235- The Weight of the Predestined
POV Aldren Valmorin:
“I understand.” Suddenly, Nerin stood and bent forward, wrapping me in a hug. I stiffened, sitting on that crate, faced with the unexpected gesture. “You’ve been through worse impasses, Aldren. I’m sure everything will work out.” She rubbed her palm against my back affectionately.
I lifted one arm and gave her shoulder two light pats, hoping that would suffice as thanks. I wasn’t good at returning affection.
Pulling away, she sat on the crate again, crossing her legs and looking at me with a certain pity.
“Let me know if there’s anything I can do to make you happier, Nerin. You’re important.” With so few people I could trust, I hoped not to be disappointed by her as well.
“If you want to see me happy, be happy,” she said, sounding sincere.
I shook my head and took another swig from my bottle.
“That’s far too altruistic, Nerin. You didn’t fall from the sky—I know that.”
A shy smile spread across her face.
“I’m telling the truth.”
“Please tell me you want a vacation or, I don’t know, to get paid without working and take a long trip?” I suggested, incredulous.
She shook her head.
...
“I consider you the son I never had, Aldren.”
“There’s still time. And what if your reincarnated partner turns out to be Konrad?” I suggested, even knowing it was impossible.
Nerin frowned, lips curling in disdain.
“Well, that would be the dullest pairing in the Universe. I don’t even feel butterflies in my stomach when I see him.”
I pressed my lips together, holding back a laugh.
“I’d give anything for you to say that to his face, just so I could enjoy watching him get rejected.”
“Poor man, sir. He’s a good man—just not for me.”
“I’m tired of asking you to call me just Aldren. Why do you insist on being so stubborn sometimes?”
“I don’t want to get used to it and end up speaking informally in front of others.”
“Everyone already knows you’re my favorite.” I held out the bottle to her, willing to share the precious numbing liquid.
“No, thank you. I actually came here to take you home.” She shook her head, then I avoided her eyes. “Elowen asked me to look up a recipe on the internet…”
Elowen…
I looked at her again, curious.
“Explain.”
“I told you about the necklace she found and how she became a bundle of nerves, right? She didn’t even want to go out today.”
I remembered her message, which I’d received earlier that afternoon.
“As I told you, I don’t know anything about that necklace. She must have put it away herself and doesn’t remember, or Torya found it under the bed while cleaning and left it there.”
“I spoke with Torya. She said she didn’t go in there. The poor thing might have forgotten—she’s been through a lot.”
“Remind me to check the cameras.” I could easily replace “poor thing” with: sly bitch.
“Deal. It took a lot of work to calm her down, anyway. She cooked for you and is waiting.”
“Elowen what?” I blinked more times than I could count.
“She cooked for you. And if you want my opinion… she’s a good person. And she genuinely seems to be growing attached to you.”
When did I lose Nerin to Elowen?
“She thinks she has no one else in the world, that’s the only reason she wants us close, Nerin. Elowen isn’t stupid.”
“Give her the option to leave and prove my point. Elowen is in love—she tried to question me about Nala, eaten up with jealousy.”
While I tried to climb out of the confusing hole I was in, Nerin made a point of pushing me right back to the bottom.
“She questioned Bratvo too. I was told the two of them didn’t get along. Believe me, I already gave her a chance to run, Nerin.”
“And she didn’t…”
“No.”
“Aldren… more than anyone, I understand your fear of allowing yourself to feel. Believe me, it hurts to see the walls you’ve built around yourself.”
“Protecting my people is the priority. I failed once, and I don’t intend to fail again.”
“And what if Elowen is your predestined partner, Aldren?”
“What did you say, Nerin?” I wanted to be sure I hadn’t heard wrong.
“You demanded power over her when you thought she was with Kehin, the prolonged heat that only passed when—”
“Nerin, stop!” I roared, jumping off the crate and throwing a punch at the shelf behind me. It shattered, collapsing into a pile of boxes on the floor.
No. Just no.
“You lost control and disemboweled Teneris, you keep her under your dominance, you’re lost in your own feelings. She’s the first one you’ve kissed since the—” she continued, unafraid that I might strike her.
My cursed mind finished it anyway: “You tied her up, and never did that with anyone else…”
“ENOUGH!” I roared.
I turned to Nerin and found her eyes brimming with tears. I gathered every shred of self-control not to give in to the beast hammering inside my chest.
“I need to say one last thing—something that, after a lot of reflection, finally made me come to my senses.”
I shook my head, disturbed by that possibility.
“No, Nerin…” I begged again, grinding my teeth until my fangs slid free.
“Aldren, listen to me. You consider Edric a brother. I couldn’t help overhearing that Elowen is Lunara’s sister. Lunara is Edric’s predestined. I’m not asking you to take this as absolute truth—because it truly is rare—but I am asking you to give her a chance to prove herself.”
I clenched my fists, claws bursting forth and piercing my palms as blood boiled through my veins.
The hypothesis tore me in half, dragging into the light every sign I had refused to see—cruelly destroying all the walls I had built around myself.
How could I have been so careless?
How could my disbelief that something like this would ever happen to me have left me so blind?
“Leave me alone,” I ordered.
She nodded, letting a tear slip free.
“You asked me what you could do to make me happy, Aldren, so here it is: don’t leave Elowen waiting for you tonight. She put a lot of effort into it and is anxiously waiting. Predestined or not, even wounded, the only thing she truly wants is a little of your attention.”
Nerin’s request split me in two.
The female I had imprisoned and hurt in every possible way could be my predestined.
The fucking predestined I searched for so long—until I gave up.
And if she truly was, I couldn’t see any way to rid myself of the guilt for the suffering I caused her.