Chapter 18: What’s To Come

My mind flew into a frenzy. So many things had just happened that it was nearly impossible to focus on just one.

The first question I managed to blurt out was the most immediate.

"My sister?!" I shouted, aghast.

My mother's face immediately turned solemn, her eyes heavy with both regret and concern.

"Yes," she finally spoke plainly. "Look, Sennin, I know you must feel incredibly confused right now, and you might be angry with me." She placed a hand gently on my shoulder as I stared at her. "I won't be selfish enough to ask for your understanding, or your forgiveness, but I must ask you to wait."

"For what…" I muttered, slowly stepping back from her.

She stood still for a second, clearly surprised. I had never avoided her like this before, but how could I not?

Taking a breath to recompose herself, she turned to gather her cloak from where it hung by the door. "For me to return. If she went to such lengths to warn us, then their arrival must be imminent."

"Whose?"

She turned to face me, her hand already resting on the doorframe. "I cannot say for certain." Her voice wavered, edged with uncertainty. "The humans would certainly be the easier threat to face, but I can't imagine them reaching us so quickly. Which means…" She pulled the door open and stepped out, "I must speak with Valor and the Elder. You are to stay here, no matter what happens. I'll return as fast as I can—I promise."

With that, she closed the door behind her and vanished into the night, leaving me standing alone, feeling a deep sense of betrayal.

'How could she keep so much from me?'

Lost in thought and emotionally defeated, I stumbled upstairs and collapsed onto my bed, my mind reeling in shock and confusion.

I began to think back on the last time I had felt like this. 

'Hestia had said that all the villagers on this island were banished. Does that mean my sister sided against everyone here? Was she protecting the Tyrants—the ones they all fought so hard to defeat? The ones who killed Finn's parents…'

My gaze drifted to my spear, propped against the wall beside me, its metal catching the faint light of the twin moons through the window.

'Why would she do something so dangerous as to warn us? Why now…'

I must have spent hours like that, lost in a storm of unanswered questions, each one feeding into the next.

As the confusion swirled, so too did my anger.

The anger of being deceived. Of being lied to. Of being kept in the dark.

By the time the pale light of dawn began to creep into my room, so too did my mother. 

Slowly, I rose from the bed, turning to face her as she calmly stood in the doorway.

A thick tension filled the air as I clenched my teeth, barely able to contain the frustration that had been festering all night.

She spoke softly. "Senni—"

"Who are you?!" I shouted, cutting her off. I had tried to stay composed, but I couldn't hold it in anymore.

She looked at me, startled, before letting out a heavy sigh. Without a word, she walked into the room, taking a seat on my bed. She looked up at me as I stood rigid by the wall.

"I am who I have always been to you. A mother, a member of this village we call home. But once, I was something more." Her voice softened, her eyes fixed distantly on the floorboards.

"I was a queen. A protector of my people." Her voice cracked, her hands trembling slightly as her eyes grew glassy with unshed tears. "I had followers, I had companions, I had—a family." She clenched her fist tightly, her tone shifting from sadness to a simmering anger.

"And he took them from me. One by one." Her words were heavy with bitterness. "Head after head, until what little remained was cast aside to this—this—" she suddenly shot to her feet, fury radiating from her, "TO THIS GODS FORSAKEN SHIT HOLE OF AN ISLAND"

The room fell into a stunned silence. We stared at each other, the air thick with tension. Blood trickled from her hands where her nails had dug in too deep.

She took a step toward me, her face softening as she reached out. I stood frozen, my eyes locked onto hers.

I had never seen this side of my mother before, and it petrified me.

Not because I was scared of her, but because I was scared of what was coming. Of what was able to cause this. 

Gently, she placed her palm on my cheek, her tears now falling freely.

With a broken smile, she whispered, "No matter what comes, no matter what they say or do, I will never let them take you from me." Her arms wrapped around me, pulling me close against her chest. Her tears soaked my hair as she held me tightly.

"You are all that I have left, my forgotten prince."