Page 52 of Forgotten Fate

She bit on her lower lip and tried to hide her face in the darkness, but I didn’t allow it, my palms extending to create a ball of floating light to hang near her head and illuminate her face entirely. “Answer me!”

“Stop it!” she whimpered. “You reminded me of when we first met… in the cave.”

“The feeling is mutual,” I growled. “I felt like you were hiding something then, and I get the sense you are now, too.”

“I’m not!”

“Then tell me why you said that!” I barked.

She stepped back, but I advanced closer. “Oh, no. You’re not running off. I deserve better than that.”

“I wasn’t running off!” she retorted, but again, I didn’t believe her.

All the mistrust came flooding back in a torrent, and suddenly, I felt very foolish standing under the moonlight with this unknown fae, wooing her when I should have heeded Endora’s advice all along.

“Let’s go back,” I barked, spinning away, sand kicking up under my feet as I moved.

“Zen!” Mirielle called out after me, but I didn’t slow down, even as she reached my side. “I just meant that the Order of the Souls… Why would they be out to get you if you did so much good? It doesn’t make any sense…”

She trailed off lamely, and my head turned to the side, the sneer on my face evident even in the almost pitch blackness.

“You and I should probably keep our distance from now on,” I told her, my blood running cold.

“What does that mean?” she gasped, grabbing for my arm.

I wrenched out of her grasp, but I did stop and glower at her. “It means that you can stay in the castle, but it’s better if we return to our old arrangement.”

Between the glow of the moon and the light orb which had followed us up the beach, Mirielle’s face appeared opaque.

“Back to the quad, then?” she muttered.

I considered that, remembering why I’d put her on the royal floor in the first place.

“No. You’ll stay up there but report to work every day. Stay in view of the guards always.”

“Zen, nothing has changed—”

“Then that means you’ve been lying to me all along,” I fired out, my voice carrying over the shores. I lowered my tone and took a deep breath. “I can’t get involved with someone I don’t know anything about. You were right about that. I’ve had Endora send your blood results to the Marriage Registry to see if it yields any results.”

Visibly upset, Mirielle stared at me. “And if you find out who I am?” she whispered.

I shrugged. “I guess that will depend on who you really are—unless you already know.”

“I don’t!” she cried. “Please believe me! I would tell you!”

I smiled sadly at her. “That’s the problem, Mirielle. I don’t believe you. I can tell you’re lying to me about something. I just don’t know what it is yet.”

I turned and headed back toward the businesses on the beach, ignoring Mirielle’s calls behind me.

This was for the best.

Chapter17

Mirielle

Just tell him! Tell him what you remember, and this can all go away!I scolded myself internally, while the pain of Zen leaving consumed me.

But I believed that this pain would all go away far less now than before. His mistrust was too deep-seated, and I had waited far too long to disclose what I’d remembered. The little bit of faith I’d managed to build between us had been murdered the minute I’d clammed up, and Zen was far too astute to overlook my lies.

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