Page 2 of A Simple Truth (the Freckled Fate #2)

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FINNLEAH

Y ou, Finn, are a Destroyer. Those words ricocheted through my mind, mercilessly cutting straight to my heart as I stood in the middle of the large tent.

“No. No. No! ” I took a few steps back, stumbling. My mind short-circuited, my head feeling so heavy, it was difficult to remain upright.

“As surprising as it might be to you, it is true,” the General said as he rested his elbows on the large table.

“How did you not know you were a Destroyer, is what I want to know,” Zora glowered, “What do you think wielding raw fire makes you? A Seer?” She took a step closer to me, staring at me as my eyes darted between the four strangers. Zora held up a large family ring—Kaius’s ring. “Now, tell us where Kaius is, and we can talk more. But choose your words carefully, or they might be your last.” She narrowed her eyes, giving me a vicious half smirk. She pulled out a long, thin, black chain with two crescent-shaped blades attached at each end and began to spin it around with her finger.

“No,” I mumbled, barely able to move my tongue, my mouth turning as dry as a desert. “No,” I repeated. This time, my voice was louder, stronger. “You are lying . This…” My eyes dashed around the large tent lined with thick carpets. “This is all a lie,” I uttered, bile burning my throat. The General rose from his chair, letting out a long, heavy breath.

“Finn…”

“No…” I shook my head, snarling at him, my eyes darkened as rage scorched within me. “You are a bloodthirsty child-defiler. Not a rebel.” I pointed my finger at him, my wrists still bound tight with the harsh rope. “And if you are…” I paused to gain control of the nausea roiling through my gut. “If somehow, in this twisted universe, you are a rebel…their leader , then I don’t want to fucking join a cause run by a monster . If this is what Rebels stand for, if they are together with the Destroyers, then this world is doomed. And I am never going to be a part of it!” My lips pressed into a thin line as pure and unadulterated hatred boiled within me.

This couldn’t be, and yet, here I was.

Somehow, the world had shifted on its axis, spiraling into an abyss past the point of return.

“Careful how you speak to my General,” Zora hissed, taking a step closer. Her already-narrow eyes turned into sharp slits as she glared at me. But I didn’t back down as my eyes stared back at the General.

“You can call me a Destroyer, your slave, or whatever else your sick mind conjures, but that sure as hell doesn’t make me one. If I could summon fire, which I cannot, I would have turned you all to ashes a long time ago . ” The walls of my inner fortress fractured, as if rocked by a violent earthquake; its foundations shaken, on the brink of bursting.

“How about we all take a big, deep breath,” Xentar started calmly. “I think there is a bit of a misunderstanding—”

I let out a wrath-filled scoff as I sent a piercing glare in his direction. “ You have the nerve to call this a misunderstanding?! A Creator with them …betraying your own people? Joining them ? Where were you when Destroyers burned mages, tortured them, and hunted them for sport? Where were you as Creators were forced to watch their children die, only to be killed after? Was that all a ‘misunderstanding’ too?!”

All of this for nothing.

“Perhaps, I can help,” Orest offered kindly as he took a half step closer to me, but the General gestured for him to stop.

“Finn, if you would just listen to us, it will all make sense.” The General, or Gideon , or whoever else he pretended to be stood up. My skin prickled; crawling with disdain at his nearness. The pressure in my veins was rising so high, they were about to burst.

The world believed in the Rebels. I believed in them. People died for them, hunted by none other than the Destroyers . And it was just a cruel, twisted lie?

I couldn’t breathe.

My head spun and my vision darkened.

It was all too much.

The hatred I felt could no longer be leashed. The creature within me roared as I shouted.

“ Burn in fucking hell! ” With that, I threw the last poisoned pin that I held tightly between my bound hands, sending it straight at the General’s figure.

But it wasn’t the pin that made the dust in the air freeze; it was the golden streak that followed. The General ducked just in time, letting the flame land on the tent wall behind him, immediately dissolving the canvas with its heat, evaporating it to pure dust. Startled soldiers gaped at me through the giant hole from the outside; their faces were perplexed, as my trembling hand remained hovering in the air.

My entire body trembled uncontrollably. My eyes locked onto the charred ends of the tent’s roof, now ruffled by the cold, northern wind. The General hastily motioned with his hand, extinguishing the remaining fire before it spread.

Like a breath of fresh air, something inside me felt so damn free. It was a feeling I had never felt before; entirely unfamiliar. No more shackles, no more chains, no more cage.

Free .

As if my soul became whole again.

But my entire mind burned in shock, my thoughts withering into ashes, just like the canvas walls of the tent moments ago.

I gasped for air, my heart filled with undiluted terror, my body struggling to hold onto consciousness as my lungs sealed shut.

But I could not deny the truth any longer.

I was a Destroyer.