bad omen.

             
Sleep seemed hours away still, but I rushed to my home anyway, hoping to find a couple hours’ rest before morning came calling. Lifting the thin woven fabric that I called my front door, I stepped inside my palace.

             
My palace, of course, was an unused storage room of the ironworks building. One of the north windows was damaged, making it impossible to lock securely, though very few people knew this fact. After dark, when the workers were long gone and the streets devoid of life, I would sneak around to the back and shimmy through the window, the thin fabric hiding my secret lair from prying eyes.

             
It wasn’t much, but then again, I never really needed much of anything, and I had grown accustomed to having nothing. I’d gathered a pile of discarded scrap fabrics from various seamstresses in

the market who took pity on me, and I’d stolen a bag of cotton from the idiot Barclay from the next town over. With a little creativity, I was able to construct a makeshift bed and pillow. The boxes in the storage room held many useful things, including several candleholders that I used to dimly light my little room at night.

Beside the bed beneath a loose board in the wooden floor, I hid my valuables. Of course, that only amounted to whatever I stole and the money I earned working. A builder by trade, I worked as an apprentice under a drunken fool of a carpenter who never noticed the missing equipment or materials. At the moment, the cubby held a small pile of gold, a necklace I’d stolen that would need to be traded soon, several small candles with a flint for lighting, and the small bracelet I’d been working on for months.

The bracelet was my prized possession. It was to be a gift to my hopeful bride-to-be for our engagement: a ring of pearls I’d traded for a scarf I’d stolen at market, scattered with trinkets I’d carved at the ironworks at night from a lightweight silver metal that I wasn’t familiar with. It was beautiful, and I was eager to give it to her.

Closing my eyes against the dark solitude, my empty stomach protesting my lack of nourishment, I laid against my makeshift bed daydreaming of the time that I could be with my sweet, sweet Caroline until I drifted off to sleep.

              It was well past midday, and the sun was creeping down in the sky. Caroline had promised to meet me at midday, and her absence meant something had gone wrong. I paced the middle of the field where she’d promised to meet me, fretting over what possible cause could be preventing her from meeting me.

             
“Gaviyn!”

             
Lost in the world of worry, I hadn’t heard my love approach. Turning to the sound, a smile spread across my face at the prospect of seeing my love. It quickly faded when her tear-stained face came into view between the whipping stalks of grain, splotches of red on the apples of her cheeks and eyes.

             
“Caroline, what is this?” I asked as she ran into my arms, tears still spilling from her eyes.

             
“My father – he has decided I am to be married!”

             
My eyes grew wide and a grin toyed with the corners of my mouth as I realized my time had come.

             
“I will convince your father to allow me to marry you,” I said into her hair.

             
She pulled back, and as I looked into her sad eyes, I knew there was more.

             
“He is asking for dowry, Gaviyn,” she sniffled.

             
“But I have a dowry, Caroline!”

             
I had thought my news of a dowry would make her tears stop, but they only doubled instead.

             
“No, Gaviyn. He has set a high dowry. And a horrible man has offered!”

             
“Well then I will have to beat his dowry. Who is this horrible man?”

              “A Duke from some kingdom I’ve never even heard of…Imosara?”

             
“I’ve not heard of it either. It must not be much of a kingdom.”

             
“Why do you jest at a time like this?” her voice broke and squeaked.

             
My heart fell. I hated seeing her so upset, and the idea of some unknown villain stealing my love away to another mysterious kingdom filled me with hate and fear.

             
“This is why I was so late, I was forced to meet him, and he’s old – nearly THIRTY! So smug and looking at me like I am nothing more than a piece of meat for his satisfaction. It’s not fair!” she screamed, dropping her face into my chest again.

             
I held her close, my rage and fear tripling with each breath, and I saw the love of my life leaving me.

             
“I shall provide a dowry above what he asks. I WILL win your hand, Caroline.”

             
She said nothing, simply cried into my chest until it was time to leave.

             
Strolling along back to the market alone, my thoughts raced. I had to save her. I had to best this wicked man’s dowry. The answer to my problem presented itself as I passed the stables housing the workhorses of whatever farm I was passing.