Page 98 of Of Blooming Embers
There were too many rebellions to attend to. Those within me and without threatening to burn everything I thought I understood to ashes.
It’d been hours.Hours of staring blankly into the darkness, body curled tightly in a ball.
At last, my mind settled, and my muscles went slack. I unfurled my limbs and sat up, the silk of my nightgown slipping along my skin. Lulled by the soothing rhythm of the rain outside, I closed my eyes for a moment and wrapped my arms around my chest.
My mind had weaved through all the turns.
Memories.
Every smile and touch.
My relationships.
Friendships.
Kaden had kept the knowledge of what he’d heard as an adolescent all these turns. It was wrong, and I was certainly upset, but I didn’t think he’d ever intended to hurt me. Ancients knew feral emotions made mortals more beast than human.
Jealousy.
Grief.
Fear.
Love.
Regardless, it was up to him to ask for my forgiveness. To make it right when he was ready. I needed to let him heal; no one could do it for him, and I was tired of being his excuse to avoid doing so.
I scoffed, my pulse quickening. With my knees bent in front of me, I propped my elbows on my thighs, wrists dangling between them.
Gavrel is my fated.
Cradling my head, I raked my fingers through my hair.
My bloody khorda.
A long exhale puffed my cheeks. I sat, meditating my way through. My spinning thoughts. The facts. The memories.
Why hadheheld on to such a secret?
I sifted through my anger and shock. There was something glaringly certain.
Something was missing.
Gavrel had never done anything to harm me over the turns. Noranyone he loved. In fact, everything he did was toprotectthose he loved.
So, why? Why would he do this?
If he didn’t want me, he would’ve stayed away. Ancients knew he tried.
Unless the rune wasn’t as potent as he hoped.
A heavy sigh fell to my sheets.
Fuck it.
The only way I was getting answers was to ask the questions myself. Then I could deal with the repercussions.
My bare feet padded to his slightly ajar door. His boots lay in a soggy mound between the door and his bed, like he’d simply stumbled his way inside.
