32. Khol
KHOL
“Would I follow her?”
- KHOL’S PERSONAL JOURNAL
Iwatched her tall figure retreat until she was lost within the crowd. What had I done? Asking her to stay with me? I had never been more selfish in my life. I knew what staying here was doing to Raya, I could see the unease that sat just beneath her skin. Like a decision that needed to be made. I could try to reason with my mother, demand she release Raya. Surely, she was not the monster Raya thought she was.
I walked across the room quickly, carefully avoiding Nora’s sultry stare and Elijah’s warning gaze, attempting to remain the always elegant heir to The Temple while letting my long legs eat up the ground beneath me.
“Have you seen Mother?” I caught Ottie by her arm as she swirled past me. She paused, noting the urgency in my voice.
“Just a moment ago, I believe, talking to a guard about something or other.” She pulled her arm from my grip, swishing onto the dance floor yet again.
Looking for my mother, I came up empty handed. She wasn’t even in the room. Neither was my father or their closest advisors.
“Where is my mother?” I caught the collar of the guard Ottie pointed to as he attempted to hurry past me.
“I do not know, my lord,” he spoke, and I scoffed at the title.
“Where?” I demanded, my gaze burning hot and unforgiving, I dipped into his head and forced the answer from his lips.
“In her office but she is not to be disturbed,” he stiffened his upper lip. “My lord.”
I dropped his collar and headed for the thick wooden doors ahead. Pushing them open with enough force to splinter them, I strode down the hall.
Pacing outside of her office doors, a speech formed in my mind.
She was still my mother, surely, she cared about my feelings.
Rafael popped into my mind. Perhaps not.
But soon voices joined me in the lonely hall. A maid scuttled out of my mother’s office leaving the office door open, just a crack.
“…if the people find out about this,” my mother scoffed. “The girl will be made into some sort of hero. You and I both know that she is dangerous and that she could be this Continent’s undoing.” Her words were sharp and cutting.
“But Ezra, she could also be the one to end this war, to bring light to the darkness that had plagued us for years,” a strong voice interrupted. It took me a moment to realize that it was my father’s.
“You saw her with Khol tonight,” my father spoke again. “If she is the one to fulfil The Prophesy like you say she will, wouldn’t it be in our best interests to have Khol by her side?”
My heart stopped in my chest.
The Prophesy.
When I had mentioned it to Raya all those weeks ago, it was a passing thought, something absurd and fantastical that belonged in my sister’s story books.
My mother truly believed Raya could fulfil the Prophesy.
The champagne in my stomach turned and curdled.
“She will not fulfil the prophesy, that I know for sure,” my mother’s voice was laced with hate and iron and something akin to jealously.
“It is to be done tonight,” my mother’s voice got louder and quieter as I pictured her pacing around the room. “The world will have to find another person to be their savior.” She heaved a sigh.
“It is decided. Raya will be dead before sunrise.”
My heart sped up, beating so fast I thought it would jump out of my chest.
Raya had been telling the truth.
My mother had never wanted her to be part of our world, of our family. Her own jealously fueled a hatred that burned hotter than the fire Raya summoned in her hands.
I had known she was different; known she was more than just a late blooming Sorcerer. Raya was special and everyone who met her knew it.
I had known it. The moment I had met her.
Reality slammed into my chest as the last few moments settled into my mind. All her life Raya hadn’t understood why her village had been burned, why her mother was murdered, and she was spared. But now it all makes sense.
Now I knew why her life had been saved, why she has been searching for something untouchable for so long.
She was our rightful ruler. She was made to end the war.
Raya was a Celestial Queen.