The Seduction of Jac Frost (by Tatienne Richard) novel Chapter 101

Sorry Is Not Enough

Original composition by Tatienne Richard exclusively for My Fiction. If you’re reading this elsewhere it has been stolen from the platform.

Jacqueline looked at Winika and Jack with a sad expression. “I am disappointed in you both.”

Winika wiped her cheeks with her palms, her chin wobbling and face flushed with emotion. Jack’s hands rubbed his chest as the ache of the splintered bond with his eldest daughter

left a void.

“From this day forward, you are not my parents. I will not cause you further pain by asking the Queen Mother to sever our bond because I know it will hurt. I am not out to hurt either of you but,” she lifted her chin defiantly, “I will not allow myself to be harmed by your callousness towards me and my emotions. What you have done in choosing Jacinta’s comfort over her accountability has caused me to be harmed. I spent my entire life with my own heart encased in a spell to protect me from being harmed by those who would reject me. I was never the child who dreamed of her parents coming to find her because I knew I was abandoned. I knew my mother

wanted me and left me blue and squalling in hospital

never

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entrance. I knew my history.”

“Jacqueline,” Winika whispered. “I didn’t abandon you.”

“You did,” she said simply. “By refusing to acknowledge your suspicions and by ignoring the glaring truth, you abandoned me and left me behind. While my brother tore the world apart searching for me to no avail, you let him suffer. You were so scared of what he might do to Jacinta in an effort to find me, that you put a protection spell upon yourself.”

“A spell?” her father turned to Winika curiously. “You cast a spell on yourself?”

“She did. One to stop herself from accusing Jacinta openly. She was upset at herself for doubting her daughter and in her mind she thought she was a bad mother for suspecting her daughter. She should have confided in you and instead she made herself refuse to acknowledge her suspicions. In doing this, it kept me out of my family.”

“It was a mistake.”

“The mistake Winika wasn’t in thinking you were a bad mother for suspecting your daughter. Most mothers would want to believe the best of their children. Even serial killer

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have mothers who sit on their side in a courtroom.” She gave

a mocking laugh, “but you erred when you sacrificed one child for the other. You could have found me, and you opted not to. You went twenty–five years playing this grief–stricken

woman who had lost her mind to the heartache of a lost

child. The reality is, you drove yourself crazy with your spell because it was going against the heart of a mother. Do you know why you heard me in the flowers, Winika? It was the

Queen Mother herself trying to make you break and admit

to your family what you knew deep down in your soul. I spent

time in her garden, and she told me to be gentle with you

because your spirit is raw and frayed. She has such a soft

spot in her heart for you because she knows the guilt of a

mother.”

“I didn’t want to believe it to be true!” Winika exclaimed.

“How could I believe my own flesh and blood to be capable of such horrors? I thought it was me. I thought I was so desperate to blame someone I was blaming her, and I felt

guilty for it, and I made myself not think such abhorrent thoughts.”

“Yet, when we came to you, Jack and I and told you what she’d done, you wanted to protect her. When you brought her back here you left her unguarded in a room with servants she could manipulate, and she came to me to attack me 3/10

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again. Last night you saw the knife in her hand, and you thought, if you played along with me and gave me an evening with my family, it would make me softer somehow.”

Winika looked away, “can I not worry for her safety?”

“At the expense of mine? No. I don’t think it works that way. The way you turn your heads to her madness is what has created the monster which is Jacinta. You cried in your

husband’s ear all night until he finally agreed to come to the temple and try to break the spell. Manipulation is the forte of your bloodline I fear.”

“I am sorry,” Winika spoke softly. “I know it was wrong. Hearing her today screaming how she wished she’d killed you, I know I made a mistake, but I am struggling to reconcile the creature I saw today with the child I raised. It is hard for me to separate the sweet little angel she was as a child to the woman who threatened you.”

“The knife was in her hand, Winika and you still plead for your husband to release her.”

“What is our punishment?” Jack asked with a sad yet wary expression.

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“Is that all you have to say?” Jacqueline asked him, annoyed more with herself for feeling hurt that he wasn’t even fighting

for her. Why was she surprised?

“What can I say?” he looked at Winika with irritation. “You have already condemned us. You’ve already said you will not call yourself our daughter. You are not speaking like a person who is even contemplating forgiveness. I could tell you everything in my heart right now and it would fall on deaf

ears.”

“Wow.”

The word came from her brother and Jacqueline looked at him waiting to hear what more he would say.

“The great king of the Northern Realm who taught me to fight for what is right until my dying breath are giving up so easily. You are not the king I thought you were. I get her,” he waved at his mother angrily. “She is soft inside, a heart so full of love she would cuddle the dog that bit her but you. Where is the man who came to me a few short weeks ago in tears telling me he found his beloved missing princess and would go to war to bring her home? All she wants is to be loved and you stand here giving up on her,” he paused dramatically, “again. You give up again.”

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“Jack,” the king swallowed audibly.

“I am so ashamed to call you father.” He turned his head with

pain written across his features as he looked at Jacqueline, “I

love you sister. I feel our bond as siblings as real as if I could

hold it in my hand. I am infinitely sorry for the way the Frost family has treated you. We failed you in so many ways in the

past and it continues in the present. I beg you to not cut me

out of your life. I need you, sister and I know I can be a good

brother to you. I will not fail you again.”

Jacqueline gave him a sweet smile. “I know brother. I love you too.” She patted her chest where their bond flared to life, “I forgive you. I feel your remorse, your sadness, and your love. I feel the way you will cherish our sibling bond. I will return

that honor to you, and I will love you as my brother for all the days of my life.”

Tears filled his eyes at her words and he nodded. “Thank you

sister.”

The king watched as his son connected with his daughter in a way he’d not been able and a sob erupted from his chest. “What have I done?”

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“You have sacrificed one child for another. You held me responsible for the ramifications of Jacinta’s actions. I did nothing but secure my safety and bring her to face her judgment from an entity far beyond me and yet you thought I was the one at fault.”

“I’m sorry,” he wept openly now, dropping to his knees. “I’m so sorry. Tell me how to fix this. You are my daughter; my precious princess and I failed you and I am sorry.”

“You were warned so many times, Daddy Jack,” she watched grief etch into the lines on his face where his eyes squinted through tears. “You were warned so many times that I was not trusting of your actions and yet you continued to vilify me and cause me to hurt. I will not live my life with my heart surrounded by a barricade against emotions because I know you will hurt me again and so,” she didn’t look away from his weeping, “for my own sanity, I will not spend time in your presence unless absolutely necessary. When we meet, it will be for political matters or here in the temple. Our personal relationship cannot move forward.”

“No!” the scream from Winika as she collapsed to the floor made everyone in the room turn to look at her. “Jacqueline no. I love you. You are my daughter and I made mistakes. I know I did. I will atone. I will do whatever you ask of me.” 7/10

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“I ask nothing of you, Winika.” She knew she was being cold but rather this than for them to hurt her again. “I will not treat you with disdain or with contempt. I will not hate you. We can exist as cordial acquaintances.”

“I will not give up.” Jack said suddenly, his blue eyes flashing. “If it means I spend a lifetime on my knees praying for forgiveness then it is what I will do and someday I will earn the love of my daughter.”

“I wish you well with your endeavor, King Jack of the Frost Realm.” She was angry with herself for how much the little girl inside her wanted to run to him at his words. “At this time, I am not convinced this is not simply a ploy to have your son forgive you or to fill a void in the hole where your bond with Jacinta once rested.”

“No. It is neither of those things and I will prove it to you through diligence and love.”

“You will forgive me for not trusting a word falling from your lips, King Jack.”

“I will have you calling me Daddy Jack again someday, Jacqueline.”

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“I will not be holding my breath.”

The high priestess of the Northern Realm spoke, “the Queen Mother lingers. She is unhappy the child she entrusted to

your care has not been cared for. You will continue to feel the

bond with your daughter, but the Queen of Kings and Queens will not feel the same thing. Where you will continue to feel the bond on your side, until you have atoned appropriately, demonstrated true reflection and remorse, she will feel no more for you than she would for any other stranger. You do not need to protect your own heart, my queen, as the creator is protecting it for you.”

“You are saying then there is hope.” King Jack looked at the high priestess with determination in his gaze. “There is a chance we can win our daughter back by being the parents she deserves and always deserved.”

“There is always hope,” the priestess confirmed with a nod, “but hope is for you not for her.”

“It is enough.” He took a deep breath and looked to his wife, “you and I will need to have a very serious conversation about what you hid from me in terms of placing spells upon yourself. I am angry Winika. I have always trusted you with

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having the best interests of my heart in yours. Today my blind following of your pleas has cost me my children.”

“I have lost them too.”

“Then it is time to figure out a way to be better parents so they come back to us.” He gave one last long look at Jack, “we will figure this out, my son. I will be the king you look up to once again. I swear this to you.”

“I hope you mean it.”

“My Queen,” he turned his head back to Jacqueline, “you

have my devotion and my love for the rest of my days. I will

see to it that you know what a father is supposed to be. I’ll take my leave for now but know I will never give up on you,

not ever.”

She said nothing as she watched them walk out of the temple instead of teleporting away. Suddenly all she wanted was her

mates.