Chapter 41:
Hiren’s Offering
“My name is Mere Hevwed,” whispered Moth, her hands trembling. “I am-I was offered in the water as your bride.”
“Who offered you?”
“Hiren.” She lifted her head to meet his gaze. His elongated, distorted body towered over her. “The region of Hiren offered me.”
The ferryman looked away from her. His breathing was labored, and Moth could smell a strange, sweet scent coming from the festering threads on his face.
“I am sorry this was done to you,” he said, at last. “You are not the first. I will find some jewelry for you and then you can start a new life away from your region, away from those who offered you.”
The ferryman turned and began walking – in a motion like a long, skinny dog – towards the mansion.
“I’m not leaving.”
He stopped.
“I made my region offer me – I pleaded with the Tiding Range farmers to give me in the water, I would’ve offered myself if I could – I chose this, I chose to go in the water, I came to find you,” Moth said, and a painful heat rose up in her throat, shaking her whole body.
The ferryman turned to look at her.
Tears boiled in her eyes.