The Forlorn by Calle J. Brookes

that.”
    “At what cost?”
    He pulled her to her feet. Mara let him. “I cannot tell you often enough, I see. There is no more cost for you than there is for me. We aren’t alone anymore. You need to remember that. Mara…come. Meet my sister, tell me of your family, help me help you be happy here.”

    Chapter Nineteen
     
    Mara didn’t see how she had any other choice. “I need to go home. ”
    “That hut your family was living in is not fit for a family of four. Regardless of what happens between us, your family will not be returning there. I have looked at my cousin’s maps of the family houses. You were stuck in the midst of my father and grandfather’s people. Narrow minded assholes, all of them. Without a clear tie to their Houses, they would treat you little better than offal. I left that part of my family hundreds of years ago. No, there is a better place for you within my own people. You will one day help me lead them.”
    She hadn’t expected that. “Just exactly who or what are you?”
    “I am dahr . Do you know what that means?”
    She’d heard the term, but knew very little about what any part of the Dardaptoan culture meant. “I don’t really have a clue.”
    There was compassion in his eyes; Mara looked away. “I hate feeling stupid. We ended up here, and I knew nothing about what was going on, my mother refused to even speak of any of it. The boys…it’s been so hard for them, and I can’t help them. I hate feeling so useless, so helpless. I went to that library looking for answers.”
    “Baby, you’ve found them. I promise you that.”
    “How am I supposed to trust you? I don’t know you.”
    “I know. But we have all the time in the world, now.”
    “I’m not sure I believe that.”
    Chapter
    The respect and general acknowledgment they received while simply walking through the building awed her. Everywhere they went people half bowed to them, and any time he spoke there were actual servants to do his bidding.
    Talk about different than how she’d been treated.  They looked at her, too, and that made her more than a little bit uncomfortable. “What am I supposed to say to them? I don’t know why they think I am so important all of the sudden.”
    “Because of the white you wear. You need to understand how our social hierarchy works. We have the dharanna , a legendary group of original Dardaptoans. They led when our people were first created by the goddess almost four thousand years ago. Over time, their sons and daughters, later generations, have taken the dahr or dahn positions. Their families wear the traditional white. When a leader of one of those families finds their Rajni, that mate assumes white as their color, as well. It’s how our people know who their leaders are, especially in times of crisis.”
“I am no leader.” That was the absolute last thing she wanted. “I don’t want to be.”
    “The goddess feels differently.” His eyes were compassionate when he looked at her. “I understand how you feel. When my House broke from my father’s I was ill for days, the idea of such responsibility more than I was prepared for. But the seers of our people told me it was my path. And so far it has been. You would not have been chosen if you could not carry the burden. And it is a burden.”
    Just another reason this guy was totally wrong for her—even if she believed in rajnis , which she didn’t.
    But why did her hand feel so right in his? Why did she already know exactly how he smelled? How warm his touch was?
    It was crazy, the way this was starting to seem almost normal to her. “I don’t believe in goddesses or destinies or anything like that. I don’t know what you want from me, or why you even want me.”
    He stopped walking. “I want you because the goddess that I believe in, and have spoken with on several occasions, chose you for me. I want you because when I look at you I know that we were meant to be together. That’s a very strong pull for me. I