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I couldn’t fully understand his meaning, but my mind was too frazzled to understand much at all.
“It would explain your human obsession to protect your family,” Jacques continued. “Just as Luc’s adulterous soul would be obsessed with romantic love.”
I looked at Luc, who now looked like a complete stranger. It wasn’t just the wings. There was something about him that was now somehow mature and battle-scarred, as if all the lives he once lived had caught up to him. Something flickered in his eyes as he looked at me, his mouth gaping as if he had just seen me swallow a bee. I couldn’t understand why he was suddenly looking at me in such a way.
I didn’t have a chance to ask.
“But your sins have been cleansed,” Jacques said, squeezing my arm to get my attention. “And you have a decision to make.”
I glanced at the platform in the middle of the lake where Luc had received his wings. It was somehow drawing me in, a clueless moth to an eternal flame.
“I can’t,” I managed to whisper out.
His eyebrow bounced, unamused. “I had a feeling you’d say that.”
“It’s just too much information at once,” I replied. “I don’t understand what’s happening…”
“If she waits too long, she may slip into the next life still cursed,” Hugo commented.
“Yes, but to make any decision in haste could be tragic for all of us,” Vito replied.
King Melchior stepped forward, approaching both Jacques and myself.
“Esmeralda…” he said gently, “come with me for a moment.”
He held out his elbow, nodding for me to accept the invitation. I took his arm mindlessly, wrapping my fingers around his biceps. The touch was warm and nostalgic, like a childhood blanket wrapped around my shoulders.
Hugo and Vito followed behind us as Luc and Jacques stayed in the throne room. The king led me into the maze of halls, taking one slow deliberate step after the other. Vito and Hugo stayed ten feet behind us, walking in unison.
“I know you, don’t I?” I asked, looking up at King Melchior.
His lips pulled to the side in a fake, confused smile. “What makes you ask that?”
“Because Luc spoke to you as if he knew you. And when I touch your arm, I feel like I should know you too.”
The king paused for a long moment before answering.
“I know all my people,” he said, “from the moment they came into existence, and even in every human body they reincarnate to. We knew each other once, yes. And should you take your wings again, you will recognize me.”
I swallowed, sighing. “I feel like I’m split in two, Your Majesty. I can’t understand any of this.”
He stopped, turning to face me with a warmth in his eyes I felt was unearned.
“I won’t force you to return to us,” he said gently. “I won’t force you in any direction. Our den is missing one without you, but I understand that your human home is missing one as well.”
I swallowed and nodded. “You’ve been very good to me, Your Majesty. But my father has been good to me too. I don’t know if I could live for an eternity knowing I abandoned him.”
He gave an amused smile.
“You are not the first to have such anguish,” he said, “and you won’t be the last. It’s difficult to let go of the only life you’ve ever known for a life you know nothing about.”
I was at a loss for words, overwhelmed by both his kindness and his wisdom.
“Take your time,” he said. “Should you desire your wings, all you need to do is ask. But remember that should you pass away in your human body in this life, you’ll be sent to another human body immediately, with no recollection of any of this.”
Something pained my heart to hear such a thing, yet I wasn’t sure why. I only knew of this place since yesterday. How could I be so homesick for it when I hadn’t known it?
“Your Majesty?” I asked. “Do you think I could find this place again if I passed into the next life?”
