Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 55059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
It wasn’t a coax but a command, leaving Ryu stunned. It had been a long time since he’d heard his father addressed in that manner, and even though Tatsu didn’t seem to falter as he royally entered, Ryu could sense the uncomfortable fear within as he watched his father be the one to bow to someone else for the first time.
“You’ve avoided coming to see me,” Itako spoke with an otherworldly wisdom. “Let us see what your insolence cost us, as there is no time to waste.”
Ryu’s hands that he had clasped together on the table were suddenly grabbed by thin, withering ones.
“Ahh,” Itako breathed, as any remaining candlelight in the home disappeared before it slowly returned. “I see now.”
It was Tatsu who eagerly asked, “What is it? What do you see?”
The look on the blind lady’s face told them she would roll her eyes if only she could. “It is not only a fated mate that you must seek, but a soul mate.”
Ryu gave his own look, clearly confused. “Are they not one and the same?”
Itako merely laughed. “No.”
“I don’t understand,” he said when she didn’t go on.
“A fated mate are two souls destined to be together in this lifetime,” she began explaining. “A soul mate are two souls destined to be together in every life.”
“I see.” Tatsu wiped an exasperated brow that was beginning to sweat. “So, it’s even harder to find.”
“Eh.” Itako shrugged nonchalantly. “Fated mate, one in a million. Soul mate, one in two billion.”
His father had to finally take the other chair.
“Oh …” Ryu breathed, knowing exactly what his father was feeling at this moment. “Now, I see.”
“Told you.” Itako palmed the back of Tatsu’s head that was finally in reaching distance to her short stature. “Should have come to me sooner.”
Rubbing the back of his head, Tatsu clearly thought better than hurting a hundred-year-old blind bat. “You know why I didn’t want to come.”
“Yes,” the woman answered, all knowingly. “She told me you wouldn’t.”
Both Ryu’s and his father’s skin went pale.
“The spirits of the dead want us to honor them, Tatsu, not fear them,” she said, placing a frail hand over his now. “Or have you forgotten your faith after all this time?”
With glistening eyes, he shook his head. “I have not.”
“Then you must trust in Kana to protect your son, as you know his fated mate is not here.”
Tatsu cleared his throat as a tear streamed upon his cheek from hearing his late wife’s name for the first time in years. “I will.”
“You will?” Ryu asked as shock overtook the depths of sadness from the topic of his mother.
“He must,” Itako said simply, “or village life as we know it will cease to exist, along with the Tei family name.”
Reluctantly nodding his head in agreement, Tatsu finally gave his blessing for his son to leave the village.
Every day, every single day, Ryu had questioned, doubting his mate had even been born in this village, but his father had assured him they always were. But if that was true, then: why now?
“It has happened once before to a Tei,” Itako spoke clairvoyantly, reading his mind. “Ka Tei also had a soul mate who wasn’t a child of this village, yet she somehow wandered into it.”
“How?” he fervently asked, only more confused.
She gave another shrug, as if it was all so simple. “Ka Tei’s mate said she could see it.”
Both father and son looked at each other, knowing that wasn’t supposed to be possible … but still, hope shone in their eyes.
Tatsu let out a sigh of relief that maybe his son didn’t have to leave after all. “So, she could wander in any momen—”
“No.” The blind bat swatted him again. “His soul mate’s different.”
It looked like he was contemplating hurting an old witch this time, but then she continued.
“She’s broken, ’cause he waited too long to go find her,” Itako scolded him again. “Should have seen me sooner. All your fault.”
His father guiltily rubbed the back of his head where he had been struck. “Oh.”
Broken? Ryu suddenly grew concerned for a woman he had yet to meet.
“Yes, broken,” Itako repeated clearly so he would begin to understand the girl who awaited him as she placed her thin hands over his strong ones again. “In every life, you have sat on a throne, Ryu. Together, as your two souls become whole.”
Chills went up his arms, starting from where she touched. He didn’t know if it was from learning he was always a king or …
Does that mean … I’m broken?
This time, Itako didn’t answer his thought out loud, sparing him his dignity in front of his father by quietly nodding her head.
Everything Ryu thought he knew about himself changed in a single moment, knowing one thing to be true.
It was better to never be a king at all than to always be a broken one.