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And as for my future with Marco… I believe it that we’ll figure it out. He came to find me after all this time. The feelings aren’t just still there: they are a hundred times stronger. And that’s all I need to know right now.
Finally, my dad releases me from his breath-stopping hug and leans down to whisper in my ear.
“I heard and I saw,” he repeats in a low voice, so that nobody can hear but me. “And I want you to know, I’m abdicating as soon as you are ready.”
“Ready for what?” I whisper back, my back suddenly covered in goose bumps.
“To be queen,” he says. “To be the queen.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Marco, still in his rigid posture, slowly smile. How is it possible that he heard?
“Dad, I can’t be queen, come on,” I say, and it comes out as a whimper.
Dad takes my hand and we start walking out of the room, towards the cold afternoon sun outside. I can see Hector’s silhouette inside the car.
“Oh, baby,” my dad says. “You already are.”
Breathing
AShelter MeEpilogue
“Can you believe exams are finally over?” Bianca exhales dramatically, flopping down on her narrow dorm bed.
“Right now I’m so sleep-deprived I can’t even believe how I’m still able to stand on my own two feet,” I reply around a huge yawn.
“You shouldn’t be.” Bianca pats the bed next to her.
I exhale deeply and I let my body dip into the mattress. My back aches from sitting and studying for so long.
“It hurts,” I murmur, closing my eyes.
“What hurts?” Bianca murmurs back, sounding as if she is drifting off to sleep.
“My brain,” I reply and she laughs.
“Just breathe,” she says softly. “I’m sure we’ll forget everything we learned in the next few seconds.”
I laugh too, but I listen to her advice, as I always do. I try to breathe.
But here’s a thing about breathing: It’s not as easy as you’d think.
Breathing.
Living.
Most people take it for granted. I don’t, not anymore.
Here is what I’ve learned in the past few months: I didn’t know what the opposite of being killed and hunted was. It turns out that it’s not surviving or even getting away. It’s breathing. Living. Every single moment, good or bad, hard or easy. Experiencing everything. Breathing in and out.
And that’s exactly what I am doing right now. In fact, it feels as if I am breathing for the first time in months.
The exams were torture, as were the weeks of missing my family, but both are over, and it feels like I am taking my first real breath of the year. I turn lazily to my desk and pat search blindly for my phone. I want to call Marco, but instead, the minute I touch it, the screen lights up with a text. It’s Angel.
I groan, but at the same time I can’t help the smile that splits across my face.
Angel: You done with your exams?
Olivia: Are you an idiot?
