THE COVEN’S BRIDE
CHAPTER 25
SIBUSISO
CURRENT DAY
“There is something we need to tell you all,” Father says. Couldn’t they wait until my wedding was over? My parents called me and my siblings to tell us something. I don’t want to be here. I want to be with my wife. Tonight is our wedding night, and I would rather be with her than with these people.
“Do I need to be here? It’s my wedding night for crying out loud,” I say, impatiently. My wife is waiting for me, and I don’t want to be here.
“You all have to be here,” Mother answers.
“It’s his wedding night, cut him some slack, he cannot wait to go unwrap his wedding gift,” Jules jokingly says, and I chuckle shaking my head. Hell, I cannot wait to make love to my wife.
“As we said, all of you have to be here,” my father says. Why do my parents look so sad? They weren’t sad during the wedding but now they look sad. I hope no one died.
“Talk fast then, Naledi will assume his man has fled,” says Senzo.
Father asks that we all sit down, and we do. He gulps down his whiskey and says, “Let me start by apologizing for everything I am about to say.”
“Dad talk already!” I want to go to my wife, and they are wasting my time.
Father exhales heavily and with a breaking voice says, “We have a family curse. It has been in the family for years and every time there is a new bride something is required of the bride.”
“Dad now is not the time for jokes,” Jasmine says.
Father looks down. There is sadness laced on his face. Mother steps in. “It’s not a joke. I also went through it when I became a Gumbi bride.”
“In other words, something is required of my wife. What kind of sacrifice?”
“Dad what is going on please just tell us what is going on. Since when do we make sacrifices?” Senzo asks.
Father answers, “There is a thing in the family that requires sacrifices from all female brides in the family. That is why you see most of the Gumbi children are male because it requires something from all the family’s daughters-in-law. We call them the Coven’s brides. It is passed from daughter-in-law to daughter-in-law. Naledi is the last Coven’s bride. That is how the family maintains riches and power.”
“What the f*ck?” Jasmine exclaims.
“And what kind of sacrifices are required from these daughters-in-law?” Jules asks. It’s like he read my mind. I wanted to ask the same question.
“On my side, all the children I carried were given as sacrifices. I am not allowed to carry your father’s children,” Mother says. What kind of witchcraft is that?
“Then how are we here Mother if you are not allowed to carry Dad’s children?” Senzo asks, he read my mind too. I am too stunned to speak.
Mother looks down and says, “You are all products of surrogacy. If you noticed I disappear when ‘pregnant’, Senzo knows this. But you are all my children.”
I shake my head. “I cannot believe you all. So, all this money is not because we work hard?”
“Unfortunately,” Father whispers but loud enough that we can hear. “I know all this is hard, but I also found out the night I married Rosa.”
I scoff, shaking my head. “And you waited until my wedding night to tell me this? Couldn’t you tell me before I married Naledi? Had I known this I wouldn’t have married her.”
“I am sorry son,” Father says. He looks sorry but it doesn’t make it right. Why would they even participate in all this? This is witchcraft.
Mom says, “We are sorry son, and we had no right to keep it from all of you but it’s hard and we didn’t know how to tell you all.”
“Still, you should have told me!” I yell. “Does it mean Naledi cannot carry my children? I cannot even give my wife the one thing she wants?”
Father answers, “Naledi hasn’t been touched so it’s different with her.”
“Just f*cking tell me what you want from my wife?” I yell. I feel like I am going to punch my father. How can they drop this b*mb on my wedding night?
“All three of you have to take turns with Naledi,” Father explains and that alone makes me want to throw up. He adds, “After that all three of you will be bonded for life and Naledi will be the Coven’s last bride. I guess her virginity pays for it and also bonding with all 3 of you. But there is a catch, Senzo and Jules can never have children with another. The only woman they can have children with is Naledi. If they try to have children with other women, the child will die.”
“I feel like I am going to through up. My brothers have to sleep with Naledi? What kind of twisted thing is that?” says Jasmine.
“What if we don’t do this sacrifice?” I ask.
“Naledi will not live to see the next light. We will all follow one by one after suffering and going crazy,” Father answers.
“F*ck!” I punch the vase next to me, and it falls to the floor. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I wouldn’t have involved Naledi in this mess.”
“What about me? How do I fit in all this mess?” now crying Jasmine asks.
Mom says, “You are lucky I guess since Naledi is the last Coven’s bride, but you have to be present when your brothers sleep with Naledi.”
“Who said we are going to do it?” Senzo asks. “I am not doing this. God, I don’t even want to think about it.”
“Then we might as well start planning Naledi’s funeral and prepare to go crazy and lose it all,” Mother says.
“What about Sibusiso? Can he have children with Naledi?” Jules asks and my parents say I can have children with Naledi.
NALEDI
“Where did you disappear to?” I ask Sibusiso who just walked into the room
“The family and I needed to talk about something,” he leans and plants a kiss on my lips. “I hope I didn’t take too long.”
“Not really, it also gave me a chance to calm my nerves down. I am nervous about…you know…”
He leans and kisses me, not just a peck on the lips but a kiss that leaves me feeling weak at my knees. He stares into my eyes and says, “I love you, Naledi. I love you so much.”
“I love you too, baby.”
There is worry in his eyes, and I don’t know what that means. “I want you to know that I love you and…”
“Sibusiso!” Jasmine knocks on our bedroom door.
“I am coming!” Sibusiso yells back. He then cups my face and says, “There is a thing that we do in this family when a new family member is introduced.”
“Thing? What thing?”
He swallows hard, as if nervous, and then says, “It’s a little complicated”
“What is it?”
“A ritual is performed,” he adds. There is so much pain in his voice. This is our wedding night, and we should be happy. Why does he look sad, and what ritual?
I try to hide the shock in my voice. “What kind of ritual?”
“All the men in the family, my siblings to be precise, must take turns with you. Starting with me, of course.”
I quickly step away from him. “What?”
He chuckles, “I am just messing with you. You should have seen your face.”
“Don’t play like that – you almost gave me a heart attack.”
He goes to the champagne and pours us some and comes back to me. I don’t know if I am reading too much into it, but Sibusiso doesn’t look happy. His smile doesn’t reach his eyes like it normally does.
He hands me one glass and says, “Drink up.”
“Are we not even toasting to us?”
He forces out a smile and raises his glass. “To us!”
“Baby, are you sure you are okay?”
He nods and I can see his eyes are bloodshot. He doesn’t look fine. He says, “I love you so much and…”
I shut him up with a kiss. “I love you too. Now make love to me, I have waiting for this since the day we met.”
“Drink your drink.”
I chuckle and say, “Baby I am saying take me and you are telling me to drink my drink?”
“I am saying finish your drink then I can make love to you.”
I quickly finish my drink, step back, unzip my dress, and step out of it.