Page 89 of Damned and Broken Gods
“There is nothing you can do,” Bhartina says.
The hum in my chest swells and then…It stops.
“NO!”
I break from the beach and run into the forest.
Toward the mountain.
Toward her.
Chapter 32
The Lies We Tell
LEELA
The bridge fell away. I tumbled, shock stealing my thoughts, but before I could register my imminent demise, an icy breeze slammed into me, bundling me up in a vortex of electric blue eyes and determined resonance.
A familiar female voice spoke. “I have you, Leela.”
“Zarael?”
Solid arms wrapped around me, cold breath on my cheek, and the next moment, my boots touched solid ground. The vortex parted, and the plinth and box materialized in front of me. I looked down at Zarael’s arms wrapped around my waist.
“Quickly take the box,” she said.
The chamber rumbled a warning.
I grabbed the box, clutching it tightly, and the vortex swallowed me once more, blocking out the chamber and all danger.
The next time my boots touched ground and the vortex ebbed, it was outside the mountain on the outskirts of the forest. The exact spot that I’d entered.
A cacophony of emotions flooded me—the most acute of them all guilt.
I looked down at the box. “I didn’t earn this.” I set it on the ground and backed away. “Oh fuck, why did I take it?”
“Because it belongs to you,” Zarael said.
“But I answered incorrectly.”
“Did you?” She arched a brow.
What was she talking about? “The bridge crumbled, so yeah, I got it wrong.”
“You don’t understand, do you, Leela? There are no right or wrong answers, simply answers that resonate as true for you. Your final answer was what you wanted to believe, not what you truly believe.”
As soon as she said it, I knew it to be true. I wanted to believe I was ready. That I could be queen because Ineededto be ready. Ineededto believe, but the truth was…I was scared. Terrified. Because there was a huge part of me that still believed they had it wrong. That I wasn’t the person they thought I was—not royal, not special, not worthy. A hollow pit opened in my belly, and I fell to my knees, my arms wrapped around my stomach as I allowed this raw truth to surface and claim me.
What if I wasn’t enough? What if I was a lie?
Zarael crouched to eye level with me and gently lifted my chin with the crook of her finger. “And there it is…The truth.” She smiled softly, and her austere expression melted. “Open the box, Leela.”
I reached for the golden latch with trembling fingers and carefully lifted the lid. Inside sat a ruby pendant, glowing as if there was a flame trapped inside it.
“Take it. It’s yours,” Zarael said.
I reached into the box, and as soon as I touched the pendant, a starburst of heat bloomed in my chest. The pendant flaredbright crimson, blue flames sparking in its depths for a moment before going dull.
