THE UNBREAKABLE PIECE (FIRST BOOK OF THE HIDDEN WORLD) English version

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE:PROMISES

I ran upstairs with Ekaitz close behind me once again. I wanted to find air that could fill my lungs because everything I breathed seemed to be toxic particles. Besides, I wanted to escape from my guards before they could attack me with questions. I was about to grasp the doorknob when Ekaitz took my hand and wrapped his arms around me. His closeness slowed my heart, bringing me back to earth. I let out a muffled cry into his shirt while a thunder caused by his power resonated within the house's walls, trying to hide my sadness. How could it be that someone I had known for just a few hours could understand so well what I needed in that moment? How could I trust him so much when he was a stranger?

I had known loneliness all my life; we were old friends. I had felt alone every time I missed Christian, felt alone when I discovered the truth about Ben and Gemma, felt alone when Jayden had abandoned me for Lexi, and felt alone when Eamon—whom I had started to have feelings for—had said hurtful things about me. I had learned to deal with that austere and damaging feeling, but I had never experienced it as deeply as in this eternal moment in time when Ekaitz held me in his arms. Because even though he wanted to soothe my pain, no one would ever understand what crossed my mind during those seconds.

For ten years, I had cried for Christian, had imagined him happy in college with a girlfriend who existed only in my mind. I had cried for my mother, who had left me behind to live her life, and cried for my father, who had stayed to take care of me despite dealing with a human girl who barely remembered who she was. But all that crying had been in vain now that I knew they were all alive, out of my reach.

"Amy," Ekaitz said in my ear, whispering my name. "I know it's too much to ask given what Tim Tom has said, but I need you to calm down because you'll attract the guard's attention. And I know that's not what you want. They'll know you've lost your composure again, and they'll be angry."

I sat on the stairs, crying without knowing how to stop, without finding a reason to do so other than to avoid Ben and Gemma's attention. Anguish pressed on my chest, and my throat had almost completely closed. I gasped for air. Ekaitz sat beside me and took my hand; my mother's ring had gleamed at his touch, and my ears temporarily muffled. He looked at me confused, more confused than when he had seen my dark eyes in the dungeon.

"I'm sorry for losing control," I rolled my eyes backward at my own irony, "once again."

"Okay," he replied with a smile on his face. "You don't owe me explanations, nor your guard. You are the princess, the future queen of Alba. You are allowed an outburst once a week, that's what the law of onpixes says."

A half-hearted laugh escaped my lips. I knew he had tried to cheer me up, but I truly didn't believe that anyone could do that now. No one but my father. I needed to reach him. I needed to tell him what I had discovered.

An idea clouded my mind.

"Ekaitz, do you know how to create portals? Can you take me back to Alba? I need to find my father."

He turned his blue eyes around the room, as if what had escaped my lips had been an insult. Something forbidden. But his gaze had caused electricity to run through my body, and it felt like watching a storm forming in the distance.

"Yes, Amy, I can do it. But down here, I don't have the essential elements for the praesidium, not to mention that it's against the rules to travel without your guard through the portals."

I stood up quickly and positioned myself in front of him with my hands on my hips. His face was at the level of my torso, but his eyes were fixed on mine.

"From this moment, you are part of my guard because I say so. You can travel with me to Alba, or I'll find a way to do it on my own. And believe me, I can be stubborn and very persistent."