The Rise Of The Unwanted Girl (Athena) novel Chapter 602

Chapter 602

“Exactly,” Marquita sighed white clasping her hands in prayer, “May God watch over Miss Athena. Let her path he smooth from cow HT from any more suffering

Trina followed suit, mimicking Marquita’s gesture of prayer.

The Jan River wasn’t for. They reached it in just a few hours.

Following Margaret’s directions, Mhena quickly found her mother’s grave.

Even though Athena had braced herself for this moment, the sight of the neglected, covergrown grawe made tears well up and spill down her chee

When Daniel Holmes abused her and left her starving as a child, Athena would often wenture into the mountain forests to scavenge for food

Sometimes she would get wild berries and edible greens.

On lucky days, she might even come across bird ep

Athena found the scenery vaguely familiar, but it hadn’t dawned on her until now. These wiry woods were where she’d often ventured as a child.

“I’ve been here before!” Athena exclaimed, a sudden malization dawning on her.

Xander looked at her, puzzled. “You’ve been here before?”

Athena nodded and pointed toward the woods ahead. “Beyond these trees is Stohe Hill, For about five miles around its base, the area is sparsity populated–just a few hunters‘ families live here. When winter comes, they head up the mountain to hunt for food.

“Because it’s so remote, outsiders rarely visit. The locals live in poverty and often go to bed hungry.”

Xander looked at Athena in surprise, a realization dawning on him. “Athena, did you live here as a child?”

Though Athena’s childhood wasn’t happy, it was still a part of who she was

Now, she had made peace with it and didn’t mind tolling Xander about what she’d been through as a child.

Athena thought for a moment, then flashed Kander a grin. “Yeah, ed nearby.

“About a few miles ahead is the village where I used to live. With so few families, it never even had a proper name, Folks just called it Stone Village”

Athena spoke lightly, as if she’d forgotten this was the place where she had suffered.

Xander’s brows furrowed again. He gently took Athena’s hard and asked, “It’s such a long way from the village to here. How did you manage to get by. especially during those bitterly cold days?”

Athena looked at him in surprise, only to see his eyes filled with profound tendemess and concern.

His voice softened to a whisper, as if he feared that speaking any louder might break Athena.

“Maybe I just had a lucky streak, in the mountains, I’d often come across wild fruits and frozen game.”

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She said, “All this time, my mother and I were so close. We were only seperated by a river.”

That river was barely sixty five feet wide, and Athena had passed by this grave countless times.

She realized that it was all destined. Fate had arranged everything.

All this time, her mother had been right by her side. She just never knew it.

Athena could no longer contain her anguish and burst into uncontrollable sobis.

Her shoulders shook violently–not with quiet whimpers as before, but with a decade’s worth of pin up grief erupting from her chest.

Her cries echoed through the silent woods, startling roosting birds from the reeds

“You know what?” she suddenly lifted her face, a teardrop slipping from her lashes onto Xander’s hand. “That winter, when I was thering firewood by the river, I noticed the dry grass on this grave was sparser than anywhere else. I actually thought it was just badgers digging”

Athena laughed through her tears, each drop splashing onto Xander’s hand and piercing her very soul. “So it turns out Mother was afraid she wouldn’t be able to see me–even the grass on her grave was kept sparse for fear it might block her view!”

AD