Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 88265 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88265 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Reaching out, I take his hand. “What happened?”
Finally, the mask drops. Anger contorts his features. “I know who sent you to Earth, and I think I know why you got so sick when you arrived there.”
My heart starts pounding as I stare at him. “That’s what made you so upset?”
Calculation crosses over his face. “Do not say that was because of you.”
Despite my best effort to hide my perturbation, I can’t help how breathless my reply sounds. “I wasn’t going to say that.”
He pins me with a look, cutting me open and seeing right through me. “But that’s what you’re thinking.”
I’m thinking a lot of things, starting with, surprisingly, that I care. Aruan’s pain is like white-hot coals smoldering in my stomach. All I want is to take it away. I don’t even know when it happened. I only know I don’t want him to suffer. And yes, I’m thinking that it’s my fault. If not for me, he wouldn’t lose control of his power like that.
The disasters he set off today because someone banished me send more shivers down my spine. If I stay, it’s a risk. But if I leave, it will be just as perilous, if not more so.
My ribcage constricts, squeezing the air from my lungs as the impossible situation stares me in the face.
“It’s not your fault, Elsie.” A muscle ticks in his jaw. “I’ll get a better handle on my control. It won’t happen again.”
That’s not something he can guarantee, and I don’t want him to make promises he may break, but we’re getting sidetracked. “Was it your mother? Is that what she wanted to talk to you about?”
The set of his mouth hardens. “She wanted to talk about your power, which poses a risk if you don’t use it responsibly, but I wanted answers.”
“She admitted it,” I say with a tremulous exhale.
He rubs his thumb over my knuckles. “She thinks your body was put back together wrongly when she sent you through the portal, seeing that you were only a baby.”
“That’s why I was dying?”
His eyebrows snap together, drawing deep lines over his forehead. “We believe so. Coming back to Zerra reversed the process.”
I look down at my body. “Which explains why my old scars are gone and why my heart isn’t failing any longer.”
As incredible as it sounds, it does make sense.
My mind starts working a mile a minute, digesting what this means about these parallel worlds. If that’s the case, it would explain how traveling through a portal is possible. The atoms making up our bodies are deconstructed on one side and reassembled on the other side of the time and space that’ve been bent.
This is incredible.
I’m so caught up in the mind-boggling discovery that I almost forget why we’re having this conversation. The dark expression with which Aruan continues to stare at me gives me pause.
“I’m not dying, am I?” I ask quickly.
He lets go of my hand and cups my cheek. “No, Elsie. You’re not dying. If anything, you’re getting stronger. What you did with your power today was proof alone.”
“Then why are you still upset?”
“I’m angry about the time that’s been stolen from us. I’m furious with my mother for taking you from me. My own family betrayed me.”
I search his eyes. “Why did she do it? Was it because of the prophecy?”
“Yes,” he says with gritted teeth. “And for that, I’ll never forgive her. I vowed the guilty party would pay, and I never break an oath.”
“What are you going to do?” I pull away. “She’s your mother, Aruan.”
He drops his arms to his sides. “She claimed to have banished you out of love for me and to save your life, but what she did was cruel and inexcusable.”
Empathy compels me to say, “I’m not happy about the situation I find myself in either, but I’m sure she loves you. Parents sometimes make the wrong decisions when they try to protect us, doing things they think are in our best interest even though we disagree.”
He studies me with a perceptive gaze. “You’re speaking from experience.”
I shrug. “My parents didn’t want me to study. They thought I was just wasting the little time I had left. They didn’t understand why it was important to me.”
“Then why do you still want to see them?”
“Because I love them, and that will never change.”
He considers my statement for a moment. “You’re not angry with them.”
“They sometimes annoy me like all parents irritate their kids at times, but they do what they do because they care about me.”
He narrows his gaze. “Are you saying my mother shouldn’t be held accountable for her actions?”
“I’m saying that there are always two sides to a story and that you shouldn’t judge her too harshly for acting in what she believed was your best interest.”
His eyes flare. “You’re defending her.”