"You"re lying ..." Emma hissed. However, there was a tinge of doubt in her voice. What if Xion was telling the truth, and her father was indeed facing execution? How could Emma let her father be killed?
F*ck! Why was her telemancy utterly useless at such a critical time? She badly needed to know if this man was lying or not...
Unknowingly, tears had formed on both corners of her eyes as she imagined her doting father facing death.
She missed him so much... and the thought that he was suffering somewhere awaiting death made her devastated.
"Princess ... I will allow you to read my mind this once, and you will be able to determine whether I am lying to you or not ..." Xion said in a soft voice.
He saw how those beautiful topaz eyes were trying so hard to look tough, but he knew better. The girl was about to cry.
For some reason, suddenly, his feelings were filled with compa.s.sion. He realized, behind her cold demeanor was a lonely little girl who had lived a hard life on her own for fifteen years. And even now she was still so young.
Xion could not imagine what kind of suffering this girl had experienced since she was little. It must be tough, trying to survive on this foreign planet alone.
He reached out his hand and slowly moved closer to Emma. The swirling wind that surrounded him had disappeared.
Emma was shocked when she realized that Xion just casually dismissed her whirlwind and could fly without a.s.sistance. She involuntarily moved back, but Xion was faster than her and had caught her hand.
"Let me go!" snapped Emma, pulling her hands free from Xion, but he was stronger than her. He held Emma"s hand and put it on his temple.
They were now drifting in the air facing each other with their faces only inches away.
Xion had removed his annoying smirk and was now staring earnestly at Emma.
"Princess, I allow you to read my mind this once. You will know that I am not lying," he said in a gentle voice. Xion looked at Emma intently and pressed her hand on his temple.
Emma was stunned when she realized she could now read the young man"s thoughts in front of her.
As it turned out, Xion was not lying. Emma could now read his mind!
Her mind went back to the past when she just recovered her powers and could read everyone"s mind but Haoran"s. She now realized it must be because Emma was already in love with the man. Only once they were together, as they kissed, Haoran unknowingly allowed her to read his mind.
And now, it made sense to her that she couldn"t read Therius and Xion"s minds because they were stronger than her so they could protect themselves from her intrusion.
She was obviously not in love with either one. So, they must be strong enough to resist her... She didn"t really know how to train her abilities and had no one to help her. These men must have got years of training under their belts and would know how to handle such attacks.
"Therius is a telemancer just like you. You won"t be able to control his mind at all. He is far stronger than you," Xion said suddenly as if reading Emma"s mind. "If there is someone who can train you to use telemancy, he is that person. He is already the highest level telemancer at this point, but even he can"t read my mind without my permission."
Emma pursed her lips and looked at Xion sharply. "Where is my father now?"
"Your father is in a military prison. He is currently the longest-serving political prisoner in Akkadia. The king was very eager to kill him because General Stardust had embarra.s.sed the whole royal family for years. And now, the king even considered him responsible for the death of Prince Darius, his only son. "
"So, why is my father still alive?"
"They cannot risk Princess Arreya mobilizing all of Thaesi"s army to go to war with Akkadia. If General Stardust died, she wouldn"t hesitate to die along with all her army to avenge him. Even though Thaesi will definitely lose the war, the loss on our part will still be great."
"Where is my mother now?"
"Princess Arreya returned to her country in Thaesi. Akkadia cannot punish her because she did nothing wrong. General Stardust forced her to flee and enchanted everyone in the royal palace so they could escape."
"My father did not force her to do anything. Instead, it was my mother who asked him to elope. She was in love with my father, not the crown prince."
"General Stardust took all the blames as soon as they were captured and brought back to Akkadia. As a general of the Akkadian kingdom, he was tried in the military court and found guilty. He was sentenced to death, but Princess Arreya managed to kidnap Prince Darius and threatened to kill him if General Stardust was executed. She really wreaked havoc in the palace so they would spare his life."
Emma closed her eyes and tried to hold back the tears from dripping down her cheeks.
Her father really took all the blame alone like he said he would.
Xion lowered Emma"s hand from his temple. "Now, do you believe me? I"m sorry I lied when I said that marriage outside of Akkadia was not acknowledged, but I sincerely said that to spare his life. That young man would not be safe if he came with you back to Akkadia. What would you take him there for? To die in your arms?"
Emma gasped at Xion"s words. "I won"t let him die!"
"Do you think Princess Arreya can save her husband? All she can do so far is to keep King Ca.s.sius from killing General Stardust ... Even she cannot free him, and Princess Arreya is not a helpless young girl like you," Xion said again.
"I"m not a helpless young girl ..." Emma snapped. She pulled her hand away from Xion"s.
"Do you know who can save your father?" Xion asked earnestly.
Emma looked at the young man with a face full of question marks.
"Who?"
"King of Akkadia," Xion answered firmly. "The next king will be able to pardon your father and lift his death sentence, but the future king needs your help to ascend the throne."