what happened after unlocked

chapter forty-four ~ mistakes

Sophie found Oralie in the top room of her tower.

The door was ajar, so she didn't knock, knowing that Oralie probably didn't care anymore now that her life would never be the same.

Oralie was collecting all her jewels and garments and beauty things, scooping them into a sad beige bag labelled, Lost. Part of Sophie ached with sympathy for her but most of her knew that Oralie deserved this.

Or did she?

No, Sophie! She mentally yelled. You are not going to think about this ever again!

"Hello, Sophie," Oralie said tiredly. "Come to gloat?"

"Why would you say that?" Sophie growled, meanwhile her brain screamed, YOU WOULD TOTALLY SAY THAT TOO!

"Sorry," Oralie groaned. "I'm a horrible person, so I may as well act like one."

"You're not a horrible person," Sophie said, gingerly approaching her. "You've just made too many mistakes for your daughters to forgive you."

"How did you know about Aurora?" Oralie dropped the bag in surprise. "Did my mother tell you?"

"Yes, actually," Sophie said. "It's kind of funny I had to travel all the way to a completely unknown place just to find that out. Out of all the times you could have told me, you didn't use one of them."

"I already told you I'm sorry, so I don't know what else you want me to say."

Oralie sat down on the only chair left. She looked sickly and pale like she was fading through nothingness and was too tired to get herself out.

"I want to know why you did it!" Sophie blurted. "And not just to me, but Aurora too! You abandoned her! Don't you understand why I'm upset?"

"I'm not looking for an argument," Oralie said wearily. "I'll be happy just staying away from here for the rest of my existence, just like you want me to."

Sophie glared at her icily. There was a strong pulse vibrating through her veins, determined to make Oralie feel some kind of remorse for what she'd done. "There's more to life than power."

"And that's not all I wanted!" Oralie said, standing up defiantly. "There's more to me than my parents told you, Sophie. You're not saying your parents know everything about you, are you?"

"Then who is Aurora's father?"

Oralie suddenly paled. Sophie knew she had hit a difficult spot.

"Well, let's see," Sophie began. "You and Kenric were in love, and you look about the same age. I'm guessing he didn't live in Evarista?"

Oralie looked affronted. She drew back, lip quivering.

"So Kenric was Aurora's father?"

Oralie didn't speak.

Sophie laughed darkly, much unlike her usual one. "I can't believe it! All this time, you knew each other before the Council, you had a child together...I don't understand..."

Oralie couldn't look any more exhausted. She sat back down on her bed, rubbing her eyes, utterly sorry for herself and everything she'd done.

"You chose power over family!" Sophie yelled, angry tears in her eyes. "Why would someone as nice as you do that?"

"I wanted to do something good for the world!" Oralie said. Her eyes flickered to the ground. "I wanted to make a difference! I never meant to have a daughter, but I didn't want to terminate her...and then she arrived and she had an ability that was practically unheard of. I wanted to give her a good future like mine, but by the time I figured that out, I had already gone off and joined the Council with Kenric."