Intertwine

99 - A Loaded Question

The man didn't reply. He just looked at me, his eyes unravelling my mind.

"Please, don't." I held up my hand, turning my face away from him. "Please don't read my thoughts. It hurts too much."

"This is not the woman who taunted me a week ago." He paused. "Who is this girl sitting before me now?"

"I don't know." I whispered. "I'm having... dreams."

"What kind of dreams?"

"Dreams about you." I finally let myself look into those emerald eyes that had been fixed inside my retinas for days now. "They won't stop." My voice was so hushed even I could barely hear it. "It's as though I'm being shown someone else's life. I know things, bits of information, but I don't have... memories. People are supposed to have... memories." I hung my head. "It's like I only know what I'm allowed to know."

"Why do you think this is happening?" He asked, leaning closer to the glass of his cell.

"I think you're doing this to me." I admitted. "I think you're tormenting me."

He shook his head sadly. "I've tormented many people in this life Roara, but I would never do that to you."

"How do you know so much about me?" I leant towards him. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"I'm not." He sighed. "Roara, what do you know about yourself?"

"I'm nineteen. I'm the daughter of a Goddess. I used to know you all, but you all betrayed me. I am in love with Simon Bridges. I want you all dead." I bit my lip. "Something's wrong with me."

The man groaned and rubbed his temples. His hands dropped to his lap. He glanced at me and then looked away. "Most of that isn't true."

"Which bits?"

"You were born in 1593, at the turn of the 17th century. You stopped ageing when you were 19. You used to know us all, but you betrayed us. You think you are in love with Simon Bridges, but love doesn't work like that. If you wanted me dead I wouldn't blame you, but you don't want us all dead, the Ascendency does." He moved upwards, kneeling next to the glass, pressing his hand to it as though he was trying to reach me. "There is nothing wrong with you Roara. Do you hear me? There is nothing wrong with you."

I felt my lip begin to tremble. "How do you know that?"

"Because I know you. I've known you since you were 18 years old. I have loved you since you were 18 years old and I have never stopped loving you. You've been hurt, and yes you've been betrayed, and left behind, and found again. I have spent the last half a year mending the bond I broke centuries ago. There is someone inside your mind, trying to tear you apart. That doesn't mean something is wrong with you. It means there is someone hurting you."

Tears slipped from my eyes and I pulled my jacket tighter around myself. "How can I even trust you?"

"You can't." He shrugged.

"That's not what you said before." I whispered.

His eyes glinted in the darkness of the room. "What did I say before?"

I closed my eyes and the images came crashing in. A mountain range, a forest floor, pine trees of the deepest green. It all made my head scream with agony, as though this was not something I was supposed to see.

"You're hurting yourself." He murmured. "Please don't."

"I have to remember." I muttered. "I have to remember the dream." I opened my eyes at last. "You said to me that you'd catch me. I asked what if I didn't, trust you I mean, and you said that I was just going to have to trust you, that you would catch me."