The Lost Kingdom (The Fifth Element Chronicles)

Chapter 23 "The Betrayal"

Not even the greatest silence could quiet my thoughts.

Did I ever have the power of choice, or was my whole life manipulated by prophecies, seers and Gods?

I no longer felt in control of anything.

I just knew that I would never fulfil the prophecy, I would not indulge them.

I was angry with my mother Elina. She could have prevented her death, she knew they would come for her and she chose to accept her fate just to get me to fulfil mine. Why had she decided for me?

Why had everyone decided for me?

Wasn't I the future Queen?

There was a question that was killing me.

Had I ever really mattered to anyone or had I always been just part of a prophecy?

Elina had cared for me because of the prophecy, my parents had sacrificed themselves for the same reason. And Syform... all the help and guidance he had given me, had been only to make me follow the path his visions had drawn.

I felt that everyone I had ever trusted had lied to me.

And then there was Caelus.

Did Caelus love me because of me or because of the prophecy? And did I feel this way about him by choice or also by the will of the Gods? How could I know?

The past haunted me so much that I could only think of the future.

In my veins ran not only the power of the Fifth Element, but also of the wish that the Tree had granted me. That was my priority now.

Caelus knocked on my door several times, but I could not speak to him.

He had been part of the game without telling me.

If he really loved me, why didn't he think it best to leave the Tree tests and seek salvation some other way?

Was he so against fate that he even decided not to love me because of that?

Or was he afraid it wasn't real?

Either way, he should have told me the truth, to give me a choice, not have decided for me like everyone else.

Since he knew I would not open, he decided to talk on the other side of the door.

'I found out she died the next day, just like she told me, and I felt extremely guilty. I was a fool for pride, I know, but I trusted that woman for most of my life and she lied to me. Everyone knew what she meant to me, she was like my mother. She helped me look after Aylyn when I rescued her, she brought me news from other Kingdoms to secure missions, she watched over me from the moment she lifted me off the floor of that dungeon. I never let anyone speak ill of her, not even you, because I knew you would regret it. But the truth is, though I will always feel guilty for letting her die, I can never forgive her for doing what she did to my mother.'

Although I was heartbroken that he let her die, I understood he didn't believe her, but still...

'She was the only one who knew who I really was, well, until now.'

He was a prince, not just any prince, the prince of Bieno.

'I tried to tell you many times, but I didn't know how you would react. My mother was Lucius' servant when he got to the throne. She became pregnant shortly after that. I got my powers from him, that's why he tried to kill me, so that no one would know he was really my father. Even if he never accepted it, to him Jonah will always be his firstborn.'