AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah.”
“Face-to-face?”
“Yep.”
Kai lets out an intrigued huff. “She eluded authorities for thousands of years. It must’ve been strange to have her standing right in front of you. What was she like?”
“Cold. Enormously conceited. In control. She carries this arrogance with her, like she’s aware that she’s the most influential being in all the universes.”
“Of course she thinks that highly of herself,” Kai scoffs.
Lifting a shoulder, I say, “She’s not entirely wrong. Like you said, she avoided getting caught for millennia, then she escaped you all completely by taking refuge here.”
Not a fan of the fact that Merina bested him, Kai grunts with displeasure.
“It’s not your fault,” I defend him and all the others who tried to capture her. “She’s just too powerful. She’s shaped the course of history. She’s basically been writing the damn script of all our lives.”
Kai gives me a skeptical frown. “You’re definitely giving her too much credit. Sure, she’s cunning, and she has great talents, but she’s just a person.”
“A person who’s manipulated fate itself.”
“You’re wrong,” Kai disputes firmly. “Very wrong. No one can manipulate fate. Merina might think she’s running the show, but she’s fate’s puppet. She might not realize it, but she’ll get what’s coming to her. Destiny will pay her dues.”
I sigh forlornly. “I used to believe in that—in fate balancing the scales. Because I’ve seen it, you know? Like with Zander and the other princes. It took a long time and a lot of patience, but they got the best reward destiny could give them when their fated mates came along and broke their curses. Their love stories are like fairy tales.”
Kai visibly cringes. “Are you forgetting that King Zander found Queen Maelyn at one of those horrible auctions?”
“Of course I haven’t forgotten.”
“Or that he tricked her into marrying him? It wasn’t the most romantic start.”
“I mean, okay, Zander was wrong for that,” I concede. “It was extremely unchivalrous of him, but Maelyn was so rational and forgiving when I consoled her at the palace. After just a few days together, she already cared for him. She wasn’t angry with him anymore.”
“But you weren’t there the day we rescued her.” Kai’s tone is solemn as he recalls the difficult time. “She was terrified and devastated. She didn’t want to be with King Zander, and she made that quite clear. To her, life as she knew it was over when he took her.”
“Well, when you put it like that, it sounds like the worst meet-cute ever.”
“The point I’m trying to make is that she couldn’t see the reward coming her way. Her destiny was right in front of her, literally within arm’s reach, but she didn’t know it.”
I see where he’s going with this, the sneaky devil. “Are you saying I’m in that spot now?”
“Perhaps you are.”
I still have my doubts because of past experience. “Listen, I’ve spent way too much time thinking a better future was right around the corner, only to be disappointed when I realized nothing had really changed. When Zander finally killed his father, it was the happiest day of my life. I thought it would fix all my problems. Instead, I still felt stuck in a prison, only the bars caging me in weren’t physical. They were inside me, keeping me trapped in a body that doesn’t know how to live without fear.”
“But you went on a journey to Brazil all by yourself.” Kai brings up my impromptu vacation. “That took courage.”
I chuckle wryly. “Courage? I abandoned Zander without a goodbye. I couldn’t even say it to his face. I left a short note. It was cowardly and selfish.”
“And why did you leave?”
“I wanted to reconnect with my father and sisters, but mostly, I was trying to find myself again. I wanted to see if I could become the girl I used to be.”
“That’s the least selfish reason I can think of.”
“That’s just because you don’t know how much of a failure it was. It didn’t work. All my trip did was show me that I don’t belong. My old life is gone. I’ll never be who I was.”
“There’s nothing wrong with who you are now.”
