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“She’s truly gifted, isn’t she?” I say.
“Yes. She’s a rare find, one I’m glad my father never had the chance to exploit.”
“You were good friends growing up?”
“Like Renard explained, Malik and Niall were acquaintances. Over the years we spent time with Thirteen. We were friends as much as we could be given the trauma we’d all endured...” His voice trails off as he stares off into the distance.
“What was she like as a child?”
“Much like she is now. Sweet. Cautious. Thoughtful. Kind. Strong.”
“Do you care about her?”
“That’s a difficult question to answer,” he says, frowning.
“How so?”
“Well, up until recently I didn’t care about anyone or anything other than my brothers, and even then those feelings were complicated,” he acknowledges. “I know I love my brothers. I’ve always known that, but I was never able to express that love in the right way, in a healthy way.”
“Do you want to be able to do that now?”
“I want to do many things, but I’m not sure how,” he answers honestly. “My default setting is violence and distrust, but I don’t want it to be.”
We fall into silence for a moment as we both contemplate that. Deciding that I have no advice to offer him, I change the subject. “Who is Thirteen running from?” I ask.
“What makes you think she’s running from anyone?”
“Just something my mother said in the letter she wrote to me.”
“Your mother wrote you a letter, too?” Leon stills, turning to face me.
“Yes. Thirteen gave it to me that day I came looking for you…” I wince at the memory, and what I did, the violenceIacted upon in a moment of blind rage.
Leon’s eyes widen with surprise. “She never said.”
“And if she had, what would you have done?” I ask, knowing full well that they would’ve punished her in some way and tortured me for answers.
“That’s a fair point,” he acknowledges. “What did the letter say?”
“Many things, but most of all my mother told me not to ignore fate, that I was destined to cross paths with you all and that I shouldn’t run from it, that if I did it would only cause more pain,” I pause, plucking at the rose petals, watching them float to the floor one by one. “She said she’d seen parts of my future, that you were bad men, cruel and wicked.”
“She wasn’t wrong,” Leon admits.
“But she also said that wasn’t all you were, that I’d been put into your paths for a reason and I should embrace that.”
“She told you to embraceus?”
“Yes. She believed that running away from my fate would be detrimental. She asked me not to make the same mistakes that she did.”
“What do you mean?”
“She never told me everything, but she said that she ran from her own fate and fell in love with someone she shouldn’t have.”
“Your father?”
“Yes, she believed she was punished because of it, and that denying her true destiny was what led to her eventual death.”
“I don’t understand.”
