Image (Insight #3)(32)
Perodine had turned and was staring at Alamos; her expression was calm, but her emotion was a deep grief.
“She already knew. I’d taught her the stars so well, she’d discovered Aliyanna’s fate long ago. She also knew that we wouldn’t die until our seed had filled its purpose, that we’d have to wait the course of time for the universe to move back to the same as it was the first time Aliyanna took a breath. Perodine has never forgiven me for asking Aliyanna to submit; she believes that if we’d stood up to Donalt back then, this world wouldn’t have had to wait for time to move forward.”
Alamo’s eyes moved to the shadows. “I think I was almost two hundred before Donalt confronted me about the love I had for Perodine, the child we had together. He took mercy on me. He thought that by me not allowing Aliyanna to disappear with Guardian when they were children that I’d proclaimed my soul to him. I became his most trusted and admired priest and stood at his side as the chapters of time moved forward.”
Beth walked around the table and stood before Alamos with tears in her eyes. She then slapped him as hard as she could across the face, and Drake and Marc dove across the room to stop her from hitting him again, Drake grabbing her arms and Marc her waist.
“You bastard!” she screamed. “ You and your stars...you knew...you knew all along that it was not my son...that it was not Livingston and my price to pay...not our boys...you have ruined him,” Beth said in broken voice.
Drake moved his arms around her and held her as tight as he could. Marc looked down at the ground before returning to Landen’s side. With grief consuming the room, I stood frozen, unsure of what to do.
The presences I’d felt before in the darkness came again – and I wasn’t the only one who felt it. Marc and Dane stood at attention, and Landen shielded his energy around us. Drake slowly let go of Beth and pushed her in Marc’s direction, and she ran to his open arms. The ceiling above us turned black and began to circle. Suddenly, it moved in Alamos’ direction, and Drake threw a shield that looked like clear water in front of him; as the darkness collided with it, the sound was as loud as thunder. The entire room vibrated from the force of energy - and then the darkness...vanished.
Chapter Eight
We all stood still, waiting for it to come again; but it was gone - at least for now. Landen didn’t release me, but he let his shield fall, saving his energy. Alamos reached for his face to cover the red marks of Beth’s fingers. He then stood slowly, looking at Perodine, then to Beth.
“I did know; I knew that fate had dealt him a cruel card, that he’d have to fight for every chance, through every life, just to hold her for a moment, and that he’d be seen – just as I was – as the bad soulmate,” Alamos said in a tone that reflected resentment toward Perodine.
Perodine walked around the table and stood in front of us all; I could feel anger coursing through her. She stared at Alamos, and he stood up straight and stared back.
“Stop now – you have said enough,” Perodine said through her teeth.
“I don’t think he has,” Drake said, moving to Alamos’ side. “I heard the word ‘soulmate’...I heard ‘every life’...is that not what I’ve been saying all along?” he asked, looking at me.
Beth hid her head in Marc’s shoulder and began to cry. Dane moved his head from side to side and smiled an impish grin. “It seems your hearing omitted a few words – like ‘bad,’ ‘fight,’ ‘moment,’” he said.
Drake’s eyes peered through Dane. He then sighed and looked at Alamos.
August raised his hands. “There’s no such thing as a bad soulmate,” he argued.
“According to Perodine, there is,” mocked Alamos. He then stepped closer to August and said, “You see, she has this theory: every soul has two souls that belong to it. One is perfect in every way; the two share a love that is flawless, sustaining. The other...well...the other is love as well, but this love changes with time and circumstance; she feels its only purpose is to make us feel alive until we find the perfect love.”
“That’s foolishness,” August argued. “That goes against everything Chara believes in. There is a soulmate for everyone. To even think that there are souls that have no purpose – that’s insane.”
“My friend, you have misunderstood me,” Alamos said, smiling slightly. “She has no doubt that we are meant for someone. In her mind, we all have the role of both; we complete one and entice the other.”
Perodine stepped closer to Alamos. “You mock me,” she said, glaring at him, “but my theory was proven right as we watched Aliyainna’s lives. She only loved two souls – and each of them loved another.”
Alamos looked at Perodine. “You only see what you want to see. Reading it and living are two different things; only they know how they felt.”
“I said that was enough,” Perodine said to him.
As he looked at Perodine, Alamos shook his head from side to side. “I will admit my deeds, just as you will admit yours,” he said, moving away from her. He walked to me, and his eyes looked carefully into mine. “Your mother seems to believe that passion, desire, and infatuation are not included in the job description of soulmates.” He looked over his shoulder at Perodine. “It seems that those are the elements of lust, and lust can only belong to a bad soulmate. The soul that makes us feel alive, human, evoking every emotion – including anger – is just not enough. I was not enough for her. She believed that because I was born just moments outside of a chart that would have linked us together for eternity that we weren’t meant to be. She let the study of the stars – a perfect math that can never be fully understood by the human mind – dictate who I would be in her life.”