Page 35 of Lies That Blemish
“I hate you!” I screamed into his face as tears filled my eyes. “I hate that I can’t trust anything you say.”
“And I love you!” he yelled back. “I hate that you are so brainwashed you actually think my father was a bad man, and yours was good.”
His words hurt, but at this point, I was numb inside.
“Just tell me what you saw so that I can go home, Kohen.” I wanted to get the hell out of here. This hadn’t gone as I’d planned. I was emotional and no longer had the upper hand.
He tried to step closer, and I stepped back. He nodded as if he should have expected that.
“In one vision, I saw Valor and her new bonded dead.”
I gasped, bile rising in my throat. Of all the things I thought he would say, I never expected that.
“In another, I saw Victory taken hostage to Luska instead of Valor killed,” he stated as if that would be a better option.
My heart rattled my ribcage like a drum. “Please tell me there was a third option,” I whimpered.
His face went slack, and his eyes lost their brightness. “There is a scenario where I see all of your sisters living until they have gray hair and children of their own.”
“Oh, thank the stars!” I breathed. “How do I get that version of events to come true?” I begged him.
There was agony written across his face then. “You marry Maxim Vlek.” His voice was void of emotion.
His words were shocking, and I let them linger for a moment.
‘There has to be another way. Ask him,’Liana growled into my mind. I knew how she felt about Maxim, that he was evil. In no way did I want to marry him, ever.
“Liana wants to know if there is any other way,” I asked Kohen.
He looked up at me with a fire in his eyes. “I’ll make a way.”
I scoffed. That wasn’t realistic.
I saw Kohen’s gaze linger on the gold band on my finger. He swallowed hard.
“Did you read my letters?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Some of them.”
Why was I still here? I should leave. He’d told me what I needed to know. I should fly home and lock all three of my sisters in the underground base at Sky Reach.
“Are you at least looking for the truth about your father?” Kohen asked, “Or have you just given up on me, on us?”
I didn’t know why that question affected me so deeply. A sob formed in my throat, and I had to choke it down.
“Kohen,” I said through my emotion, “I gave up on us the night I found out that you killed my father in cold blood and then held me while I cried about it. If you love someone, you don’t cause them that kind of pain. It’s selfish.”
Kohen closed his eyes, dropping to his knees and hanging his head as if deep in prayer, as if the weight of my words had just physically struck him.
‘I want to go now,’I told Liana. She moved behind me, where she’d been talking to Onyx. I slid my leg over her, and Kohen glanced up at me. What I saw in his eyes scared me. He looked dead inside.
“I hope you find out the truth about your father. A truth even I can’t tell you, or you would never believe me. A truth so dark it would make you want to have killed him yourself.”
I rolled my eyes, and Liana kicked off the ground, heading for my sister’s house. He was such a good liar, so good with the dramatics.
‘What truth is he talking about?’I asked Liana.
‘I don’t know, but his energy looks like he’s on death’s door,’she admitted.
