A Simple Truth (The Freckled Fate #2)

by Tetyana Walker

Because, the truth was, sometimes good didn’t conquer evil. Sometimes, to win a war, to overcome the world—you’d have to be the biggest evil of them all.

As ‘owed’, your Basalt Glass dagger. Be a good girl and try not to stab anyone with it while I am away. Please. Yours truly, Gideon Bellator

Deep inside, I knew the General was right, and I hated myself for it. Every war has a price—yes, one I would not recompense with the lives of many. But one I would gladly pay with my own.

Today, tomorrow and forever, I would not yield. I would not be enslaved.

But I repeated the only thing I would die remembering. I was a survivor. I would not falter. I would not yield, even in my last breath. I will not be caged. I will not be enslaved. I will not be controlled. I will not be afraid. Not now. Not ever.

I was Finnleah, Daughter of the Dead. I was a survivor. I was a warrior. I had endured this far, and I would endure more. Now and forever. I would not yield.

I was Finnleah, Daughter of the Dead. I was the wielder of Justice. And I did not yield.

They hoped and they dreamed, despite the grim world around them. And it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

My heart went still for a moment, and the world quieted around me. Here, amidst the lifeless desert, the midnight sky and the silver moon, amidst the infinite red dunes now laid a clear fact. One that I could no longer deny, that I no longer wanted to deny. A simple truth. I was in love with Finnleah. Deeply, wholeheartedly, entirely.

“To the overwhelming feelings,” he said, as he motioned with his other hand, sending large sparks far into the skies, mimicking shooting stars. “And to the ability to feel them,” I quietly added, sending my copper sparks to join his.

“When I take you. When I have all of you, I want to know with absolute surety that you’d wake in my bed without a single doubt or regret. And that you want me too. Not just wine-driven sex, but that you want all of me, because I, my goddess, my queen, my little wildfire, I want all of you.”

I’ve never lived through what you have, but I just feel the need to say this... It’s okay for you to be happy.”

I shall accept your ‘barely’ for now. But only because I wouldn’t want you to suffer on my account. Though your soul doesn’t extend the same mercy to me, tormenting me each breath that I am away from you.

“Because I fucking love you, Finnleah! Because my whole soul trembles in your presence, my heart bleeds when you are away, and air burns like acid when you are not close. Because there isn’t a price I wouldn’t pay for you. I’d start a million more wars for you. I’d burn this whole fucking world down if it meant you’d be near.”

“Do you think that when I saw a half-feral slave that day in Inadios’ manor I had any clue…that I had any idea that I wouldn’t be able to sleep, that food would lose its taste, and life would lose its meaning, because all I could think about was you? That I couldn’t care less about war, rebellion, slaves, or anything else for that matter, only thinking of finding you? That I would spend months and months scavenging the whole of Esnox, looking for the freckled woman who stole my soul? That I would spend nights on my knees, begging Fate to grant me a chance at seeing you again? That when I was dying that day by the Cursed Forest, all I would think was I finally found her? That when that Glide tore you to shreds, I, for the first time in my entire damn life, would feel terror? Such terror that I spent the following weeks destroying our first line of defense, destroying every single Glide, haunted by the memories of it hurting you?” I swallowed hard, my chest aching as my anguish filled eyes stared into hers. “So yes, I started a war for you, and I’d start a million more. I’d kill for you. I’d die for you. I would do anything you wish me to. You are the one I love, Finnleah. You are the one I desire. You are the one that holds the entirety of my body and soul. And if that’s not enough, then please tell me what is.”

“Love will leave you with nothing but bleak embers in the end. It’s better not to love at all than to give in and then suffer for eternity,”

“Because I am terrified. Petrified. I am so afraid that I’d let myself have this feeling of happiness only for it to be yanked away from me. Only for me to find myself picking up the pieces again and again, until there is nothing left of me but ashes. I almost died the last time my heart got broken. And you and I both know, if I allow myself to fully love you, to give you my soul and my heart, then there is no going back. There is no ‘after you’ for me, Gideon. There is only you. And if I let myself love you, if I let myself truly love you, and something happens, I won’t survive it. I will not live. The part of me that kept me alive this far is terrified of that. So yes, I am afraid to let my feelings for you roam free. I mean, for gods’ sake, we are in the middle of a fucking war, and you are walking with the biggest target on your back…”

“You’ve bitten me, you’ve stabbed me, you’ve burned me, you’ve shot me, you’ve poisoned me and killed me, yet none of it agonizes me as much as seeing you letting fear guide your life.”

“But I guess that’s where we differ, because despite the sorrow, and the anguish, despite my shredded, bleeding heart, I would still choose to love you, Finnleah. I would still hope and dream to fall in love with you in this life and the next and the one after. I would still look for your face amidst the crowds day after day. I would still wake up each day wishing to care for you.” I glanced at the celebrating crowds dancing and singing far in the field. “But the truth is you’d rather be afraid, than be with me. And that’s one battle I cannot win,”

“You might not have weapons and you might not be soldiers or assassins, but your bravery is sharper than any blade could ever be. Your selflessness is the fiercest shield that’s ever existed. Your strength is tougher than any steel I have ever seen. And I... I am honored to stand amongst you and help you keep your people safe.”