Page 35 of Daughter of Garnet

No matter how many times I beg and plead for more answers from Ilota, she doesn’t respond. There is no voice in the back of my mind talking to me anymore.

I am left with more questions than answers.

But what I do know is that I am an Omega.

Dominic was right.

How was he right?

And what about Ray? Does this mean he knows, too, even if he thinks it’s a perfume?

Do I need to tell the administration?

No. No. She didn’t say it this time, but the first time I heard her voice, Ilota told me not to tell anyone. I doubt that's changed.

No one can know.

The idea of keeping this to myself makes my stomach clench, but there is nothing I can do.

She wants me to fix the realm? How does she expect me to do that? I don’t know why she thinks I can. I don’t know what my beast is. I don’t know anything other than a Goddess is speaking to me in my mind, and she says I'm supposed to "right the wrongs" of Kestia.

I bury my face in my pillow and scream in frustration.

“I’m not the right person for this, Ilota.” Tears start to form in the corners of my eyes. “I’m not. I don’t know what you want from me, but I can't do whatever it is.”

Of course, she doesn’t answer.

My pendant stares at me from my dresser, and I put it on, its weight a comforting embrace in the middle of this tumultuous moment.

Eventually, I fall into a fitful sleep. When I wake, I cannot remember my dreams other than that they felt incomplete.

Like something was missing.

Classes pass in a blur. I’m going through the motions. Talking to Viv, telling Warren he doesn’t need to apologize, that things were just weird, and grabbing quiet breakfasts with Cliff.

It’s not until I’m in the library by myself, an hour before my Menagerie Management study group, that I start to come out of my fog. Warren didn’t want to let me come here by myself for the risk of Dominic cornering me as he did before, but I was able to shake him off.

Part of me wants the Alpha to accuse me again.

I’m not supposed to tell anyone, but what if he guesses? What if I just don’t deny it? Is that different? Are there loopholes in a Goddess's directive?

“I know you said not to tell anyone,” I whisper as I wrap my arms around my knees, “but I don’t know if I can do this on my own.”

“Do what on your own?”

The deep masculine voice startles me. When I look up from the corner I shoved myself into, I am unsurprised to see Dominic standing in front of me, a scowl etched into his features.

He’s a beautiful man. Overwhelming and cold, sure, but beautiful. I think he knows it, too.

“Who are you talking to?”

I can’t make myself speak. I worry that if I open my mouth, my secret will come tumbling out. As much as I want it to, until Ilota says it’s okay, I know I need to keep it to myself.

Play your part.

Tell no one.

She made it very clear from the moment she Blessed me that this is something to keep between us, despite what I want or need.