AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I don’t know.” I turn to Prince Rinan and Prince Arlys. “You believe me, don’t you?”
Instantly, Prince Rinan looks away, suddenly staring at the ground.
Prince Arlys meets my gaze, and his voice comes out cold. “This illness has to have been caused by your mother. Are we really to believe you don’t know anything about it?”
They really think I’m tied up in making them sick. The notion fills me with unease. “If you think my mom created this illness, then why are you trusting me to fix it?”
Prince Arlys’s words are measured. “Because we don’t have a choice. It isn’t like a shifter can cure witch magic.”
Good to know they’ve chosen this route out of desperation. “I don’t know anything about this, but I’m trying to help.”
“Are you?” Prince Drogo asks, his voice cold.
For a minute, I remember the kind man who had held me after my nightmare. It appears that man is nowhere to be found now.
“Yes.”
He moves even closer and grasps my chin roughly, forcing me to look into his dark eyes. “If you can’t find a solution to this illness, you’re going to feel every ounce of pain you’ve caused our people. Do you understand me?”
Prince Rinan and Prince Arlys each grab an arm and yank Prince Drogo back from me. My heart pounds, and my hands tremble. Their patience is getting thin. Whatever miracle I need to have happen to figure this out, it needs to be soon.
EIGHT
Tara
Branches slap my arms as I run through the woods, far from the forge and everyone who hates me. Tears run down my face. I don’t cry. I never cry. I hate this. The tears feel like fire on my skin, and I can’t seem to wipe them away fast enough.
And I'm strangely angry too... another emotion I don’t feel often. Only, I'm angry at myself. Crying is what weak people do. I’m not weak.
I hate myself for this. I hate how pathetic I am.
I’m exactly what my mother always said I am. Pathetic and useless.
A sob explodes from my throat, and it’s hard to breathe. My mom, it seems, has unleashed an illness on these shifters that she’s promised them I can fix, even knowing that I can’t.
For what? Why would she do this? Just to ensure I fail here too?
I finally come to the river where the boat and the bridge are. This spot has become my new happy place, even though I’ve only been here once. Now though, it’s just one of the only places I can go to escape the princes, which makes this spot a little sad too.
My heart is heavy with the weight of everything that’s happened, and I’m exhausted and overwhelmed. It’s like my legs don’t want to keep me up, and my whole body is just tired from having to keep me together. I can hear a thousand names the witches had called me. I can feel the whip on my back and my mom’s ugly words. My vision is filled with the sight of the princes when I realized that none of them really trusted me.
“Does no one like me?” The words explode from my lips.
I collapse onto the grassy bank beside the river, my body wracked with sobs. My energy is spent, my mind is frazzled, and I’m not sure how much more I can take. I close my eyes, trying to block out the sound of the woods and the thoughts running through my head. I just need a moment to breathe and gather my strength.
A moment to push this all down and be me again. The version of me that’s strong. That doesn’t let anyone hurt me.
Wisp lands on my shoulder and tugs on my ear to get my attention. I sniffle and turn to face her as she hovers to my left.
“Hi,” I say, between sniffs and gasps of breath. “You like me, don’t you?”
Wisp lifts her little eyebrows at me, as if to ask what’s wrong.
How can I possibly explain it? I take deep breaths, trying to push down thoughts of my mother and the other witches, of my punishments, and instead focus on the current problem. The princes and the Illness. Not just that, but my expected role in it all.
Wiping tears from my face is pointless, because more fall before I can stop them. “They think I know what’s killing them, but I don’t. I don’t know anything about it. I didn’t even know they were dying.”
Wisp repeats softly, “You didn’t even know.”
