Page 122 of Sea's Secret

“You already know.

“How can it be a lie?” I asked in pain.

I suddenly remembered my uncle's vile words to me after I had been imprisoned on his ship because, at first, I refused to hurt people with my curse when Veeto ordered me to do it.

“YOU KILLED HIM! You killed my brother–your own father! You are wicked, just as wicked as King Falcon!”

I shook, tears streaming down my face.

“No, I didn’t. It was an accident!” I cried.

“You did it because you are corrupt; only darkness resides inside of you,” Veeto bellowed.

I then remembered a faint voice, one that had once been so familiar to me; then, another memory came to me, one which I was not certain was an actual memory or just a made-up fantasy, one to keep me sane, during those hard times of my young life.

“I love you, Dominick; this is not your fault. You are good, and I love you,” a woman, I believed to be my mother, whispered.

“Do you remember the truth?” The dragon pulled me back to the present. The echoes of the past faded like a distant mist.

“No–I did kill him; whoever that was lied to me to make me stop my crying,” I said.

“You did use your curse on him; that much is true. You did cause him pain, but you were also a child, and the Creator had already counted your father as one of His creations whose time had come to leave this existence and enter His Ancient Lands before you ever touched him.”

“How–”

“This is not news; she told you–”

“To protect me.”

“No, she spoke the truth.”

“But she sent me away. She abandoned me.”

“Truth stands the tests of this world. It stands when all else bends and falls. Truth rings true in your soul, human prince.”

“So–I did not kill my father?”

“Did you?”

“No?” I said, and then I looked at my hands, hands I had always hated, hands that had placed me into a life that I’d never wanted.

“No, young prince, you did not kill your father.”

“I did not kill my father,” I said faintly, and as I spoke those words, something inside of me, inside of my soul, hummed–it hummed to the truth of those words.

“Tomorrow night, you shall choose a star, and then you will discover truths that you have never known, along with the deepest desire of your heart.”

“But wait!”

The dragon had already begun to sink under the sea.

He paused.

“But my sister?”

“Your sister is alive and on the life journey the Creator has set out for her. No matter what Ancient Draken does, the Creator will see to it that every being, magical or otherwise, has the opportunity to be who He created them to be.”

“But she needs me.”