Anger simmered in Elfie’s eyes as she stared at him. He didn’t think he’d ever seen the woman get so much as annoyed by something before, but now an underlying hostility radiated from her. Yes, she had definitely changed.
“You are so like your father,” she said.
“Thank you.”
“That’s not a compliment.”
“It is to me.”
Her jaw clenched before her gaze shifted to Lexi and then Varo. “Do you all plan to try to put her on the throne?”
Cole walked over to stand in front of Elfie. When she tilted her head back to look up at him, he had a flash of the woman she was when she lived in the Gloaming.
Then, she’d been all smiles and laughter. He’d once seen her dancing in the palace garden as she sang to the plants.
Now, she was a sad shadow of that dancing woman. Her eyes didn’t sparkle like they once did, and while that could be because they’d arrived on her doorstep without warning, he didn’t think so.
“What happened to you?” he inquired.
Her brow furrowed as she stared at him before her gaze shifted to Varo. Sorrow filled her eyes, and her face crumpled before she composed herself once more.
“I made a terrible decision,” she said crisply.
Varo didn’t look moved by the distress she briefly revealed as he stared at his mother with zero emotion. But Cole knew his brother better than that; Varo hid his turmoil well, but being in this place was tearing him up.
No, they hadn’t known they were coming to see Elfie, but Varo knew there was a chance he would run into her if he came here. He’d agreed to do so anyway to help Lexi and maybe make things easier for them.
It was a mistake. Varo had been through enough during the war without having to deal with this.
“I shouldn’t have left you,” Elfie gushed as she leaned forward and stared up at Varo with pleading in her eyes. “I just… I missed my home. I wanted to bring you with me, but your father refused. He insisted you were to be raised as a dark fae.”
Varo remained unmoved as he shifted his gaze to the wall and stared over Elfie’s head. Lexi stepped closer and rested her hand on Varo’s arm as she looked at Cole.
“I think we should go,” Lexi said. “This isn’t helping.”
“You could have come back to visit.” Varo’s voice was pitiless in a way Cole had never heard it before. “Brokk’s mother came to visit him.”
“I… I…” Tears bloomed in Elfie’s eyes as she looked away.
She looked helplessly up at Cole, who had no words for her. He didn’t know why she’d never come back. Some of his brother’s mothers came back often to visit them, some left as soon as they were born, and others, like his mother, died when his brothers were young.
Elfie was the only one who helped raise her son, left when he was a child, and never returned.
“I couldn’t return,” she whispered. “It hurt too much.”
“We should go,” Lexi said again.
A determined look descended over Elfie’s face, and Cole stepped back as she rose. Her eyes locked on Varo, but he remained staring at the wall.
“Unlike all the other women who came before me”—her eyes flicked to Cole—“exceptyourmother, I loved your father.”
Her words dripped venom when she saidyour mother,but Cole let it go. He didn’t have an ounce of sympathy for her. His mother was long dead by the time Elfie arrived; if she still harbored such hatred for a woman she’d never met, that was her cross to bear.
CHAPTERTWENTY-NINE
“Of course,he never returned my love,” Elfie continued.
A small tremor ran through Varo as the angry woman who originally greeted them at the door returned. Resentment filled her eyes when they swung to Cole.
