Journey of a Girl

Ajo: Chapter Twenty-Four

The world crashed around them.

All bliss died in her heart.

When Credence pulled away, Ajo's face was haunted with mortification.

"No," he said quickly. "I didn't mean—"

"I am not Galeia," Credence hissed.

All too easily tears found a perch in her eyes, and each breath felt like a sharp edge against her heart.

"I know," he said. "You are not her."

"And you hate that, don't you?"

"No! Never!"

"I am only a piece of the one you really want."

Her breath was ragged, her words choked out. All the moments between them, all his promises and beautiful words—they were never for her.

Galeia was the only woman he could ever love. The wild thing that lived in his heart.

Credence was just Galeia's daughter.

"Please," Ajo begged, "I didn't mean—"

He tried to pull her into his arms but Credence jerked away and stumbled back, staring at him with repulsed outrage.

"You killed Galeia. You killed your true love with your monstrous hate. She never wanted you, but even now, when there was someone who did...you couldn't find a space in your heart for me." She wiped away angry tears. "You cannot love all of me, so you will love none."

Credence loathed the way her voice cracked as she spoke. It showed weakness, she believed. It proved how deeply he hurt her, and she had no desire to give him an inch of power. She didn't want him to know that for one brief moment he had been the most important thing in the world to her. Her joy, her future, her heart.

Others had tried to warn her, and she argued against their wisdom.

She felt like an utter fool. Like a child.

"Credence—"

"Don't you dare use my name!"

"I beg you, please, how can I make this right?"

Her heart was stone, and the last trace of emotion she had departed in the tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Never come in my sight again."

"No, I will not leave you. My beloved—"

"Beloved?" Her voice caught in her throat and she had to swallow its sharpness to continue.

Her mind raced with a horrid thought. I will carry the pain you've caused. Forever.

"You're vile. And you will live just as you deserve—in the lonely misery you built for yourself."

When she turned away he grabbed her arm. "It's too late, you spoke the words."

Without knowing how, she sent a jolt of anger towards him. He withdrew his hand as if her skin  burned him, and when his eyes grew wide Credence knew he was afraid.

Despicable beast, she thought. Pathetic.

"I've done all you asked," he said. "I freed the Queen. I let you into the vault. I took my memories back—"

"You were supposed to love me, more than any of those things."

She looked at the great tree. No matter how many flowers tried to hide the foulness beneath, it would always be a wretched thing. It would be best, she decided, if someone put the tree, and all the memories it contained, out of their misery.