Trial by Heart (Trial Series Book 4) Read Online Free
Author: Lizzy Ford
woman who looked at me with such warmth stuck in a loveless marriage and then killed by her own family?
In the memory Myca showed me, she was happy, and she loved me. She admitted there were rules that had to be followed, but she didn’t seem miserable.
“You care for all the candidates, don’t you?” Erish answers. “Your father did as well. But yes, I killed the one he was meant to be with. Rather, he killed her while I was in charge of his mind. The candidate exiled is your destined mate. Once he’s gone, you choose another and the final becomes the Community leader.”
“How can you not want this curse to end?” I shout, my temper snapping. “How can you torture every generation of Kingmaker and the Community when you went through what it feels like to lose someone you love?”
“I never said I don’t want it to end.”
“Stop fucking with my head! Answer my question!”
The shadow stills and moves closer to me. “My sole purpose is to continue the curse that’s trapped our family for so long. I am not fully the man I was, not fully the soul-less entity I will become. I am here for one reason only. What I can do is limited to the rules of the curse. What I feel , and what I want , Leslie, have not mattered for two thousand years, since the day the curse fell and I lost the woman I loved.”
Is it possible for a creature with no soul and no form to suffer from heartache? I feel it then … it’s instinct only, perhaps leftover from the fae or wolf experiences.
Two millennia is a long time to suffer a broken heart. I don’t want to pity the man who put us in this situation, but my anger fizzles to realize he’s not only trapped in a vicious cycle of reliving his mistake, but in reliving the pain, and will probably be so forever. His mistake or choice – whatever it was – has fucked up the world and left him broken.
I turn away with a shake of my head. “Leave me alone,” I order him.
He doesn’t deserve my sympathy and I can’t find it in me to resent him at the moment.
Erish doesn’t speak, and I glance back to see if he’s present. He’s not. I sigh and shrug my shoulders. My hands are trembling from the emotion of hearing his tale – and the distress of imagining my mother in a world where she, too, was trapped. I’ve learned during the trials that my father was stuck, and I don’t want to believe the same was true of my mother.
I have to believe my father loved her and me. His inconsistencies, and the bizarre writings he left, I will gladly attribute to Erish.
Retrieving my notebook, I stare at the three names listed on my Potential Husbands list. I’m not buying Erish’s explanation about being destined to marry someone in particular. Maybe that’s what a soul mate is in the human world, but I’m a supernatural under a curse. Even if it were possible for me to be fated to marry someone, for the sake of continuing the curse, I can’t imagine someone else out there being fated to marry me . No one deserves that level of punishment.
My phone vibrates.
We still on for this morning? Ben’s asked.
“Dammit.” I glance at the time. I’m not late, for once, but I’m not feeling mentally prepared to go. Yeah. I need a ride though, I type. Considering my note, I sigh. They all know I’m poor as shit, and a biscuit from McDonald’s isn’t going to break the bank for a multi-millionaire. And breakfast. I add before sending.
Ben answers with a thumb’s up emoji.
I roll my eyes.
Erish leaves me alone for the rest of the morning. I’m not entirely certain I believe his explanation yet about not being a threat to the others, but … if Erish doesn’t know which candidate he’s supposed to kill, I assume he won’t kill any of them until he does know. I just need to remain diligent and warn whomever he picks before he acts.
Chapter Three
The driver has a gourmet breakfast sandwich and hot mocha waiting for me in the car. I wolf my food down on the way to the
In the memory Myca showed me, she was happy, and she loved me. She admitted there were rules that had to be followed, but she didn’t seem miserable.
“You care for all the candidates, don’t you?” Erish answers. “Your father did as well. But yes, I killed the one he was meant to be with. Rather, he killed her while I was in charge of his mind. The candidate exiled is your destined mate. Once he’s gone, you choose another and the final becomes the Community leader.”
“How can you not want this curse to end?” I shout, my temper snapping. “How can you torture every generation of Kingmaker and the Community when you went through what it feels like to lose someone you love?”
“I never said I don’t want it to end.”
“Stop fucking with my head! Answer my question!”
The shadow stills and moves closer to me. “My sole purpose is to continue the curse that’s trapped our family for so long. I am not fully the man I was, not fully the soul-less entity I will become. I am here for one reason only. What I can do is limited to the rules of the curse. What I feel , and what I want , Leslie, have not mattered for two thousand years, since the day the curse fell and I lost the woman I loved.”
Is it possible for a creature with no soul and no form to suffer from heartache? I feel it then … it’s instinct only, perhaps leftover from the fae or wolf experiences.
Two millennia is a long time to suffer a broken heart. I don’t want to pity the man who put us in this situation, but my anger fizzles to realize he’s not only trapped in a vicious cycle of reliving his mistake, but in reliving the pain, and will probably be so forever. His mistake or choice – whatever it was – has fucked up the world and left him broken.
I turn away with a shake of my head. “Leave me alone,” I order him.
He doesn’t deserve my sympathy and I can’t find it in me to resent him at the moment.
Erish doesn’t speak, and I glance back to see if he’s present. He’s not. I sigh and shrug my shoulders. My hands are trembling from the emotion of hearing his tale – and the distress of imagining my mother in a world where she, too, was trapped. I’ve learned during the trials that my father was stuck, and I don’t want to believe the same was true of my mother.
I have to believe my father loved her and me. His inconsistencies, and the bizarre writings he left, I will gladly attribute to Erish.
Retrieving my notebook, I stare at the three names listed on my Potential Husbands list. I’m not buying Erish’s explanation about being destined to marry someone in particular. Maybe that’s what a soul mate is in the human world, but I’m a supernatural under a curse. Even if it were possible for me to be fated to marry someone, for the sake of continuing the curse, I can’t imagine someone else out there being fated to marry me . No one deserves that level of punishment.
My phone vibrates.
We still on for this morning? Ben’s asked.
“Dammit.” I glance at the time. I’m not late, for once, but I’m not feeling mentally prepared to go. Yeah. I need a ride though, I type. Considering my note, I sigh. They all know I’m poor as shit, and a biscuit from McDonald’s isn’t going to break the bank for a multi-millionaire. And breakfast. I add before sending.
Ben answers with a thumb’s up emoji.
I roll my eyes.
Erish leaves me alone for the rest of the morning. I’m not entirely certain I believe his explanation yet about not being a threat to the others, but … if Erish doesn’t know which candidate he’s supposed to kill, I assume he won’t kill any of them until he does know. I just need to remain diligent and warn whomever he picks before he acts.
Chapter Three
The driver has a gourmet breakfast sandwich and hot mocha waiting for me in the car. I wolf my food down on the way to the
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