My Tattered Bonds Read Free Page B

proven to be a good friend throughout the last few months.   Aphrodite did truly like the witch, but due to my mother’s dramatic nature, she was sometimes a bit jealous.
    As we emerged onto the pristine walkway that led to the palace, the sun shone on my shoulders and this time, I did allow it to brighten my mood.     Just having a plan and a place to begin made me feel better- like we would manage to once again be successful.   Only this time, it had to be a complete success. Failure in any way simply wasn’t an option.
      As Cadmus and I entered our bedchambers, I turned to him.
    “How does one prepare for a solitary fast on an abandoned hillside?”
    He pulled me into his arms, gently supporting my weight as he lowered us onto the softness of our bed.
    “By feasting on everything that we will miss, of course.”
    He laughed and I couldn’t help but laugh with him.   I laid my head against his chest and felt it rumble with his laughter and I closed my eyes.   This man was everything- my entire world.   No matter what would come, we would face it together as we always had.   We would be okay.   I nestled into his hard body and inhaled his familiar, woodsy scent.
    I woke up screaming.
    I hadn’t planned on falling asleep, but my emotional state had left me drained. But the pain… the pain is what awakened me.    The bird shaped birthmark on my wrist was on fire.
    Literally.
    I sat straight up on the bed, clutching my arm to my chest as I tried to block out the overwhelming pain.   It hurt so much that the light in the room blended together and I couldn’t see straight.   Cadmus frantically turned my arm over to examine it and we both gasped.   My birth mark had grown to encompass the entire width of my wrist and had stretched to become three inches long.   Its outline was literally burning and the air crackled with the sound of sizzling flesh.  
    The mark had also changed.   It was now a clear outline of the Phoenix.   It looked more like a flaming tattoo than a birthmark.   After a moment, the burning embers died, leaving a blackened phoenix imprint.     
    My gaze met that of my husband and we stared at each other for a moment.
    “What does this mean?” I whispered.
    “I do not know,” he admitted.   “Perhaps Hecate will know something.”
    I nodded, but a feeling of dread curled around my stomach with icy fingers.   This couldn’t mean anything good.  
    “Cadmus…” my voice trailed off uncertainly.   I cleared it impatiently.   “I have never actually seen the prophecy, have you?”
    He shook his head grimly, his chocolate eyes frozen on my face. “No.”
    “I think it’s time that I read it for myself, don’t you?”
    He grasped my hand, rubbing a circle on my thumb.  
    “Alright.   But Harmonia, I am concerned.   I do not wish for you to become upset by anything that we see.   A prophecy does not mean that something will certainly come to pass.   We still have free will.   And that means… that means that we can change anything that we put our minds to.”
    I smiled gently at him, reaching out to stroke his handsome face.   He leaned into my hand, taking a deep breath.  
    “I know,” I replied softly.   “But I have to see it.   I’ve heard bits and pieces but have never actually read it.   I have only seen the page from the book in Hecate’s cave.   I don’t even know whose prophecy it is. I feel like I will be stronger and can understand it more if I just read it myself.”
    He sighed long and loud, but extended his hand.   “Then let us go,” he suggested.   “We do not have much time.   Let us find it.”
    I took his hand and allowed him to pull me from the bed.   He kept a tight grip on my hand as we made our way to the main floor of the palace.   The marble floors sparkled in the light pouring in from the windows and I found my mother sitting in a cushioned seat by the back terrace.  
    “Harmonia, you’re awake!” she exclaimed,