2
" It’s perfect,” she softly sighed.
“Just like in our dream,” Ian agreed.
“Almost.” Her eyes flickered sideways to catch Ian’s handsome profile. A tiny grin inched up higher at the corner of his mouth. His shoulders slumped under the weight of expectations that he perceived clearly in her thoughts.
“You want too much from me, Eena. Perfection is a tall order to fill.”
“This moment is already perfect,” she assured him.
“Until I disappoint you by burping during a wet, slobbery kiss.”
She groaned his name with a hint of disgust. “You wouldn’t dare ruin this moment on purpose.”
“No,” he admitted, “no I wouldn’t.” He smiled again, but there remained real concern in his eyes. “I’m afraid you’re anticipating a lot. It isn’t going to be like it was in our dream. All the mystical things that happen in dreams don’t happen in reality. That experience was…well… beyond duplicating.”
“Then don’t kiss me at all,” she decided. “Just stay here with me and I’ll be content. "
― Richelle E. Goodrich , Eena, The Tempter's Snare (The Harrowbethian Saga #5)
3
" Ravelly pointed to the illustration as he told his friend that he used to read the same story nightly to his son, Wahlister. “Imorih’s Journey—quite the moralistic quest.”
Unan nodded in agreement. “I read it to Ian and Eena when they were children.” Then he held up the opened page with the picture of Imorih and the tiny, shouldered bug. He asked curiously, “Why do you say this is your favorite part, Master Ravelly?” The question caught Eena’s interest. Her ears tuned in to their conversation, but her eyes continued to scan the lively crowd below.
The old Grott went on to explain. “That is the part where Imorih realizes the whispered voice she has been listening to, the advice she has been heeding, doesn’t belong to her conscience as she first supposed. It shocks her to learn that for the more part of her journey she has been following the promptings of a negligible, albeit well-intentioned, creature. That’s when two things happen in her life. First, she comprehends how cunning and manipulative the power of suggestion can be. Secondly, she learns to recognize the difference between her own voice—her own desires—and someone else’s.”
Unan hummed a sound of accordance. “That’s right. Things change quite drastically after that discovery, don’t they?”
“Yes, yes, they most certainly do. For the best, I recall.”
“Because she becomes master of her own destiny after that.”
“As we all should be.”
Unan nodded, examining the illustration once again. “Yes, as we all should be. "
― Richelle E. Goodrich , Eena, The Tempter's Snare (The Harrowbethian Saga #5)
4
" That’s when Eena cut in. Both Ravelly and Unan looked to her as she announced, “My favorite part of the book is at the very end.”
“Where Imorih battles the three-headed dragon,” Unan presumed.
Eena shook her head. “Nope.”
“Afterwards, where Imorih befriends the beast and earns his trust,” Ravelly guessed.
Eena shook her head again. “No, sir. I mean the very end.”
Unan’s brow crinkled as he tried to recall what came next in the story. “Where she finds her prince who was held captive by none other than the same three-headed dragon?”
The young Sha shook her head a third time.
“I know! When the dragon flies them on his back to the edge of their homeland! That would be quite the experience, wouldn’t it?” Ravelly seemed certain he had guessed the finishing act of the story.
“That’s not the very, very end,” Eena grinned.
“But that’s the last page,” Unan contended, his finger pointing at the final leaf in the book.
Wahlister was the one who finally guessed the correct answer. “They kiss on the dragon’s back at the very end. That’s where they promise to never allow anything, even death, to separate them again.”
“Yes!” Eena chirped. “That’s the best scene of all.”
“I don’t recall that promise,” Ravelly admitted.
Unan assured the old Grott, “It’s right here.” He read the line that told of a promise made sure by a kiss. “Their lips sealed the whispered vow, ‘We shall never part again, even if our fate is to haunt one another in death.’” After reading it, he groaned aloud.
“Only a woman would remember that line. "
― Richelle E. Goodrich , Eena, The Tempter's Snare (The Harrowbethian Saga #5)
6
" Eena focused on the younger version of herself. Her hair was tied back with a pink ribbon. The ruffled dress she wore was soiled up to the waist in wet grains of sand. A short, square shovel was gripped tightly as the child concentrated on her digging efforts.
Curious, Eena stepped closer to the girls. Ian followed along silently. Eena could feel his eyes on her, searching her profile before turning to the sand scene. She approached her younger self and stopped to watch. At first, she smiled at the darling ponytailed child. Then the spoiled girl’s mouth opened.
“Angee,” the five-year-old called the younger version of Angelle. “Go get water.”
The older child jumped up at the command. “Yes, Eena.”
“A whole bucket full.”
“Yes, Eena.”
“Angee, don’t step on my holes!”
The older girl quickly picked up her foot, checking to be sure there were no child-made burrows nearby. She nodded at the little five-year-old. “Okay, Eena, I’ll be careful.”
Instead of being grateful, the ponytailed child tilted her head and bugged out her eyes. “Hurry up, Angee!”
“Okay, okay.” The young Angelle lifted her skirt to watch for surrounding holes while carting a bucket in her other hand towards the lake.
Eena frowned at the sight. She heard Ian snicker beside her.
“I was a brat,” she admitted ruefully.
“You still are. "
― Richelle E. Goodrich , Eena, The Tempter's Snare (The Harrowbethian Saga #5)
8
" Kode’s older sister, Kira, was leaning over a display of jewelry, fisting a jade-green necklace in one hand. Her nose was two inches from the Braetic across the table, the two exchanging intimidating glares. Eena watched for a few seconds as Kira all but crawled over a pile of merchandise, her face scrunched up with resentment, yet enviably stunning as always.
“Hey Kode,” the young queen whispered.
“Hey, girl.”
“What’s going on?”
“Kira’s bartering.”
Eena watched the fistful of necklace come within a whisker of smacking the merchant’s nose.
“She isn’t going to hurt the guy, is she?”
Kode snorted on a chuckle. “Not if the dude’s got any sense.”
Validly concerned, Eena inched closer to the confrontation, straining to hear their growled dialogue. Kode and Niki crept closer too. Efren, however, stayed where he was, testing the flagpole’s ability to support his body weight.
They watched the feisty Mishmorat hold up a small pouch and shake it in front of the Braetic’s eyes. Kira’s fingers curled like claws around the purse. She seemed to smirk for a second when the merchant flinched. In a blink he was back in her face again, shoving aside the purse.
“What is she trying to trade?” Eena asked, her voice still hushed as though she might disturb the haggling taking place across the way.
“Viidun coins,” Kode said. “Ef gave ‘em to her.”
“Are they worth much?’
Kode grinned wryly, “He sure as hell don’t freakin’ think so.”
Eena foresaw Niki’s disapproving smack to the back of Kode’s head before he even finished his sentence. He cursed at his girlfriend for the physical abuse, an unwise response that earned him an additional thump on the head.
“Freakin’ tyrant,” Kode grumbled.
“Vulgar grogfish,” Niki retorted.
Still unable to hear well enough to satisfy her curiosity, Eena stole in closer to the scene of heated bartering. She stopped when Kira’s strong voice carried over the murmur of the crowd. Kode and his girlfriend were right on her heels.
“This purse is worth ten of those gaudy necklaces. You oughta be payin’ me to take ‘em off your hands, Braetic!”
“That alien money is worthless to me, Mishmorat. In all my life I’ve never left Moccobatran soil. And even if I were to take an interstellar trip someday, you’d never catch the likes of me on a barbarian planet like Rapador!”
Kira jerked her head, causing her black, cascading hair to ripple over her shoulder. The action made the trader flinch again. His eyes tapered, appearing to fume over what he perceived as intentional bullying.
“You ain’t gonna sell this crap to no one else,” the exotic Mishmorat said. “Be smart and take the money. Hell, you could make a dozen pieces of jewelry from these coins. Sell ’em all for ten times the worth of anything you got here.”
The Braetic shoved his finger at Kira’s chest, breathing down her throat at the same time. “Why don’t you just take your pretty little backside away from my table and make your own Viidun jewelry. Sell it yourself and then come back with a reasonable offer for my necklace.” His palm opened flat, demanding she hand over the jade stones still in her fist.
“You wanna make me?” Kira breathed.
“What do you plan to do, steal it?” The merchant challenged her in a gesture, nostrils flaring.
“I’m no thief, but I’m not above beating some sense into you ‘til you choose to barter like a respectable Braetic!”
Caught up in the intense interaction, Kode supported his sister a little too loudly. “Teach the freakin’ crook a lesson, Sis!”
Niki smacked her boyfriend upside the head without missing a beat. "
― Richelle E. Goodrich , Eena, The Tempter's Snare (The Harrowbethian Saga #5)
9
" Efren’s mouth was busily chattering away, his body animated as though narrating some fascinating storybook adventure. The Braetic’s eyes were glued on the Viidun, sparked with interest.
“Betcha a meal Ef gets that necklace for the same purse of worthless coins Kira tried to trade,” Eena heard Kode whisper to his girlfriend.
“Betcha he pays up far more than that,” Niki whispered back.
“No way. He’s got the idiot eating out of his hands. Ef’s a freakin’ master!”
Right on cue came the predictable slap to the head.
“Ouch!”
Then the cursing. Followed by another smack.
“Sadistic witch!”
“Filthy bonehead.”
A minute of pouting silence ensued. “So you gonna bet me or what?”
“Yeah, I’ll take a free meal from you any day.”
“You’re on, Niki. Ef’s not givin’ up nothin’. He’ll have that necklace for the purse, if not for free.”
“You’re a fool if you believe that. That oversized, lovesick warrior’ll be givin’ up the shirt on his back for Kira’s necklace. You don’t understand Braetics, nor the powerful influence of true love.”
Eena could see Kode’s eyes roll to the back of his head. They all watched, wondering who would be right. "
― Richelle E. Goodrich , Eena, The Tempter's Snare (The Harrowbethian Saga #5)
10
" The young lady then placed her hands on Kode’s shoulder, letting her cheek rest on top of the pile. The smile on her face was more than a victory smile. It was a happy sign of contentment. Eena wondered.
“When do you suppose those two will get married?” She whispered the question to Kira who still had a firm grip on her arm.
“Kode get married?” The incredulity on Kira’s face matched her brother’s strong outburst.
“Who the hell says I’m gettin’ hitched?”
Niki pushed herself away from her boyfriend’s shoulder; her upper lip curled into a resentful scowl at the negative way he had voiced his query.
Eena had never meant for them to overhear. She stumbled over a justification for the question. “It’s just that you’ve been together for a while, you know, like a couple. Close. I mean, you’re always together so…I just figured…” she let the notion trail off.
Kode looked queasy. “We’re always together ‘cause she bloody follows me around everywhere I go like I’m some freakin’ tour guide!”
“Fine!” Niki exclaimed, holding her palms like a defensive wall in front of her. “I’ll leave if that’s what you want. I don’t need you! There’s plenty of other guys who’d love to get their lips on me!” With that outburst, the pretty Mishmorat twirled her body around, setting off on foot with both fists seared into her hips. Kode let her take about four steps before he darted over and dragged her back. She didn’t put up much of a fight, but her beautiful burgundy eyes refused to look at him.
“Ungrateful woman,” he murmured. “No one asked you to leave.”
Niki continued to glare up at the cloudy sky.
Kode sighed a long, perturbed sound. His next words were mumbled like they were torturous to have to speak out loud.
“Come on, Niki, you know I don’t want you to go. Who the hell’s gonna keep me in line if you’re gone?”
That made the pretty Mishmorat smile. She breathed in deeply and then dropped her gaze onto her man. His face was a goofy grimace, hers a smug grin of satisfaction. Kode threw an arm roughly around his girlfriend and pulled her close to him. He then turned to Eena, shrugging one shoulder.
“She’ll probably break down and marry me this summer,” he said. “That’s what I’m thinkin’ anyway.” Niki’s head went back to rest on Kode’s shoulder, right where it had started. "
― Richelle E. Goodrich , Eena, The Tempter's Snare (The Harrowbethian Saga #5)
