Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Malakai
Ophelia’s face on the day I left had haunted me for over two years.
Her dimmed eyes, usually so full of exhilaration and life, had searched mine for a hint of what plagued me.
Her lips had pulled between her teeth, as she always did when she fought back words from that argumentative mind.
Her drooping cheeks and stature, unbreakable grip around me, every inch of her body lurching to hold me back.
And that last request…Come back to me…
Like a part of her knew that I wouldn’t return, but she stifled it to allow me the chance at my destiny.
I loved the fire that burned within her, but I was glad she held it back that day.
Should she have voiced her concerns, I’m not sure how well my resolve would have held against her.
It had already cracked each time I looked at her, lies leaving my lips.
I hated deceiving her, and that day leading up to my birthday, on the Angel fountain, the truth was on the tip of my tongue.
But then I thought of what sharing that truth would do.
Not to the other parties involved, not even to myself, but to her.
If she knew the whole story, she would have broken.
A swell of guilt so powerful it could wreck an Angel would have engulfed her.
Yes, she would have fought her way out of it, formidable as she was, but I know the path she would have taken then. It was not one I could accept.
So, I bit my tongue, tasting the shame of the lie as it spread through me, and learned to lock my heart behind iron bars. I said goodbye to the one person whose soul was wrapped around my own. We were one in so many ways, on a path together since the day we met.
Or so we thought.
All that time, another force had been at work, and it had other plans in mind for our paths. This—these chains, this cave, this torture—was mine. I could have told Ophelia the truth before I left, but the decision to tie myself to this path was mine to make. So, I had lied, and she had let me go.
It was another reason I loved Ophelia. She argued with the world, but when it came to me, she knew when not to push.
The trust built between us since childhood ran deep, deeper than the blood in my veins and the Bind upon my chest. We each had a silent understanding of how the other’s mind, heart, and soul worked.
Though I knew I made the right choice in hiding my secrets from her, a storm cloud of regret hovered over me.
What did she think of me? I’d never know.
We would never be reunited, but my final wish was that she knew the truth.
I wished I had told her on my eighteenth birthday before I said goodbye forever so that we might travel our paths with clear understanding between us.
I should have shared that final piece so that at the very least, she would know where I was.
So that she would not be ashamed of my failures.
I only hoped that despite it all, she was happy.
Though I hated myself for it, I would do it again. Because what I did, I did for her. I would do anything for her.
She may never know it, but it was all for her.