Romola

I’m holding my half of the diamond like lifeless weight. My world has been tilted off its axis as soon as extra, and I really don’t know the way far more of this I can bear. I gave up on him and simply accepted his demise. May he actually nonetheless be alive…?

Fiero’s outstretched hand nonetheless hovers simply inches away from me, his emerald inexperienced eyes conveying belief and hope. “Hand me the diamond, Romola.”

But I hesitate, my grip tightening on the valuable gem as Rafaele’s phrases echo in my thoughts: “Your father is alive.”

“Romola,” Fiero urges gently, rising involved. ” we have to deliver the halves collectively. It is the one manner we’ll know if a prophecy exists.”

However might it’s true? May he actually be on the market, someplace, ready for me to search out him?

Rafaele senses my doubt and steps as much as the pedestal, mere inches away from me, his tall, broad body casting a shadow over me. His darkish blue eyes bore into mine as if he might see the turmoil raging inside me. He speaks in a low, persuasive tone, “I spared your father’s life, Romola, for my very own functions. And now, these functions have modified.”

My coronary heart races as I look between Rafaele and Fiero, torn between two paths I by no means imagined I would have to decide on between. The air round us feels charged, no matter my determination, the course of our lives will undoubtedly be modified.

“Rafaele,” I whisper, my voice trembling with uncertainty, “why ought to I imagine you?”

“As a result of…” he replies, his voice regular and assured, “…I do know deep down, you’re feeling the reality of my phrases. Have you ever by no means questioned why you didn’t see the physique? What would it not deliver me to disclaim you a funeral if his demise was all I needed?”

“Why?” I shout, demanding additional readability, as tears start to stream down my face. “Why?” I whisper now.

“I assumed he could be of extra use alive than lifeless. Ought to you could have failed once more, I might have dangled his life in entrance of you as an incentive. Had you simply given me the diamond and let me unite the 2 halves in time, I’d have returned him to you. Alas,” he sighs, trying into my eyes. “You resisted, and Fiero interrupted. The warfare broke out, and chaos occurred.”

“The place is he?” I ask, my coronary heart stuttering in my chest. “WHERE IS HE!?”

“At my compound. Secure, guarded, well-fed and handled for his wounds.”

My palms shake and but I tighten my grip on the diamond, on my bargaining chip. Unattainable.

“Romola, do not let him manipulate you,” Fiero says urgently, greedy my different hand. His contact is heat and strong, a lifeline that anchors me again to actuality. “He is enjoying together with your feelings, utilizing your love on your father in opposition to you.”

A chill runs down my backbone as I sense Fiero’s gaze on me, pleading with me to stay targeted. I don’t need to betray Fiero once more. After all the pieces he’s completed for me, all of the wrongs he is forgiven. And but, I can’t ignore the likelihood that my father remains to be alive.

Benefiting from my distracted state, Rafaele instantly closes the hole between us and touches my hand, able to take again the diamond that I’ve been clutching onto like a vise grip. He tries pulling it out of my hand, however my grip’s too tight.

“Noooo,” I hear Fiero yell as he reaches for my proper hand along with his left. His hand feels clumsy, weighted with the diamond he holds. He begs me to come back again to actuality and hand him the half I maintain beneath Rafaele’s fingers.

After which, the unimaginable occurs—one thing I might by no means clarify to be plausible. A low rumble fills the cavern, rising louder till the bottom beneath us begins to tremble violently.

Irrespective of how arduous I attempt to take my palms away from Fiero and Rafaele, it’s like we’re glued collectively, and there’s a fireplace in each my palms, spreading up my arms. The partitions of the cave groan in protest, columns swaying dangerously as mud and pebbles rain down on us.

“We have to get to security,” Fiero roars.

“I…I can’t transfer,” Rafaele shouts again.

“Neither can I,” Fiero shouts, observing Rafaele like he’s by no means seen the person earlier than. I, too, am rooted between them and a blinding surge of vitality envelopes the three of us.

As out of the blue because it started, the bottom stopped shaking. An eerie quiet fell over us, frozen in place. I nonetheless really feel the sunshine in me, a pressure defending me from inside and outside. I take a look at Rafaele and Fiero, they usually’re basking on this glow round them, emitting gentle just like the diamond itself.

“Romola,” Fiero gasps, staring round my head, my arms, my physique, like he can’t imagine what he’s seeing.

“Is that this a dream?” Rafaele mutters beside me, closing his eyes and opening them once more in perpetual disbelief.

I start to really feel lighter like I’m floating. I not really feel the earth beneath me, however after I look down, my ft are nonetheless planted beneath. Fiero’s and Rafaele’s palms nonetheless burn in mine. It was not uncomfortable, nevertheless it was a peculiar burn that I might virtually mistake for the chilly.

It’s as if time has stopped on this second, leaving us suspended in a dreamlike state the place actuality blurs with goodness-knows-what.

We stand there for eternity or only some seconds, we’ll in all probability by no means know, for every second feels so vivid.

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