“Exactly.” Garren put his hands on either side of her face, forcing her to focus on him. “That’s exactly the leverage I used to solicit his help.”
She scrunched her brows together. “What do you mean?”
“Come, and we will explain everything,” he said, grasping her hand to pull her back toward the land.
She pulled out of his grip. “I can’t.”
“You can. We can fix this; we can break the curse.”
“No!” Her voice was booming and final.
It was then that Garren looked behind her, to the ball of swirling sea hovering at the end of the sandy walkway. “What have you done?”
“It’s a prison. It will hold me, locking me within the storms, so that I will never hurt another soul.”
“No,” Garren breathed. “Please, Oriana, let us help you.”
She remained quiet, but she didn’t turn to walk away either.
“Please,” he said again.
Oriana closed her eyes, chest rising and falling in one large breath before she opened them again and nodded once. Intense relief washed over Garren as he grabbed her hand once more and led her back to the cliff side.
“Sister!” Orrick exclaimed, opening his arms wide for a hug. “So good to see you.”
“Whatever you have convinced Garren to do, un-convenience him, brother. We both know you would like nothing more than to see me as a monster for the rest of eternity.”
“Always so dark and lacking in faith, sister.” Orrick rolled his eyes. “Your little halfling is quite the masterful manipulator. He is the one who has convinced me.”
Oriana narrowed her eyes. “Halfling?”
“Oh yes. Your dear Garren is the son of the almighty Zanos. Can you believe it? That sniveling, irksome blighter has been going around and doing the same thing he has forbidden us all from doing. He even had me locked in Morial for it. Well, he will feel my wrath soon enough.” Orrick continued to prattle on about all the things he would like to do to Zanos when he next saw him, but Oriana didn’t seem to be listening; she was just looking at Garren.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
“Yes. It’s just, it all makes sense now. I’m not sure how I didn’t see it. I suppose I didn’t think any half Gods were left after…well I just didn’t put it together. But now I understand why you were able to see through my enchantments.”
He gave her a small smile, attempting to hide the heaviness that had settled inside of him even since Orrick had dropped the news.
Oriana touched his arm and said, “I’m sorry. I’m sure that was hard to hear and quite a lot to take in.”
“You don’t even know the half of it,” Garren started, about to tell her that not only was he half god, but that he wasn’t even mortal at all, but then Oriana stiffened, cutting him off with a hand over his mouth.
“Stop. You have to go.” She pushed him back toward the forest. “Go!”
Orrick snatched Garren’s wrist and pulled him into the trees. “Oriana.” It was the first time Garren had heard Orrick call his sister by name. “You don’t back down. Fight.”
A single tear rolled down her cheek at her brother’s words. Garren wanted to say something, to ask what was going on, but Orrick pushed him behind a tree trunk and held him there.
The air grew thicker, hot and stifling, making it hard to draw breath. Garren peeked around the trunk of the large evergreen and saw a being that he could only describe as a true god, standing almost as tall as the statue of himself in the monastery. He was walking toward Oriana.
Anthes.
25
Oriana
31st day of the Twelfth Month, 1774
