Beneath the surface: Forbidden Love

Twenty

Marisela

The words hit me like a tidal wave, a relentless surge of truth that sweeps away the fragile facade I've been clinging to. My heart pounds in my chest, and it's as if the ground beneath me has shifted, leaving me unsteady and disoriented.

''The hell you are!'' I spit crawling further away from him- my tail being so heavy, made it difficult to do so, ''What the hell do you want from me?''

The man raises his brows in anger but quickly composes himself and looks away from me sighing. After a moment, his gaze turns to me, his eyes lost in thought and eventually he speaks.

''You have no clue of who you are child.'' He whispers, as if trying to understand why I fail to believe what he has said. "This is not how I wanted us to meet."

''I know who I am.'' I snap at him.

''You have no idea,'' he says, my blood boiling in anger at his words, ''there is so much you don't know.''

''If that is true, then why did you find me now?'' I ask, still not believing anything that he has said.

''I have been searching for you all these years, since you were taken away from me,'' he begins and I listen carefully, ''I wasn't sure at first, but Alisia told me that there was a Siren princess who had arrived on the island, a woman had told her of this news.''

It's a revelation I never saw coming, and it feels like a surreal punch to the gut. I lay there, stunned and breathless, trying to process the weight of what's been unveiled.

"What woman?" I ask, "a spy?"

''No, not a spy.'' he clarifies. "A witch."

A witch!?

Oh my God! How can this be?

Werewolves, sirens and now witches too?

How is any of this even possible? I look up at the man who claims to be my father, my eyes narrow in on him as he stands a few meters away.

''What does she have to do with any of this?'' I ask him. The man sighs and looks away. "Answer me!"

''There is so much that you do not understand, the people that you surround yourself with are not at all who they seem." He speaks.

''What do you mean?'' No answer.

''Who are you?'' I ask him again.

''I already told you who I am,'' He looks out at the water surrounding us before turning his gaze to me. "You refuse to see hear the truth."

''Why take Rosa? she has nothing to do with this!'' I yell at him. "Why kidnap her?"

"Kidnap?" He repeats sounding offended. "We did not kidnap you, we saved you from those wolves."

Save me?

"What are you talking about? You compelled those men to take us away!" I say, not sounding sure of the words coming from my own mouth.

"Those men were compelled to kill you." He says angrily, "Alisia found you just in time and she brought you both to the cave."

I was silent. I couldn't bring myself to say anything after that. I was shocked. None of this made sense. All of it was too much for me to comprehend.

"I know you have questions," he says softly, "but we don't have much time, you need to go back."

"So why did you bring me down here." I ask him.

"I had to be sure." He's eyes fill with that same emotion from earlier. Only now I understand what it is. Pain.

"Be sure of what?" I ask, afraid of his answer.