See How She Falls (The Chronicles of Izzy #3)(13)
Aberto sighed, dropping his hand to his side and raising to his feet. He turned away from me and paused. “Because you are the prophesied one, you can do impossible things. You’ve had a presence in the dreaming your entire life, Izzy. But, that knowledge, those experiences, they are not meant for one so young. You would have gone mad had I not interceded on your behalf. Would I have told you? No. I wouldn’t have told you, because there was no reason for you to know. What good, what knowledge, and what progress would be gained by you knowing? Nothing. Nothing could be gained from those memories, they were mere chances that we met in the dreaming.”
“I would’ve known to trust you from the start. That’s not ‘nothing’, Aberto.” I rose to my feet and moved the two steps that divided us, what seemed a gaping chasm. “That matters. You’ve been there my whole life, protecting me, even when I didn’t know it. So, don’t brush that off. Those memories, they were mine. I feel like there is this whole part of my life that has been stolen from me, and now it has all come rushing back in. The flood gates are opened. You had to know that at some point these memories may return, what of the madness that they could bring now? Did you have a plan to protect me from that? Or did you just expect to make me forget again?” The more I talked, the more I became agitated all over again. I had started by trying to reassure him and moved right back into being royally pissed.
Aberto turned to look down at me, his face as still as a statue. “I would do whatever it took to protect you, even if that meant betraying your trust, even if that meant taking memories from you. You can hate me, Izzy. You can be angry with me for taking things from you. I will do it again, and I won’t, for one moment, regret it, if it means that you will be safe from the world and yourself. Don’t believe that I am like your Guardian, willing to let you put yourself at risk just to make you happy. I will allow you to fulfill your calling, I will do whatever it takes to ensure you can bring the darkness to a halt, but do not get confused, I will not ever allow you to be hurt.”
“You owe me answers, Aberto.”
“I owe you nothing, Izzy!” Aberto’s tone grew cold, rooting me in place. “I have given you everything of myself, yet you still question me. What answers do you want? What is it you think that I am keeping from you? I have told you my darkest secrets, I have told you who I truly am. I can’t fathom what it is you think I am not telling you. Do you believe me to have some ulterior motive? I can ensure you, my only motivation on this plane or any other is you.”
“Why? Why do you want to protect me? Why have you always been there? What’s in it for you? That’s what I don’t understand. How can you say you have no ulterior motives when you have been there my whole life, protecting me? Surely there is something you want, something you hope to gain from all of this. Otherwise, why even do it? The prophecy says I will fall Aberto, and fall I will if it means protecting the people I care about.”
“My motivation has always been you. Someday, you will understand why. But this is not that day. This is not the time.”
“Damn you and your ’this is not the time’ bullshit. You pulled that on me when we first met, and look where it is gotten me.” I lifted my rune covered arms to him as sparks began igniting down my arms once more. “I’m changing into something I don’t understand, yet you still won’t tell me everything. I can’t hide this forever, and when the Council finds out, God only knows what they will do. You do owe me answers, because you did this to me. You changed me, and while I am eternally grateful to still be alive, I don’t know what the hell I am now. Because, I’m not human any longer. Not the way I was before.”
“I don’t know what you want from me.” Aberto’s voice edged on anger as he closed the gap between us. “I have given you everything of myself. I am cursed to this existence for all of eternity because I interceded. I can never move beyond this existence now for what I did. Quit acting like a spoiled child and act like the Seer you are meant to be. Stop whining about the lot you have been given and embrace it; it may just save your life again. I am through answering your questions. When you are done wallowing in your pit of self-pity, I shall return. Until then, do not call on me.”
Just like that he was gone. Poof. The bastard. My anger died a swift death as his words rang in my head. He was cursed to an eternity of what he had been living because of me. I still wanted answers, but I knew deep down that he was right. I had been spending so much time focusing on what was happening with me that I’d once more lost sight of the bigger picture. In the grand scheme of things, lightning fingers weren’t that big of a deal. I plopped down into the closest chair, allowing his words to wash over me. I still had no idea how I’d ended up in the dreaming, or why Aberto was there for me. It had not escaped my notice that he was still avoiding the biggest question of all, why he wanted to protect me so badly. But he was right, as he always had been, I needed to pull my head out of my butt and start doing my job.
Chapter Seven
Anger fled my body only to be replaced by the inescapable bone aching exhaustion. I curled into the chair, hoping to find some sort of reprieve from my current lot. I let the dreaming sweep me away, and for the first time I didn’t care what I would find there. I went willfully into its foggy embrace, not fearing the runes that may come.