Chapter 207 An Inconvenient Truth

207 An Inconvenient Truth

If you like music while you read, try "Truth" by James Arthur. It's what I was listening to while writing this chapter!

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ETAN

Behind them, Falek stopped his horse too and began to scan their surroundings, looking for the threat, but Etan kept all of his attention on Ayleth—who was frowning at him.

"Ayleth, if you believe the plain brown snake under your eyes to be the common garden, you will not know it for the asp until it bites you."

"You just want me to agree with you!"

"No. I want you safe. I want your souls safe—if something should happen to you... Ayleth, I stood in front of your mother who calls on the Goddess and watched her swear to kill you." Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

"Those who serve your God go to war! They fight and kill!"

"Yes—and sometimes they should not. Murder is never acceptable in his sight, Ayleth. Except to stop your death at another's hands, killing another should never be done from hate or anger. And certainly not from ambition. And we are commanded that we protect our children! Love them! Guide them! Never kill them to keep them from someone else's hands. Ayleth, your mother's Goddess is... empowering her to kill you with magic that you know yourself she has set in your life."

"My father was angry and did not harm me," Etan said patiently. "He has never threatened my life—

even now when he believes I threatened his entire Kingdom! I'm sad and hurt to be apart from him right now, but I know him. And I know my mother's words were true. He'll forgive me and we'll work through this. He just needs some time."

He sucked in a deep breath. "Ayleth, your mother threatened to kill you, and still might make good on that threat. Do not believe that just because she has done well before, or shown love before, that means it is all she harbors in her heart. You know this, Ayleth, and yet you turn from it. It's the reason you abandoned them for me, whether you realize it or not. You felt called into the light—the real light. The one that would never cast you in darkness. Your heart—your soul—recognizes it. Whether you do or not," he concluded.

Ayleth was flustered, frowning. She yanked her reins out of his grip and nudged her horse forward again. Etan followed on his mount but didn't take the words back.

"So... you want me to just abandon everything? Everyone? Just... walk into a world I don't know, a God I don't trust, and... what? What is it that you believe waits for me there that I don't already have? Other than your rules and abstinence that you believe makes you righteous?"

Etan snorted. "I have never claimed righteousness. Now you spew the words of your priestesses who do not know my God. My Father of Lights doesn't set me on a pedestal, Ayleth. You ask what he brings... he brings protection. Strength that will not ask you to harm others. Empowerment from joy and peace and the strength that comes with it. That is what the Father of Lights does, Ayleth. He moves our hearts towards the best of which we are capable, and we are strengthened by it. He doesn't push in where He is not invited. He will not destroy any that don't come against him. He doesn't flatter. He does no harm—but he does discipline." Just like the loving father who once paddled Etan's behind for stealing, he thought to himself with a small smile.

"Do not dismiss the correction of the Father of Lights, Ayleth. It is the demonstration of love. Would you allow your dog to bite when it's a puppy? Or your horse to bolt whenever it pleased? Putting a bridle on your mount isn't cruelty, it is a mark of your protection—you know better than your mare which direction is safe, and which will get her killed, do you not?

"Yes, but—"

"No buts. Ayleth, the Father of Lights taught me how to love you. I do not claim to always get it right and I do not claim to understand the interplay between our gods. But I do know this: My God condemns the kind of hatred and power that your mother embraces. While yours apparently empowers it. That speaks volumes."