Dominion (Guardian Angels) - By Melody Manful Page 0,57

don’t know how I feel!” I shouted angrily as tears rushed faster down my cheeks. “You don’t know how it felt! You have no idea what it’s like to be a little girl and having your father trust you with the burden of protecting your mother and yourself. You have no idea how hard it was for me growing up and trying to be everything you wanted me to be.” I saw tears fall from his eyes, but I didn’t stop. He had to hear my thoughts. I continued, “Sometimes I feel so angry, and other times so sad and lonely, but I could never let those feelings out because I had to be strong. I never complained about the life you gave me because I knew it wouldn’t make a difference. That little girl you gave a gun to—all she wanted was a Barbie doll and a princess dress.” I shook my head and cleared my tear-filled eyes.

“This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen,” I continued. “I was supposed to make mistakes of my own, and you were supposed to be there to fix them. It shouldn’t have been my job to fix your mistakes and your choices. Now, I killed—” I felt my throat dry up all of a sudden. “I killed those people, Dad, and now I can’t close my eyes for a second without seeing their faces and their blood. Everywhere I look, all I see is blood.”

“Honey…I am so sorry.” My father took my hands once more. “I know sorry won’t fix this, and it won’t give you back your childhood or your innocence. I never meant to hurt you or your mother. I wanted a family, and I was lucky to have both of you. I know I can never take back everything I put you through, but everything I did was because I wanted to protect you both.”

As tears ran down his cheeks, I knew he was telling the truth, and I understood him. “I know you wanted to protect us, but I—”

“I’d do this all over again if I could,” he whispered. “I’d do everything differently.”

“The thing with do-overs it’s that they don’t exist. Second chances are just another chance to mess up,” I whispered, and he looked up at me with an even sadder face.

I knew he understood what I was talking about. He’d said those exact words to me when he first saw me in training, and I had messed up and asked for another chance.

“I know you wanted to protect us. I understand,” I said when I knew he wasn’t going to comment on my quoting him. “Can I get some rest before we leave?”

My father nodded and headed for the door. He stopped before stepping outside and said, “Please, forgive me.” Then he walked out.

I wanted to call him back and tell him that I forgave him and that if he hadn’t asked me to train, I wouldn’t have been able to save Mom and Ben, but I didn’t. Because he also once said: Forgiveness should be earned, not asked for.

ACHILLES’ HEEL

*Gideon*

“The most dangerous lies aren’t the ones they tell you.

The most dangerous lies are the ones you tell yourself,

and they are the ones that hurt the most.”

Melody Manful



“So, you spent the night with Abigail?” Valoel asked as soon as I returned to my room. She stood beside my telescope inside my room.

“Are you spying on me now?”

“Let me get this straight. You stayed and comforted her the whole night because you are not in love with her?” she asked smugly.

“I am not in love with her!” I shouted, and the telescope caught fire. I didn’t know why I was acting stranger than I ever had, but I was sure I wasn’t in love with Abigail.

I had gone to D’s after I left Abigail this morning, and we had gone out and hunted so I could get Abigail out of my head, but nothing I did pushed her out of my mind.

“Lying doesn’t change the truth,” Valoel stated philosophically.

I walked over to her. “Val, you know that I can torture you with my mind, right?”

“I know that.” She made a sofa appear out of thin air and sat down. “I just keep wondering why you haven’t yet.” I was pretty sure her wardrobe was going to be the next thing to appear in my room.

“I can’t because I don’t know what you fear, and I have never caught even a glimpse of fear or pain in your