Page 45 of Lies That Blemish
I felt like I was unraveling.
“We all did,” Tetra said. “Because of this. Propaganda. We believed the papers, the investigation, our emperor.”
I swallowed hard. “How do I fix this? If I show people this to clear Kohen’s father’s name, they’ll think my family name is tainted. They’ll hang me.”
Tetra nodded. “I think you need to let the past be the past for now. But there is something you can fix, someone I think you owe an apology to. I think Kohen saved your life, Aisling. As painful as it was, in the way he did it…”
I nodded. The tears hadn’t stopped. I was questioning how anyone could have this much water in their body.
“I’ve said too many awful things to him. I’ve bombed half his country and burned most of it, too.” I shook my head. “He won’t forgive me.”
“Why don’t you let him say that or not?”
“I can’t face him. I’m ashamed of what my father did.” I hugged my arms. “I’m ashamed of how I acted.”
“You didn’t know. He should have found a way to prove this to you without killing your father.”
I shook my head. “I wouldn’t have listened. My father was my idol. I’m just now realizing that.”
“Go to Kohen. Tell him what you know and take it from there,” she said.
We stood, and I pulled her in for a hug and wiped at my cheeks, finally feeling the tears subside.
“I love you,” I told her.
“I love you, too.” I could hear the smile in her voice.
When I pulled back, she was beaming.
“What?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I like who you’ve become without your father. You’re a strong, self-assured woman.”
“Aww,” I joked and pinched her cheeks like a grandmother would. She rolled her eyes.
“I’ll wake you the second I get home,” I told her.
“You better!” she called out as I ran to the back door to see if Liana was still in the backyard.
‘Liana, I need you to contact Kohen.’
‘I already have. I told him you want to meet. He said to come to him. I know where they are. Some village in Imbria.’
Imbria? That was dangerous for me. His people would likely kill me if they saw me.
‘He said he’s alone but for one other. You will be safe. He promised.’
Was he expecting me? Did he know I was coming to apologize?
Nerves ate at my stomach as I walked outside, my mind still spinning with the fact that my father was responsible for themurder of thousands of Amerseans. And worse, he’d pinned it on someone else in order to take over their country.
Kohen’s dad was killed because of a lie. Kohen lost his right to the crown and the nice life he and his brothers should have had because of my father.
Lies. Lies. Lies. That’s all I’d been sold my entire life.
‘You’re smoking,’Liana said.
I looked down at the skin of my arms, and sure enough, she was right. I felt like I would explode with rage. Had my father been alive right now, I would have killed him myself.
