“Yes, I can see that. This may be a bigger challenge than anticipated,” my father confirmed.
I watched as I approached Jeylana, and she grabbed my arm.
“Save yourself,” she uttered, before her eyes closed once more.
I tried to lock onto that memory. My father told me that she said, 'save us,' but that wasn’t what she had said at all. What could I possibly need saving from? Or who?
I was helpless to stop the pull that dumped me outside Jeylana’s room just as my past self slammed the door shut, panting.
My head whipped toward the stairs. He would be coming soon.
This was when I first met Sin.
Sure enough he rounded a corner, and Past Rain plowed straight into him.
He gripped her shoulders and slammed her into the stone wall. My past self cried out as she struggled to push him away. I saw the expression on Sin’s face go from anger to confusion back to anger.
“You can’t be here,” he barked at Past Rain.
“Stop!” she cried out. “You’re hurting me.”
“Do you know what I have done to keep you away from this place? What I have sacrificed?” he shouted.
“I don’t know what the fuck you’re saying!” Past Rain shot back.
I watched, hypnotized, as Sin pushed her away and stepped back, clenching his fists. Past Rain closed the gap and shoved him, sending him stumbling backward. I laughed at the shock on his face. It wouldn’t be the last time I would catch him off guard.
He quickly recovered and was back in Past Rain's face. “You're in danger here, and I won’t sit back and watch you die!”
“What is your freaking problem, asshole?” Past Rain glowered at him.
As they stood trapped in a silent standoff, I recalled the feeling of his heat so close to my body. I had known then, felt it then. I thought it was hatred, but now I knew the truth. I just despised how much I was drawn to him. To the darkness haunting his eyes that so closely matched my own.
Sin smirked as my past self took a step back. He’d probably thought I was conceding to him. As if I would ever.
“Don’t you know who I am?” Past Rain snapped. “Princepa.”
Sin laughed. “Is that what you think you are?”he asked. “You are so much more than that…” He leaned in closer and growled, “My lost queen.”
Then he stalked off down the hall, leaving me and my past self standing there, alone, trying desperately to slow our racing hearts.
Chapter thirty-one
I jolted upright in bed, sweaty and panting heavily. My room was still pitch black, and I sat there, my breath coming fast and heavy as I recalled my dream.
It had worked. The language transfer worked. I could speak Rivellan. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but when my brain went searching for the words, it came up empty.
“What the hell?”
I willed myself to say 'this place is crazy' in Rivellan, but nothing came out because… I didn’t know the words. I recalled every translation from my dream but not the actual Rivellan words. It was like everything was dubbed in my mind, but I couldn’t figure out the translations now that I was awake.
My subconscious, Corym had said. He put the language in my subconscious, and now that I was awake I couldn’t access it. Couldn’t match a single Rivellan word to an English one.
Except one phrase—Fea Remia. My lost queen. That translation had stuck. Maybe because he said it so many times, maybe because it was the last thing in my dream, I had noidea. It didn’t matter, though, because it didn’t make any sense. Princess, sure, my father was the king after all, but while I might not agree with some of the decisions he made as a ruler, I had no intentions of kicking him off the throne.
I replayed the words from my first meeting with Sin over and over in my head. What had he sacrificed? And what did he mean that he wouldn't watch me die? If he was so worried, then why not tell me what was going on?
I ran my hands through my hair and felt something hit my arm. I reached up and touched my head. The diamond pins. I yanked them out, yelping slightly when one stabbed my finger with it's sharp tip.
