Chapter 2 Not The Life I Bargained For

Loria's Pov

I woke up feeling like shit.

I couldn't even lie to myself and pretend I'd slept through the night. After the bomb Grandma dropped on me yesterday, sleep had been the last thing on my mind.

Yesterday was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. Instead, I had gone to bed knowing that in two days, I was expected to leave everything I knew behind and serve four gods I'd never even seen.

The thought made my stomach twist.

How could my ancestors have agreed to something like this? How could generations of women in my family simply accept a duty that decided the course of their lives for them?

No.

I wouldn't.

I couldn't.

If Grandma thought I was going to quietly pack my things and leave without a fight, then she clearly didn't know me at all.

She had said I was supposed to leave in two days.

Two days.

I pushed the blanket aside and sat on the edge of my bed, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. My body ached from hours of tossing and turning, but the exhaustion was nothing compared to the thoughts racing through my head.

I had imagined nineteen differently.

I wanted to make my own decisions. I wanted to see places beyond our little community, meet new people, fall in love if I wanted to, and decide what kind of woman I would become. I had spent years imagining that life.

None of those plans included Baklava Castle.

None included four gods who apparently had some ancient claim over my family.

And certainly none included becoming their maid.

A tear slipped down my cheek before I could stop it. I wiped it away roughly.

Crying wasn't going to solve anything.

If there was one person who could help me think clearly, it was Vivian. She always had a way of making even the worst situation feel a little less impossible.

I got dressed quickly. There was no way I was staying inside that house all day while Grandma watched me fall apart. I needed to see my best friend. I needed someone who would listen without telling me that this was destiny or that I had no choice.

When I stepped into the sitting room, I found Grandma already seated near the window.

She must have heard me because she slowly lifted her head.

The sight of her stopped me.

Her eyes were swollen, and the skin beneath them was red from crying. She looked smaller than she had yesterday, almost as though the weight of something unseen had settled onto her shoulders.

For a moment, neither of us spoke.

I had spent the entire night angry about the life I was being forced to leave behind, but seeing her like that made another thought creep into my mind.

Grandma had cried too.

And suddenly, I wasn't so sure she was only worried about me leaving.

"Grandma..."

My voice came out softer than I intended.

She looked away almost immediately, wiping beneath one eye with the corner of her sleeve.

"You're awake."

"Obviously." I tried to sound normal, but my voice betrayed me. "Did you sleep at all?"

She gave me a faint smile.

"Did you?"

I opened my mouth, then closed it.

Fair enough.

I sat beside her and studied her face.

Yesterday, I had been too angry to think beyond my own fear. This morning, I couldn't ignore the feeling that something about her story didn't add up.

"Grandma, what aren't you telling me?"

Her body stiffened.

That tiny reaction told me more than her words ever could.

"I told you everything you need to know."

"No, you didn't."

"Loria-"

"You said every woman in our family served them." I turned toward her, forcing myself to keep my voice steady. "Fine. But you never told me why. You never told me what happens when we go there. You never told me why I have to leave in two days."

She remained silent.

I swallowed.

"And you definitely never told me why you look like you're mourning me before I've even left."

Her lips parted, but no words came.

There it was again.

That silence.

That fear.

Whatever Grandma was hiding, she wasn't ready to tell me.

And for the first time since her confession, I wanted more than an escape.

I wanted answers.

I stood, grabbing my bag.

"I'm going to see Vivian."

Grandma looked up sharply.

"Loria..."

"I won't be long."

She seemed as though she wanted to stop me, but instead she lowered her eyes.

"Be careful."

I froze.

Be careful?

I turned around, but she was already staring down at her hands.

Something about those two words unsettled me.

I was going to Vivian's house, not walking into a war. Yet Grandma had said it with such seriousness that a chill ran down my spine.

"I'll be fine," I said, forcing a small smile before walking out.

The morning air felt cooler against my skin than it had the day before. I shoved my hands into my pockets and started down the familiar road.

Usually, the walk to Vivian's house took less than fifteen minutes.

That morning, every step seemed to give me another reason to be angry.

Four gods.

Generations of women.

Two days.

And now Grandma's warning.

I still couldn't make sense of any of it.

What kind of people agreed to give their daughters away generation after generation? And why had nobody ever thought to end it?

By the time I reached Vivian's house, I was gripping the strap of my bag so tightly my fingers hurt.

I knocked once.

Nothing.

I knocked again, harder this time.

The door swung open, and Vivian appeared with a piece of bread in one hand and a confused expression on her face.

"Girl, why are you banging on my door like the police are chasing you?"

I stared at her.

She stopped chewing.

Her expression immediately changed.

"Loria?"

I pushed past her and walked inside.

"Something happened."

Vivian shut the door behind me. "What happened?"

I turned toward her, but the words caught in my throat.

How was I supposed to explain something that still sounded completely ridiculous inside my own head?

Vivian took another bite of her bread while watching me.

"You're scaring me."

"I'm leaving."

She swallowed.

"Leaving where?"

"Far away."

Her eyebrows pulled together. "Okay... where exactly?"

I took a deep breath.

"I'm going to Baklava Castle."

The bread nearly slipped from her hand.

"What?"

"I have to go to Baklava Castle."

Vivian stared at me as though I'd just announced that I was moving to the moon.

"Why?"

I looked down at my hands.

"Because apparently, my family has been serving the four gods for centuries."

Silence.

Vivian blinked.

Then blinked again.

"Loria."

"I'm serious."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"I didn't believe it either."

She slowly put the bread down.

"Wait." She stepped closer. "The four gods?"

I nodded.

"The actual four gods?"

"Yes."

"The ones everyone talks about?"

"The same ones."

"The ones who live in Baklava Castle?"

"Unfortunately."

My voice cracked on the last word.

Vivian's eyes widened.

I covered my face with both hands.

"I don't want to go, Viv."

Her expression softened immediately.

She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me.

I held onto her tightly.

"I don't want to leave you," I whispered.

"You don't have to."

"I do."

"Then we'll figure something out."

I pulled away and wiped my face.

"Grandma says I don't have a choice."

Vivian frowned.

"Everyone has a choice."

"Not according to my ancestors."

"Your ancestors aren't here."

Despite everything, a small laugh escaped me.

"That is what I like about you."

"What?"

"You always make everything sound simple."

"Because you're making it complicated."

"I am being sent to serve four gods, Vivian."

She nodded solemnly.

"Okay. That part is definitely complicated."

I laughed again, but this time the sound didn't last.

Vivian took both my hands.

"Tell me everything."

So I did.

I told her about Grandma's confession, the Thames women who had served the gods before me, my mother's role, and the fact that I was expected to leave in two days.

But there was one thing I couldn't explain.

Grandma's face.

The fear in her eyes.

The way she had looked at me as though she already knew something terrible was waiting for me.

When I finished, Vivian was quiet.

"Do you know anything about what happens when you get there?" she finally asked.

"No."

"Does your grandmother?"

"She says enough to make me afraid and not enough to make me understand."

Vivian sighed.

"Then we need answers."

I nodded.

For the first time since Grandma's confession, the tightness in my chest eased a little.

I still didn't know what awaited me in Baklava Kingdom. I didn't know what the four gods were really like, why my family had been bound to them for generations, or what Grandma was so afraid to tell me.

But I knew something had changed.

I wasn't going to Baklava Castle blindly.

If Grandma refused to tell me the truth, then I would find it myself.

And whatever my family had been hiding for generations, I intended to uncover it.