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“I saw you die,” I choke out. “I watched them kill you.”
“What are you talking about?” Bella’s offensive tone doesn’t affect me in the least. Not when I’m staring back at a ghost.
The woman’s expression falters, darkening for a moment. “Ahh yes. You did see me die. But while in the Veil, a fae brought me back.”
“What? When?” I do step forward now, my heart cracking all over again.
“About ten human years after my death.”
Throat burning, I choke on a sob. “You’ve been here this entire time?”
“You are looking at this the wrong way, child.”
“Donotcall me that.”
“How do you know each other?” Bella questions, stepping forward.
I glare at the woman who might as well be a complete stranger, regardless of our previous ties. “This woman, Bella—your leader—is my mother.”
Everyone gasps. Honestly, their predictable responses would have been humorous if I weren’t so fucking pissed off. So fucking hurt.
“Your mother? Are you serious?”
Green eyes so like my own shift to the young succubus. “A version of me was her mother,” she says. “Though that part of me was lost.”
Now, I move forward. “That part of you waslost? Did you really just say that? Lost? As in how one might misplace a baseball card? Or a hair tie? Shit, those things go missing all the time. But one doesnotlose the fact that they’re a mother.”
“As I told you, Bronywyn, I did die that day. When the fae brought me back, I was different—lighter. Unburdened by what I had seen.”
I gape at her. Completely unable to tear my gaze away and yet wanting nothing more than to turn and run. “I am so fucking glad you were unburdened. But me? I carried the weight of your murder for the last few centuries. It broke me. Destroyed my relationship with my father. Oh, and let’s not forget the fact that you could have fucking saved your youngest daughter from being murdered had you bothered to show back up in our lives!”
She doesn’t betray any emotion. Not a single flicker of regret in her cold, emerald eyes. “What was meant to happen has happened.”
I grind my teeth together and try like hell not to cry. Not here in front of her. “You’re alive,” I choke out. “Alive, and you didn’t bother to come home.”
“It was no longer my home.”
Her words hit me like an emotional avalanche. So fucking potent I’m forced to retreat a step.It was no longer my home.Is she fucking serious? “I needed you. Payton needed you. Dad fucking needed you. Do you have any idea how many years I spent hating him for what happened?”
Brows drawing together, she stares at me, confused. “Why would you hate him?”
“He had you killed!”
“He did as I asked and kept you safe.”
“And at what cost?” I scream, freely crying now.
“You no longer needed me.” She’s so cold, so distant—nothing more than a shell of the woman who’d spent stormy nights singing me lullabies.
“I can’t be here.” I quickly wipe my tears away and turn for the exit.
“You came here for a purpose, did you not?”
I shut my eyes as I come to a stop. Emotionally, I want to put as much distance between us as possible, but logically? Logically, I know that my people are counting on help. And help is something we could possibly get from these people. That in mind, I turn. My phone buzzes, so I pull it out to see three missed calls from Tarnley and a slew of text messages.
I open the most recent one and smile despite my anguish.
Tarnley: Either call or text to let me know you’re or okay, otherwise I’m going to track you down and eat anyone in your vicinity.
Me: I’m fine. Sorry. Freaked out for a minute. Love you.
His response is quick, as if he were staring down at his screen waiting for me. Shit, he probably was.Tarnley: Love you, too. The offer to eat anyone who upsets you still stands.
Feeling mildly rejuvenated—at least, for now—I shove my phone back into my pocket and whirl on her. “I am here for a reason.”
She smiles and drops her head in a brief nod. “Very well, then let us begin.”
