𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤

eighty-nine

𝐅𝐀𝐔𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐄

"I can't believe you are really here..." Mikael whispered as he cradled Freya's face with both of his hands. "I thought you were dead...the plague..." he didn't bother to hide the pain he felt. Esther's lie had torn their family apart for centuries.

"It was all a lie," Freya said bitterly.

"I know that now," Mikael muttered angrily. "Your treacherous mother had no choice but to confess everything to us." If Esther had not been cornered by Finn and Ayana, he would have never known his daughter still lived.

"She told you I was dead."

Mikael nodded. He let go of her face and grabbed her hands tenderly. It still seemed surreal to him to have her in front of him, to look into her eyes, and touch her. "I grieved for you every day," he confessed in a whisper. "I blamed myself for not being there, time and time again, I wondered how different our lives would have been had you been with us. I failed you."

"No." Freya squeezed his hands in a reassuring gesture. "Esther was the one who failed me, she was the one who did nothing while I was ripped from her arms. It's all her fault," she hissed. She couldn't control the anger, the resentment, and hatred she felt towards her own mother. "She destroyed our family."

"She did," Mikael agreed with her. "Where have you been all this time?" he questioned her. "What happened after Dahlia took you? Did she hurt you? Why did you not return to us? Why wait until now?" he fired one question after another. There were many things he did not understand.

Freya pulled away from him, turning her face away in order to hide her pain. When she was a little girl, she used to run into his arms whenever she was sad or scared, always knowing that he would ease her fears and protect her from anything. How I wish I was that little girl, she thought as she looked back into his face. Life had been so simple then, so different from all she had known in the past ten centuries.

"Freya..." Mikael whispered, his eyes pleading with her to tell him everything. "Tell me."

"So much has happened, I wouldn't know where to start...or how..." her voice trembled slightly. There was a part of her that wanted to tell him everything, to share her secrets, her pain, and her plans with him but there was also another part of her- that voice that always haunted her- which told her she shouldn't trust him. You can trust no one but yourself, not even your own blood.

Shut up! Let me be!

You don't know him. You can't share your secrets with him.

Once again Freya found herself conflicted. The past, the scars she bore, it was all too difficult to set aside.

"Tell me," Mikael said in a more forceful voice. "I swear to you that all the pain Dahlia has caused you, she will receive tenfold."

Freya gave a small laugh and shook her head. "You have no idea what she is capable of or how powerful she truly is." She rubbed her hands together, thinking of Dahlia's power always made her cold, and afraid. She hated it.

"I will protect you now."

"You can't protect me," Freya snapped and stood up. "No one can." Only I can protect myself, she thought.

Mikael contemplated her with sadness. "What has she done to you?" he asked in a whisper. He stood up from the bed and glanced around the room-they were in an attic- before focusing on her once more. There was so much sadness surrounding her, it made his heart ache. She was such a joyful little girl, sweet and pretty stubborn too. As a child she had radiated so much light, kindness, so much goodness. Where had that little girl gone to? What had Dahlia done to snuff out that light?