Chapter 178: See who betrayed you.
~ Ava's POV ~
As we walked back through the corridors toward where Alexis was waiting, my legs felt weak beneath me. The visions from the silver pool kept playing in my mind. I wish I could turn it off.
I kept seeing Norelle's face when she realized Callie had betrayed her. The way her eyes went empty, like something inside her just died. The way she stopped fighting after that, just gave up completely.
My hands were shaking. I tried to hide it, but everything felt too real, too fresh. Like I had lived through every moment myself. Which, in a way, I had.
"I can't... I can't stop seeing it," I whispered to Lorraine as we walked. "Her face when she found out. The way she looked so broken."
Lorraine glanced at me with concern. "The visions are always hard the first time. They feel more real than real memories."
"But they were real," I said, my voice getting higher. "All of it happened. She went through all of that, and I spent three years hating her for it. Three Years thinking she was weak and stupid when she was actually trying to save everyone except herself."
I stopped walking and leaned against the stone wall. The cold felt good against my hot skin. "I don't understand any of this anymore, grandmother. Every time I think I know what's happening in my life, everything changes. Nothing makes sense."
It was true. First, I was just Ava, trying to survive in a pack and a world that seemed determined to crush me. Then I found out I was Norelle reborn. Then I learned I had these incredible powers. Then I discovered I was supposed to rule a kingdom. And now this, learning that everything I thought I knew about my past self was wrong.
"How am I supposed to handle all of this?" I asked, sliding down the wall until I was sitting on the cold floor. "How am I supposed to know what's right when everything keeps changing?"
Lorraine sat down beside me. "You handle it one step at a time, child. Just like she did."
"But she failed," I said bitterly. "She tried to save everyone and ended up dying alone in a chamber."
"Did she fail?" Lorraine asked quietly. "Or did she plant seeds that are only now beginning to grow?"
I looked at her, confused. "What do you mean?"
"You're here, aren't you? Her sacrifice, her choices, her love for her people, it all led to this moment. To you having another chance to finish what she started."
I felt tears starting again. "I feel so guilty, grandmother. All the years I spent hating her, calling her weak and foolish. She actually sacrificed everything, and I was cursing her name."
"You didn't know," Lorraine said gently. "I didn't show you everything in that pool, you know. Just enough to help you stop blaming yourself for her choices."
"There's more?" I asked, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to know or not.
"There's always more. But some truths are too heavy for one day. What you saw today was enough."
We sat in silence for a while. I tried to process everything, but it felt impossible. Like trying to hold water in my hands. Every time I thought I understood something, it slipped away.
When we finally made it back to where Alexis was waiting, I felt different. Raw. As if my skin had been peeled away and everything inside was exposed.
Alexis took one look at me and pulled me into a hug. "How are you holding up?"
"I don't know," I said honestly. "Everything I thought I knew was wrong."
"That's not true," Lorraine said firmly. "What you knew was incomplete. There's a difference."
We made our way to the study, and I was surprised to see Callie there, arranging flowers in a vase. When she saw us come in, she smiled brightly.
"Princess Ava! How was your walk with Lady Lorraine?"
The moment I saw her face, everything came rushing back. The vision, the betrayal, Norelle's broken expression. I couldn't help the way my whole body coiled up in disgust.
Callie noticed immediately. Her smile faltered. "Princess? Are you all right?"
I stared at her, and I could see it all playing out again in my mind. Callie bringing the drugged tea. Callie opening the door for the god realm's soldiers. Callie standing there with no emotion on her face as they chained Norelle up.
"You..." I started to say, then stopped myself. This wasn't the same person. This Callie didn't know what the other one had done. But looking at her face, that same kind expression, the same trusting smile, it made my stomach turn.
According to my grandmother, this Callie had been found when they went in search of Norelle's second past self. She didn't know who she was or what she was.
Because she had the Mesodomica features, they thought she might actually be the first Callie's daughter so they kept her and named her Callie to remind the royal family what the first Callie took away from them.
"I need some air," I said quickly, and started to leave the room.
"Ava, wait," Lorraine called after me.
But I couldn't stay there. Not with Callie looking at me like that. Not when I kept seeing the other Callie's face, cold and calculating as she betrayed the person who trusted her most.
I made it to the garden before Lorraine caught up with me. I was pacing back and forth, my hands still shaking.
"I can't look at her," I said when Lorraine approached. "I know it's not fair. I know she's not the same person. But every time I see her face, I see what the other one did."
"Ava," Lorraine said gently. "You can't blame this Callie for what happened in the past."
"Can't I?" I asked, whirling around to face her. "She has the same face, the same name, the same everything. How do I know she won't do the same thing?" Not that she has not tried, although that was a planned work.
" Why then did she tell me when we first met that she worked with Norelle?" What if Callie is the same Callie and she is just fooling them? What if she is still working with the gods of the third realm.
" Poor child, who hurt you so bad that you keep questioning everything?" I raised a brow at her question.
Who hurt me? A lot of people. I wanted to scream that but instead " Grandmother, I am only trying to be proactive, so I won't be used by someone else."
" I was the one that told Callie to act that way with you. I thought it would help you, trigger you if you saw her face. Remember who hurt you." I see.
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
