AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“She won’t,” I replied. “Not unless we save her.”
“She’ll allow fae to suffer because she does not trust us to do the right thing after she gives us what we want from her?” Kieran asked.
“I don’t think she knows how to trust others,” I replied and felt the girl’s involuntary affirmation. “And perhaps she knows that the queen won’t give us time to save her if she uses the queen’s weapon like that. The queen will know she betrayed her. She’ll take the weapon from her and perhaps kill her.”
Kieran pondered my words. “I guess. Can’t she destroy the weapon?”
Does he always expect others to do his bidding? The girl asked angrily. I should sacrifice myself to save the realms, and he gets to return to his palace—
He sacrificed himself for his realm before, I interrupted the girl as Kieran’s expression twitched with understanding.
“Are you talking to her right now?” Kieran asked.
He doesn’t fully grasp self-preservation, I told her quickly. I don’t think he expects you to sacrifice yourself so he can return to his life at the palace. He just knows that he would sacrifice himself without giving it a second thought if he were in your place.
So he’s an idiot, the girl said.
It wasn’t a question.
“Yes,” I replied to Kieran.
“And how can she reach you from so far away?” Dearen asked. “Mind magic doesn’t work like that, as far as I know.”
Here comes the lie, the girl said.
Maybe I won’t lie about it, I told her angrily.
I felt her touch again. I had no power to stop her as she reached into my mind and did something.
I opened my mouth to confess to my friends that I was slowly turning into a monster. No words came out.
What did you do? I asked.
I stopped you, she replied calmly. You told me not to mess with your mind, so I did not make you change your mind like I had been doing so far.
The realization hit me. You were the one who made me lie to my friends about me turning into a monster?
Yes, she said. You felt the urge to tell them everything as soon as I was inside your mind. I changed it with ease. You told me not to mess with your thoughts, so I am not doing it anymore. You simply can’t tell them this. They will not understand. Think of it like me covering your mouth with my hand; your mind is still yours.
“She won’t respond,” Kieran said. “I told you. She does not trust us.”
“I was asking her how she managed to do that,” I replied. “I told you she is inside my mind. We speak.”
“So, what is the answer?” Dearen asked. “How does she keep in touch from so far away?”
“She is using the monsters around us to reach me,” I said and felt the dark-eyed girl’s awe at the quick lie. “I was unable to talk to her during our journey so far. But once we reached the border town, she spoke to me again. And she says that we will always have our link in the in-between realms since there will be many monsters there.”
That’s actually very smart, the girl said. Perhaps I could have done that instead of using the weapon to transform you.
I tried to push down my anger toward her. Apparently, she had given me the taint of the monster without thinking of an alternative way to keep our contact.
Fiona stopped her horse. She had been riding in front of me, and when she stopped, I had to pull on my mare's reins not to clash with her.
“You’ve been reckless,” she said. “If you want to go on this journey by yourself, by all means, tell us, and we will go back.”
The others stopped too.
I watched their faces as they turned to me.
