Beautiful Salvation Read Online Free PDF

personal terms. Then again, she had “slipped” on occasion, and there’d been more than one person to see the claws coming from her fingers. Perhaps Okomi had witnessed it himself, and thought being a subject of the kingdom entitled him to speak freely of a royal’s curse.
     
    “I…” She paused, brow wrinkling in thought. If propriety had been breached, it had been Okomi who’d breached it, not her. Why should she feel awkward? “Yes, I suppose it is. Every once in a while, it would be nice to have some space to myself, without the eagle eyes of the guards following my every move.” She gave a half-hearted wave at the tower, though she doubted Okomi believed her story.
     
    “A perfectly reasonable desire.”
     
    “Isn’t it though.”
     
    Okomi studied her for a moment, dark brown eyes considering. “If I might be so bold, you seem troubled, Your Majesty. The flowers and I are excellent listeners.”
     
    The roses rustled gently in the evening breeze as if they were agreeing with Okomi. Aiyana brushed off the whimsical thought and raised her hand to touch one of the roses. A sharp pain stabbed at her finger and she inhaled sharply, jerking her hand back.
     
    “Are you all right, Your Majesty?”
     
    “I’m fine.” A bright red drop of blood welled on her fingertip, ensnaring Aiyana’s attention. Slowly, she held her finger out over the bushes. She raised her other hand to squeeze the finger, forcing the droplet of blood to quiver and fall to the earth.
     
    She held her breath, waiting.
     
    “Your Majesty, are you all right?” Okomi asked again.
     
    Nothing happened. Frustration burned in Aiyana’s veins and she closed her eyes, trying to figure out what she’d expected to happen. Something inside her had urged her to offer her blood to the land, something tickled the back of her mind, tormenting her with the conviction that the land was…hurting? Hungry?
     
    “You should know, Your Majesty, that no one believes those nasty rumors some of the women were spreading in the village last week.”
     
    Aiyana narrowed her eyes, all thoughts of blood and earth vanishing. “They don’t?”
     
    “Not a bit,” Okomi assured her, raising the shears to trim a few unhealthy twigs from the bush beside him. “Everyone knows the women were letting their imaginations run away with them, reaching for old stories to add excitement to their lives. The gods will think poorly of their wagging tongues, I’m sure.”
     
    “What did they say?” Aiyana put a little more royal authority into her voice, using the tone her mother used if she wanted to be obeyed immediately.
     
    Okomi appeared unfazed. “Oh, they were saying that you had a touch of the dark god in you. Some nonsense about noticing your hands and seeing claws instead of fingernails. One of them even went so far as to make up a story about how you responded to her questions before she even asked them, as if you had the Black God’s gift of prophecy.” His brow furrowed and he sniffed in disapproval. “Doddering old women had people all in a fright that you were going to change into some monstrous goddess and spill their blood to empower the land. I’m pleased you took none of that to heart.”
     
    Aiyana stared at Okomi. It seemed like all the air had abruptly been sucked from the garden. “They thought I was going to change into some…monstrous goddess?” She tried to keep her voice light, but failed miserably. She cleared her throat. “Why… Why exactly would they think that?”
     
    “It’s an embarrassment to us all.” Okomi lowered his shears. “Those women went on and on about how you’d been possessed by the Black God, that you had his power inside you. They claimed that you would return the kingdom to the old ways, to the days when a human sacrifice was needed to keep the land alive and healthy.” He gestured around him at the beautiful landscape. “Our people have not practiced such things in ages, and does the earth