“No, I was correct the first time.”
I lean my head back and sigh as I try to unpick the nuances of his words. If it’s what they want me to do, but not what I was created to do, then maybe I need to find what I am here for. Because that changes everything.
The All Knowing smiles, satisfied.
“What am I made to do?” I whisper.
He lifts his head and blinks at me. “To love her, Nash Stirling. You were made to love her. But she in return was made to love you.”
“And the Idols?”
“Have you learned nothing living in the Hallows? What is the most fundamental rule that all stories show us time and time again?”
There are many stories and many more outcomes, especially now. “You lost me.”
He shakes his head. “Sometimes I despair that the future of the realm is in the laps of imbeciles.”
“Insulting me doesn’t help.”
“It helps me feel better.”
“We’re getting off topic.”
“No, this is something you must come to understand without me. And truth be known, I’ve already given you the answers. You just weren’t listening.”
I think back over this brief conversation with a mythical being whose knowledge makes my bones ache just being in his proximity.
“My final words of advice?”
“I’m listening.”
“Look up.”
Then he’s gone in a whisper of light.
Look up? At what? The dusty ceiling? No, that’s too literal.
A book lands on my lap. “Some light reading where you may find answers to intricate questions you haven’t yet thought of,” the All Knowing mutters. He seems more surly now he’s not in a form I can see.
“I find if people can find me, they insist on asking me the most irritating questions. This way, I can ignore that which doesn’t interest me.”
“And I interest you?”
“Don’t get too excited. You interest me because of the role you will play in the future of our worlds. This is our one chance to return to how it should have been and not what it is. But you can only move forward when you figure out the fundamental principle of the fabric of our world. Any world, really.”
The truth comes barreling into me with the force of a beanstalk on a mission to connect realms. I’m a fucking idiot. The enduring aspect of all narratives is not a great declaration; it could be whispered upon a star or spoken in a throne room to a thousand people.
The thread that binds us all, no matter our story, is love.
Chapter Thirty
Daphne
The rest of the diurnal is spent gathering information on which Idols are in the Hallows and where they are. Apparently, the Red Queen’s demise scared a few of them away but beckoned others closer. They must be adrenaline junkies wanting to get closer to a woman who can explode them with a snap of her fingers.
Charming and Theo are busy updating the map of the castle while Malachi and Hart appear to be on Daphne duty. Gwyneth flits in and out, retrieving books while muttering under her breath as she works through her hypothesis regarding distributing the Idols’ powers across the realm. Thankfully,when she said everyone should become Idols, she didn’t mean an entire community of arrogant, powerful beings with the emotional awareness of a tree trunk.
But how we do that without making ourselves explode is the great mystery they’re trying to unravel. I’m holding a meeting with representatives from each group from the Hallows as I try to address some of the issues the All Knowing seems to have gotten his panties in a twist about.
