AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Olympia paused, her throat working as she considered her words.
“And you learned under his tutelage?” she asked as gently as she dared.
I glanced past her shoulder at a small solar lamp that burned a warm orange.
“We are the product of our parents,” I said quietly. “Sometimes I wonder how much I inherited from him. Not just his features but his other genetic qualities.”
“Would these qualities be the very same ones that made the people of Agnivale celebrate his death?”
Although quiet, her question slid between my ribs with the effect of a sharpened knife. I struggled for a response, my lungs emptying with a harsh whistle.
“I remember him, you know,” Olympia said, her fingers ghosting over my jacket with a friendly pat. “He was always loud and blustery anddemanding.He used to order your poor mother around as though she was his maid and not his mate.”
“Youdoremember,” I said with some surprise.
“Of course,” Olympia agreed. “Some of my best memories were here in this palace. With you, not with your narcissistic father.”
“What memories do you have of me?”
“Of us,” she corrected. “Just foolish things.”
“Tell me.”
Olympia’s eyes widened. I had taken several steps forward, closing the distance between us. I chose to believe it was an unconscious decision—letting her aura draw me close into the comfort of her presence.
Her gaze sparked with cinnamon flecks, and I knew her powers simmered just under the surface.
I wondered if my own eyes were lit with red-gold embers.
“Your closeness can be misconstrued as aggression, Zoei,” she said, bracing a palm against my chest to hold me back. A smirk tilted the corners of my lips as I pressed closer, feeling each finger digging into the fabric of my jacket.
“Some might misconstrue it,” I acknowledged.
My fingers ghosted over hers, tracing the nails, knuckles, joints, and pausing at the map of slight veins.
“But not you,” I concluded. “You wouldn’t misconstrue my closeness.”
Her lips parted as though a rebuttal was queued on her tongue. After a moment’s pause, she shook her head instead, glancing away.
“So, tell me, Olympia,” I urged, the tips of our boots touching as I struggled not to move closer. “What memories do you have of us?”
“Just… Um…” She bit her lip, leaving tiny indents on the pronounced curve.
My spirit stirred, called to life by Olympia’s hesitance.
I hardly knew what my intentions were. Perhaps I wished to dig a little deeper and remove the adult facade she wore so well. The practiced smiles, the coordinated and fashionable clothes, the words that seemed rehearsed—I wanted them all gone, wiped away with sincerity. Ineededto see remnants of the old Olympia, the one who had held my hand when the skies got rough, huddled close for warmth on cool mornings, and stuttered when an unexpected question was thrown her way…
The one who had been pulled away from my side without explanation or warning in the middle of a summer night, never to be heard from again.
“Hello?”
At the sound of a soft voice, I let Olympia’s hand drop from my chest. My jaw clenched hard as disappointment let itself be known.
“Is someone out there?”
A shadow appeared behind Olympia, blocking out the reedy streamer of light that poured from the library.
I resisted the urge to step forward, reminding myself that Olympia was an Alpha withpowers.She could protect herself, especially from a soft-voiced assailant emerging from a pile of books.
