Destined: Prologue

Destined

A Novel by Katy Simpson

Prologue

Amorette rubbed the mark on her left forearm and sighed. She had just turned 14, and that meant she only had two more years until she was sent to Lovelorn. Her parents were starting to worry, and they never worried. The worst part was that because she spoke English fluently, it meant that her soulmate could be in America, England, Ireland, Canada or South Africa, and those are just a few! They definitely didn’t live in France, which meant that she was going to have to do some traveling.

Amorette Amour Lovelace was the only child of Precious Smith and Lennan Lovelace. From her dad’s side of the family, there had been couples who were soulmates for generations, and she was the next. Her mother was the lucky one who had been Matched to a soulmate. The Lovelorn was an estate that the Lovelace family owned for the people who had never found soulmates. There were a few families like the Lovelaces, who had long lines of soulmates to speak for. They were the most well known Love families. They were also one of the only families of their kind who believed that all humans had soulmates, and they would be found. But unfortunately, some weren’t, as there was a law in the secret Love community that all Lovers, as they were called, had to find their True Love by the time they turned 16, or they were sent to the Forgottens. The Forgottens were estates that each Loving family owned one of, and the Forgottens were their names. They were grouped up in a town of sorts. The biggest problem with her was that she did not want to go on a voyage around the world to find some stranger - sorry, soulmate- she wasn’t even sure if she would like.

Amorette was ripped from her thoughts as her mother called up the stairs to her daughter’s bedroom, “Amorrete Amour! You get down here this instant!”

Amorette sighed again. She supposed her school had finally informed her mother about how often she was skipping classes. It wasn’t her fault her History classes were so tremendously boring, with Mr. Johnson droning on and on and on about this and that. She hadn’t learned anything this year from that class except that he had such bad eyesight he could not spot Amorette dozing off in the back corner. She had been doing it all year and the only time she had been told off wasn’t even by the teacher, but by the goody-two-shoes Oliver Bellerose, the only other Lover in their grade. He had found his soulmate by chance two years ago, when they were twelve.

Idiot.

Anyways, Amorette sulked down the stairs to her mother, who had a terrifying look on her face. Precious Lovelace glared at her daughter as she asked in a falsely sweet inquisitive tone, “Do you have any idea what call I just got from the Principal?”

“Urm, a call about how amazing I’ve been doing?

“No.”

“A call of praise on behalf of my Math teacher?”

“No.”

“A call asking me if I wanted to skip a grade because I’m so amazing?”

“No.”

“Um… was it… er… A call about my superb spelling skills?”

“Not even close.”

“Ummm… I give up. What was it Mom?”

Precious Smith smiled at her daughter with false sweetness, before the facade fell down to reveal her true anger, “the Principal informed me that you have been missing from recent History lessons. I am very disappointed in you, Amorette. Clearly me and your father should have been harder on you previously. You are grounded for a month-”

“But mom I-”

“Don’t even think of arguing with me, Amorette Amour,” She scolded sternly as her daughter gaped at her, “You are in big trouble missy.”

Amorette was speechless. She knew her mother had never been proud of how much effort she put into school, but she had never outrightly yelled at her. Her mother never had much of a temper, and while she was disappointed in her daughter for her lack of a studious outlook, Amorette had always had decent grades despite her lack of behavioral cooperation, so she overlooked it, but…

Amorette swallowed and nodded shakily, before walking up the stairs as fast as possible.

“Get back down here, Amorette. I’m not done talking to you.”

Said girl sighed before returning to her doom. “Yes, mom?”

Her mother bit her lip, not exactly angry anymore, before sighing, “You need to find your Match.”

Amorette’s eyes widened before she started stumbling over her mumbled protests, “B-but- We-I- Can’t leave- We can wait-”

“I’m sorry, sweetie, but you really need to find them before you turn 16 because of this stupid law. And, well, me and your father have discussed it and decided that because you so obviously don’t care about your schoolwork, you really need to start searching,” her mother said gently, “Besides, finding them will be quite the adventure, considering how many places English is spoken. You will need all the time you have. You can leave once the month is over.”

Amorette started stuttering protests halfheartedly, “B-but we still have time- I don’t need to go yet, I m-mean we can find them by the time I’m 16 without leaving now a-and-”

Precious smiled at her daughter sadly, “You are going by yourself, you know, and will need a lot of time. Why don’t you start in America, hm? You can go now and work your way back to France. Besides, if you’re away from France by the time you turn 16 you can stay searching, because they don’t have that infuriating law about 16-year-olds.”

Amorette sighed, “Mom, you do know that law applies to everywhere but the states? And I need to travel with someone. I’m 14 for goodness sakes! I can’t be wandering around the world alone, somebody will try to send me back.”

Her mother frowned, “Well then, perhaps your Aunt can go with you. Me and your father are staying right here with your brother.”

Amorette crinkled her nose at the mention of her brother. He was 18, four years older than her, and was all about perfection and good grades and blah blah blah. She hated him. Mostly. But he hadn’t been born with a Love Mark, so he could live his life in la-la land, and never had to worry about soulmates and stuff.

She started debating whether or not she should go without a fight. On the one hand, she would get to go with her Aunt Adalicia, who was just as rebellious as Amorette and would even help her with mischief. She would even get to be rid of her snobby brother for a few years, and that would be amazing. On the other hand, she would be away from her best friends for a few years, searching for a random stranger- sorry, soulmate, in a far off place she only knew anything about, away from school, which she half the time slept through, and - while being away from her brother would be great - she wouldn’t be able to insult him and that wasn’t great.

Amorette sighed before looking up and realizing her mother was looking at her expectantly, waiting for an answer to a question, “Sorry, what was that?”

Precious sighed heavily before repeating, “I said, If your biggest protest against this is being away from your friend group, I suppose you can bring one friend along. But since you obviously don’t think I am worthy of your attention I’ll ask your brother to accompany you instead.” She finished, smirking at her daughter’s horrified expression. “Just kidding. But you can bring along one friend, as long as you know they won’t freak out too much from the soulmate thing.”

Amorette’s jaw dropped so fast she wouldn’t be surprised if it hit the floor, “Y-you mean I can tell them? As in not keep so many secrets from my best friends it makes it seem we’re not friends at all? Wow! I thought I’d never see the day!”

Her mother rolled her eyes before scolding her jokingly, “If you don’t drop that snark, young lady, I will consider locking you in Lovelorn right now!”

Amorette winced at that comment. Lovelorn had always been a sensitive topic for her, because she sometimes thought she would never get to meet her soulmate in the first place. Sometimes she even questioned whether soulmates were real at all, even though she knew that were. It had been drilled into her head for her whole life.

Well, that didn’t stop her idiot brother from rejecting the idea, but he was an idiot, so that was different.

Her mother had noticed the flinch and smiled apologetically, “Sorry. I forgot that was a sensitive subject. Well, anyways, you need to start packing. And make sure to figure out who’s coming with you!” She called up the stairs as Amorette ran to her room to start preparing for the adventure of a lifetime.

Well, she thought, at least I won’t be in History class anymore.