82. Loveleena #2
“No, I mean, why did she get to go with the Alvas?” Zeina simmered, shoving a finger at Loveleena.
“Ash got word of your mother’s pregnancy, and your parents…
” Ren shifted on his feet. “Your parents were in danger. There’s nothing that man wants more than Veloria magic.
And triplets? That man would do anything to get it.
Cruel, unfathomable things. Your parents were so worried for your safety.
They didn’t trust the Astorian community to protect you, since we were regularly under attack at that time.
So, they hid you in Jarrah and told everyone you died upon birth.
They tried to leave you where they knew you’d be taken care of.
But they had to separate you to keep you safe.
If you all showed up with nobles, it would be pretty obvious.
Ash was looking for three babies, not one.
And you were safe if no one knew who you were.
They didn’t have time to be picky, and not long after…
” Ren trailed off, and Lennox looked at Ahmina, pain in his eyes.
“Not long after what?” Zeina approached Ren, then shifted her intensity to Lennox. She looked crazed, her hands and feet bare and black from the forest. “Where are they?”
“They’re gone.” It was only a whisper when Lennox said it.
“Not long after they disappeared,” Ren added before his eyes grew distant. “We believe Ash murdered them.”
“Why did we get aliases and not Zeina?” Ahmina asked, confused.
“I had one.” Zeina spoke softly, as if piecing it together. “But when my parents died, I was left on the streets with nothing but my birth certificate. It said Veloria, so I went by that.”
They sat in silence for a moment, each digesting what they’d learned.
Loveleena had lived her whole life as noble, unaware of the complex history that led to Jarrah, or what was happening beyond the wall.
Out of everyone, surely, nobility should have the privilege to know.
She couldn’t believe how sheltered she had been.
All that time, she was so concerned about escaping her life, not realizing it was what kept her protected—meanwhile there was a literal war going on right under their noses.
“Ash brands his crimes as ‘magical freedom’ and he’s on a war path to syphon as much magic as possible. Ash captured some of our people to steal their magic and we’ve been trying to free them ever since,” Ren said, eyes locked on her.
“Park?” she choked out. Ren stared back, confirming her thoughts. Park hadn’t run off into the forest as a madman, and he hadn’t been caught freeing traitors.
He had been captured by Ash Veloria and was close by all year, aiding Barrow in his sick plans to steal Ahmina’s magic.
“Tell them the rest,” Ren said sternly to Lennox. “They should know it all.”
Lennox’s eyes glazed over, and it was a long while before he spoke. “Park and I became friends last year, and Park joined our mission to restore magic.”
“I tried to keep him out of it. I really did.” Lennox gave Loveleena a sympathetic look. “But there was no stopping him. He believed in the cause so deeply, and we needed all the help we could get.”
Of course Park would be a part of the revolution to restore magic. Loveleena beamed with pride.
“Things were going really well. Park’s magic had awakened, and he became an advanced channeler quickly. Unfortunately, Ash’s people caught on, ambushed us, and captured Park,”
“Just like he took my siblings Leo and Natalia years ago,” Ren added.
“Why them?” Ahmina questioned, curious.
“It’s a long story.”
“Where are they now?” Loveleena asked impatiently. “Barrow has to be keeping Park around here somewhere, right? And maybe he can tell us where your family is.”
Ren leaned forward, elbows on knees, defeated. “We don’t know. That’s why I haven’t told you anything, Alva. Because I don’t fucking know. And even telling you all of this now puts them at more of a risk. Don’t you get it? Ash has my family.”
“Park is my family too!” she yelled.
Ren didn’t look up as he said it. “We had to get Park out of the Academy because Barrow caught on. His magic had awakened so quickly. We thought he was safe with us, I mean, he was safe with us until…”
Until he was captured.
Something broke inside of her and filled her with deep rage.
“He’s being used by Barrow, who is a mentally deranged psychopath by the way, all this fucking time and you didn’t even tell me.
Who knows what that man has subjected him to!
” Before she knew it, her hands were wrapped around Ren’s throat, her fingers cutting into his soft flesh.
She could strangle him. Ren didn’t even fight it.
It was Lennox who pulled her off. “No need to kill anyone today,” he said brightly.
Tension grew behind her eyes and before she could stop it, her face was wet with tears. “You knew this whole time and you let me run around this Goddess-dammed campus like an idiot looking for him.” She seethed. Spit flew from her mouth as she spoke. She didn’t care. She was livid.
“I couldn’t tell you, Alva. It would have put you at risk. Did you not just hear me say that? And we didn’t know where Park was.”
“I wouldn’t have told anyone! You could have trusted me!”
“You don’t think I wanted to tell you!? I did!” Ren met her intensity. “You would have gone off to find him and gotten yourself killed and you know it!”
Loveleena fell to her knees. At some point, Ahmina’s shaky hands wrapped around her, draping her in a hug, and shortly after, Zeina’s too.
Loveleena barely registered her surroundings; she was all-consumed with grief and she let it pour out of her.
She hadn’t truly cried since she first heard Park was missing, and once she started, she couldn’t stop.
“I am sorry, Alva. Really,” was all Ren said.