AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Alice is how. She placed a soul in the well. Jade’s soul. I don’t know why she did it, but I’m going to find out.” Without another word, I vanish.
With my keep protected, I can do what needs to be done. I’ll become what everyone has thought of me. I’ll be the traitor. The monster. I’ll embrace it for her.
The stairs of Hell Hold face me, and the longer I stare at the front door, the more my blood boils.
Jade and I knew there would come a day that she’d die, that I’d outlive her. She’d told me the night we got engaged that if something ever happened, should she grow old and die, or otherwise, that she never wanted to be returned to the Soul Well. She wished to be contained, saved, until I could be reborn with her. So that we might find one another again in the next life and not risk being reborn at different times.
Her wishes were taken away from her the day she died, when I was labeled a traitor to the crown and made a fugitive. I didn’t know what became of her soul while I was trapped in the prison world, but I’d found it after the war. Alice promised me she’d keep it safe. That when the time came, Jade’s wishes would be honored.
But she lied.
Valeria is proof of that.
The smell of roses storms through my senses as I climb the stairs and throw open the door to the castle. Fury rages within me, for the deception, for Valeria, for Jade. I want answers and I’m not stopping until I get them.
One of the servants meandering through the keep spots me and drops into a bow. “My Lord, I’m sorry. We weren’t expecting you back so soon.”
I yank the man closer to me, feeling my eyes flicker between demon and man. “Where’s the fucking queen?”
“In the gardens,” he stammers, his frail body trembling in my grip.
I don’t wait for him to get out his terms of respect before dropping the man and heading toward the back door of the castle. Finn and Eva are seated in the dining hall, but neither of them speak as they watch me stalk through the room and out the back doors.
The moment I step outside, the scents of flowers slam into me. Alice's fiery red hair comes into view and I shout over the courtyard, ensuring she can hear me over the distance. “Tell me you didn’t!” My voice echoes through the twisted paths of roses.
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” she says, arching a manicured eyebrow. Her ruse won’t fool me. Even from across the garden, I can see her lips twitch up into a knowing smirk.
Leave it to her to smile. I just said goodbye to the woman who’s had my heart for centuries. “How fucking dare you?” My feet float down the steps as I close the distance between us. It’s not until I round the last bush that I see my niece and nephew sitting by her feet. I inhale deeply, straightening my spine. “I was not aware the children were here.”
Two sets of eyes stare up at me, contrasting their bright red hair as Maevie leans toward her brother and mumbles, “He said fuck…” and I can’t help but smile. Though the amusement is gone in seconds.
My hand scrubs over my jaw for a moment as I pace away, only to come back. “Why?” I ask, carefully choosing my words. “Why did you do it?”
“Because even you deserve your happy ending.” Alice leans in close, whispering the last bit so the kids don’t hear. “Don’t fucking waste it.”
“Waste it? It’s a bit late for that, isn’t it? She’s in the Elven Islands and my life is bound to the treaty that put her there.”I toss my hands up, my mouth falling open, but nothing else comes out.
“I tried to stop it, but it’s what you both wanted.” She presses her lips together and turns her gaze to the sky for a moment. “I thought I could give you a chance at happiness. You looked so miserable. I’d scried and saw the two of you together, and gods, Asmo… If you could see it. It might look messy now, but it will get better. I can’t tell you how. You know how this works. If I tell you before you’re supposed to know, then it could alter things. If I steer you away from the fated path with what I know, then it could change everything, but this is how it’s supposed to be.”
She’s right. I know exactly how this works. I learned such when I’d tried to scry a future where I didn’t exist and lost my eye to ether. It was a damn miracle that Alice was able to get it back, but I still lived like that for decades, one eye seeing the present, the other seeing the past, the future, and everything in between. I’ve played this game, wondering if I could play god and use what I knew to alter courses that were painted by fate. It hardly ever works out well.
Alice couldn’t tell me what she had done, because the path she’d set in motion was promising. Telling me might’ve changed that outcome.
“I fucking hate scrying. It should be outlawed,” I say, quiet enough so the kids can’t hear me. “Promise me you’ll stop doing it now that the treaty has been made.”
“I promise.” She nods, blinking long and hard. “No more. Honestly, the only reason I did it wasn’t to protect my people, it was to protect your future.”
“You could’ve died. All it takes is one mistake, one stray thought, and your soul is gone. You’d risk that for my happiness? You’d let your kids grow up without a mother?”
Tears brim her eyes as she looks away for a moment. “Yes, because they won’t have one without you. You’re the reason I’mstill here. The least I can do is ensure your existence isn’t spent wallowing in your own shame because of something you couldn’t control.” She shoves a finger at my chest. “You loved her, I know. But I can’t bring Jade back, Asmo. This is the best I can do.”
My eyes drop to my feet. “I can’t leave her there.”
“I know.” She cups my face, bringing my gaze back to her’s. “I know you can’t. And I want you to know that I trust you. Whatever you do from this moment forward, I know is to save her. I won’t hold it against you.”
“Brother!” Kai’s voice sounds behind me, and I turn, letting him get an eyeful of the frown on my face. “I was told you arrived. I thought you were staying at Grim’s Keep?” He grins, flashing his perfectly white teeth. “It worked. The treaty has been finalized.”
Finn… Of course he’d blab to him that I came back.
