Once Upon a Time... linkup: Forgiveness

It's the 3rd Once Upon a Time... linkup!!! Last week I had my first linkers (don't know if that's a word, but you never know. ;). So here's a mighty THANK YOU to Cait and Mime over at Notebook Sisters.


Without further kerfuffle (itn't tha an awesome word!), welcome to the next linkup!

The prompt for today is: forgiveness.

This selection is from my new fantasy, The Last Scribe.

 

Here's a peek at the setting:

A deep, inky darkness.

Small flames in a dying campfire.

An unwanted revelation.

 

Word count: 471
Ó Pure Grace

“I am the last scribe. And I was running away.”

Mikailah’s face is immobile. It means nothing to her. Nothing at all. I am going to have to start, from the very beginning. Where is the beginning?

What should I do, Unseen?

Tell her who she is.

“Mikailah,” I begin, my voice wavering and timid. “There is a reason you and your family have been deep in the Woodland for so many years. It is not because they are forest people. It is because they have been hiding, waiting.”

“From what, Breem? Why?” she demands, her face going pale. Her hand is fiddling with that lock of hair, twisting, pulling, twirling.

“Because they are the kings…the kings of Messeran.”

She is so still, so quiet, I almost wonder if she didn’t hear me. Then her eyes flick to me, wide, so green, and terrified.

“You lie!” she hisses.

I shake my head. “I don’t. Maybe I wish I did. But it is the truth. They have waited for all these years for the right time. And the time is here. Now.”

She is trembling, her face a picture of rage. “Why did you not tell me before? Why wait all this time? You knew that I was a princess, of the line of kings, and you never said anything? Anything at all! Why? Why, Breem?”

She is on her feet, suddenly, voice lashing. I try to calm her. “Mikailah, sit. I didn’t know what to do. And I was running. I told you that. I was running away.”

“From what?” she snaps. “Me? Messeran? The Unseen?”

“Maybe from it all.” My voice is quiet. Very quiet and low. I can’t sort through it all in my head, not now, not so close to all that has happened. But I know I must have my say. “But it is true.”

“Prove what you have just said.”

I point at her. “You are my proof. Ask Kiar. The line of the kings is strong in your blood. I don’t need to ask any questions.”

“Why did Aligha say nothing, all these years, raising Mytharal and I? Why did she never tell us?”

“I am sure she had a reason.”

“Reason, my foot!” she spits. “I trusted her. I trusted you. And now I find out everything is just lies.”

“No.” I shake my head, trying to ignore the thread of pain worming itself inside me at her accusations. “Not everything.”

“Close enough. Is there anything else you want to tell me about myself?”

The sarcasm is thick in her tone. But there really is so much I still haven’t told her. How can I? Not now. Maybe after she has cooled off. After she has had time to think about it.

“Forgive me?”

“I…I can’t!”

“Mikailah!”

“Please, don’t ask me. Leave me alone!”

 

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