Free Revealed by Evangeline Anderson

white marble throne. “Why do you come here, Warrior?” she demanded, frowning in a most unwelcoming way. “Kneel as you speak. And remember when you answer that you speak to none other than the High Priestess of the Empty Throne—the mouthpiece of the Goddess herself.”

    Unwillingly, Merrick had knelt before the Empty Throne. He couldn’t place the priestess’s age. Her long, curling hair was pure green and worn loose around her shoulders and her eyes were a solid emerald with no pupil, iris, or white to interrupt their blank, unbroken expanse. That blind yet knowing stare was strange and otherworldly and the high priestess’s demeanor was anything but welcoming. But Merrick hadn’t come all the way to First World just to turn around with his tail between his legs.

    “I come asking forgiveness for my past misdeeds,” he rumbled, bowing his head in reluctant submission. “My past has not been a kind one.”

    “Your past or your present either,” the priestess said, frowning. “Oh yes, Warrior, I see into you with no effort at all. You are a killer. A murderer many times over.”

    “I am,” Merrick acknowledged, nodding coolly. “I don’t deny it. But I’m going to be a part of an old friend’s joining ceremony and I don’t wish to bring him bad luck. I need—”

    “You need much more than I can give you.” The priestess made a dismissive motion. “Be gone. Bloody hands are not welcome at the Goddess’s table, nor bloody boots on her sacred sands.”

    “What the fuck?” Merrick growled. “I came asking for forgiveness. And you’d damn well better believe this is the first and last time I’ve ever asked for that.”

    “It is just as well. Some sins cannot be forgiven.” The high priestess wrinkled her nose, as though she smelled something bad. “You would do well to remember that in future. And furthermore—”

    But her words ended in a choked gurgle.   Suddenly her strange blank emerald eyes had gone pure white and her voice dropped into a low, sing-song tone as words that didn’t seem to be her own poured from her throat.

    “You shall find your bride on your journey to help a friend seal his love. She who is meant for you waits wrapped in darkness—waits for your kiss to awaken her, warrior. You shall be her light and she shall be yours. You will heal each other, body and soul, though the path to that healing will be long and thorny. Go now and find your female. Only then will your troubled soul find peace.”

    Her eyes changed back to green and she looked at him. “You are blessed indeed, Warrior—the Goddess has gifted you with a prophecy though I cannot imagine why. Do you understand it?”

    “ No ,” Merrick snarled. He was so tall that even with him kneeling and the priestess standing, they were still eye to eye. “You’ve got it wrong, your Holiness ,” he said sarcastically, ignoring the gasps of the other, lesser priestesses at his blasphemy. One did not tell the High priestess of the Empty Throne that she was mistaken but Merrick didn’t give a damn about protocol. This female had treated him like shit she’d wiped off her shoes and then given him a ridiculous, unwanted prophesy he hadn’t asked for. In the light of those circumstances, he felt no more need to bow and scrape.

    The strange, blank emeralds of her eyes blazed. “How do you mean, warrior?” she asked, her voice cool and forbidding.

    “You prophesied that I would meet someone—a female.”

    “Indeed, and what is wrong with that?”

    He shrugged. “To begin with, I’m not looking for any fucking female to complete me—I’m not like the other pathetic Kindred, all searching for their brides. I don’t need anyone but me to get along.” He spat on the temple floor, drawing more gasps from the other priestesses. “And second, even if I wanted to find a bride, it’s not possible. I’m a half breed—a hybrid. I’m not able to connect with a female and form a bond. Not that I want