Free Daughter of Gods and Shadows by Jayde Brooks

things into a small suitcase. “I’m no savior. I’m not what these Ancients need. You know it as much as I do.”
    Eden had tried to be brave, and Rose’s heart went out to her. But maybe the girl was right. Mkombozi’s essence may have been reborn into this child’s body, but it hadn’t been reborn to live out its destiny, at least not in this life.
    â€œStopping you is the last thing I would try and do, MyEden,” she said, sadly, walking over to Eden and taking hold of her hands.
    Tears streamed down the girl’s face in rivers, and all of a sudden, to Rose, Eden looked like she was six years old again. “It’s over,” she said, sounding so defeated. “The police are going to be looking for me. I’m all over the news, the Internet…” She shrugged. “I killed that guy,” she said remorsefully. “I can’t explain how I did it, Rose. I just got so angry and I hated those men for what they were trying to do to me. It’s only a matter of time before they find me, MyRose. And what’s going to happen when they do? What will I do to the police if they find me?”
    The authorities were the least of the challenges facing this young woman, and still, she couldn’t see it, but Rose could.
    Eden sat down wearily on the side of the bed, pulling Rose down next to her. “I have tried to understand the things you’ve told me all my life, MyRose,” she sobbed. “Believe me, I’ve tried, but I never wanted to be her. I’ve never wanted to have to see and do the things she did, because to me, I’m just Eden.” She stared helplessly back at Rose. “I’m me.”
    â€œAnd you are, Eden,” Rose said, tenderly. “I’ve always understood that, and I’ve always tried to do my best to prepare you, but I’m afraid I’ve failed you.” She pressed her hand to Eden’s cheek. Rose hadn’t realized that she had started crying, too.
    â€œIt’s all so impossible to believe,” Eden said, swallowing, struggling to compose herself. “I’m not—that person, that being. I’m not her, MyRose. I can’t be, because…”
    â€œBecause you’re afraid to be,” Rose said, finishing her thought for her.
    Eden nodded. “Who would want to be that? I killed that man as easily as I’d swat a fly.”
    â€œThey attacked you, Eden!”
    â€œThey fuckin’ did!” Eden shot back angrily. But just as quickly, she suppressed it. “They deserved to be punished, but not like that, Rose.” Eden grimaced. “I did things to them that … I tortured them. No matter how I try to forget that, I can’t. I punished them in a way that was cruel and evil. If that’s what this Mkombozi is like, then why would I want to be her?”
    Rose resisted the urge to tell her that she was trapped into a fate that she couldn’t escape. Eden’s choices had been taken from her by Khale the moment the Ancient Shifter had decided to reincarnate Mkombozi’s essence into that newborn infant.
    Defeat washed over Eden’s expression as she wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. “I have to go,” she said sadly.
    Rose nodded and smiled. “Of course you do, MyEden.” Rose felt her heart split in two. The world wasn’t a big enough place for Eden to run, but Rose couldn’t tell her that. It was a lesson she’d have to learn on her own. “Where will you go?”
    Eden shrugged again and took a deep breath before responding. “Someplace warm,” she quipped, forcing a smile. “Someplace where there are no subways, air pollution, or weird-looking creatures that only I can see.”
    Rose smiled, too. “I hope you find that place. And I hope that it’s all that you dream it should be.”
    Rose said it but she didn’t believe it. There was no place like that in this