12

"So you will be leaving us tomorrow night?"

"Yes, sir, we will leave around five in order to get to the place Kana specified for us to meet him."

"You seem confident that Kairi will go with you."

I looked to my lap, "She has no choice. Kairi must understand that we have to go with Kana in order to protect those we care for. Also, Kairi will be able to learn about her family for the first time, which I know she has wanted to know for a long time."

"You mean the royal family of the Wielder world?" I nodded, "Along with my biological father."

Gonen dropped his fork with shock, but I didn't look up, "So you will get to finally meet your true father?" The king asked.

I looked up to the king, "No, I met him already."

"When?"

I sighed, "He was the man who attacked Kairi and destroyed part of Lakes View. Also, he was there when I went to meet Kana."

"So who exactly is he, in the Wielder world I mean?"

"He is the king's right hand man."

"Then he must be powerful."

I nodded, "He nearly took off my arm."

"He fought you?"

"Yes, because I tried to fight Kana. My father stepped in and took over the fight."

"But you are his daughter!"

I looked to Noah, "That does not mean much in the world of Wielders. Before I am his daughter, I am a traitor."

"The Wielder world seems to be a very harsh place."

I looked to the king, "It is," I replied, but quickly stood as the queen entered the room. "How is Kairi?"

She smiled sadly towards me, "She is better, but she asks to speak with you."

"With me?"

The queen watched me, "Kairi said she wanted to speak with her mother."

I bowed to the king, "Please excuse me," I replied before running out of the room. I hurried to my room and knocked on the door, "Kairi? It's me, can I come in?"

"Yeah," Kairi whispered and I slowly opened the door to see her sitting on the bed with the sheets covering her bent legs and torso, "You didn't have to run."

I shut the door behind me, "I wanted to. My body is tired of sitting, so it was refreshing."

Kairi looked to her legs, "The queen told me everything that happened after I left yesterday," she commented and then paused. "You promised to marry Prince Kana in order to protect these people?"

I leaned back on the door, "It's the least I could do," Kairi became silent and I felt my chest tighten. "I'm sorry for the way I acted in the medical room."

She shook her head slightly, "You were confused."

"Still, that is no reason to act so harshly towards you when you did nothing wrong."

Kairi finally met my eyes, "You look good with short hair."

I smiled sadly towards her, "You think so? It's certainly a change from before."

"You can say that again." She joked and we both started laughing, but I stopped when I heard Kairi's laughing turn into crying.

I quickly came over to her and embraced her. "I'm sorry." I whispered as I held her tightly.

"Can we ever go back to the way we were before?"

I kissed the top of her head, "Things can't be the same as they were before, but I'd like to try to be as close as we were before. Just this time I'm your real mom."

Kairi slowly stopped crying, "Yeah, as a real mother and daughter."

"Regardless of the fact that we are actually family, you have to know that I loved you like a daughter before and I still love you now."

"I love you too," Kairi whispered, "Mom."

Kairi held onto my waist tightly as our horse reached full speed. As the horse ran, the dry dirt below us turned clouds of dust behind us. I slowed the horse as we reached the house I was trying to get to, but no being was in sight. I stopped the horse and hopped off of his back before helping Kairi down.

We then went into house quietly and searched to make sure no Wielders were waiting for us. Once the coast was clear we sat down at the small wooden two person table that was slowly starting to rot, "When were we supposed to meet him?"

I moved my chair so that I sat next to Kairi and guided her head to my shoulder so she could rest, "He just said to meet him here tonight so I'm not sure when he will get here."

Kairi took my hand in hers and I felt her slight shaking, "I'm nervous to meet him."

I kissed the top of her head that lay on my shoulder, "Don't worry, we are together so nothing can harm us, not even that man."

"Is he coming alone?"

"I have no clue, but not many people know of us so that limits the number of people that could come along."

"Will we ever see the king, queen, Gonen, or Prince Asher again?"

I looked to the table, "I can't promise you we will see them again, but I will do all in my power to let us meet them again someday."

We both silenced as someone came near the house and we waited. When the door opened I was surprised to see it wasn't only Kana, "Are you two finally ready to go?"

I watched Kana as he kept his gaze on us, "Time to leave, Kairi."

"Right." She agreed as we stood, but never let our hands separate.

"So this is your daughter?" the tall Wielder behind Kana asked.

Kana nodded, "Yes, this is my daughter, Kairi, and my bride-to-be, Eva." Kana gestured towards the tall Wielder, "This is the general of the royal families' army and my closest friend, Henry."

I looked to Kana with defiance, "My father didn't come?"

Kana frowned before pulling me away from Kairi and kissing me deeply, "Your mind should not be wandering towards other men when I am with you."

I pulled away, "It was just a question."

Kana's frown deepened, "What did you do to your hair?"

I frowned back, "I cut it, as most women do."

Kana's gaze went to Kairi and I quickly moved in front of her, "You act as if I will harm her, when you are the one who tried to kill her before."

I watched in shock as I felt my heart squeeze, but it lessened when Kairi took my hand in hers, "That's the past. Mom would never try to hurt me again."

Kana's gaze worsened, "yet you fear me. I have done nothing other than try to find you and your mom."

Kairi grabbed the back of my shirt as her hands shook, "I love Mom and I trust her. But I don't even know you."

Kana smirked, "well you better learn to trust me. For your Mom's sake. I'm the only one who can keep her safe." He grabbed my hand and pulled me against him. "Let's get going. It's not safe here for long."

We went outside and Kana pulled me over to a horse. I was startled when Henry, this unknown man, took Kairi's hand and pulled her over to the other horse.

I tried to get to her, but Kana's grip tightened. "Kairi can ride with you. I will ride with him."

Kana's other hand squeezed my chin as his eyes darkened, "you are not in charge anymore, Eva. You promised to surrender to me. Get on the horse." I looked to Kairi and faked confidence on my face to ease her mind.