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“My mother? Powerful? Tell me - how many sorceresses believe she is more powerful than you?”
Hella smirked. “I suppose this is your attempt at being funny. You never fully understood humor, did you?”
Eva grinned. Hella might wield some of the most powerful magics of any sorceress, but that didn’t make her any smarter for it. “Well, I learned from the best. Youdidhelp raise me, didn’t you?” She was about as absent as Eva’s mother was. Yes, that may mean she was incredibly absent. But it also meant she was more involved in Eva’s life than almost anyone else.
“That was a mistake.” Her eyes narrowed. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have cursed your mother when you were born. Then she would’ve had her to raise you. What can I say? Some women just can’t control their jealousy.”
“Curse her?” Eva was thrown off her game a bit, taken aback by Hella’s words. “That’s a lie.” Her mother wasn’t cursed. Her mother had always been healthy and full of life, her only problem being Eva.
“Is it?” Hella began to prowl again. “You may not know this, but your mother was a whore. She deserved to be cursed. Your mother got what she deserved the day I asked that witch to place a spell on her.”
Eva didn’t know whether or not to believe Hella. Wasn’t Eva supposed to be the one screwing with her? Then why was it Eva who felt so lost?
Desperate for the truth, Eva tried reading Hella’s emotions, just as she so often did to her customers.
Hella’s walk, her stare, and her posture immediately gave the truth away, causing Eva to stifle a gasp. Hella cursed her mother.
When Eva noticed Hella’s hand begin to twist, a dim light in the form of fire growing from it, she realized she needed to get back in the game before it was too late. Thankfully, there was no rule saying she couldn’t get answers while she was playing it. “When you say whore… are you sure you’re not talking about yourself?”
The fire in Hella’s hand dissipated. Eva breathed a sigh of relief. She just bought everyone a bit more time.
“You don’t stop trying to be funny, I’ll give you that,” Hella mocked. “I often wish I was talking about myself. If I was the whore, I would’ve gotten the man. Your father would’ve been mine.”
Eva tried not to look surprised at the mention of her father. “Let’s be honest, it’s kind of easy to see why he didn’t. You’re kind of an ugly bitch.” Eva worked on lessening her pride. Sure, Hella wanted to kill Eva. But Eva had no doubt in her mind that Hella wanted Eva to think highly of her when she did. Her pride meant everything to her.
“You don’t know who I was.” She stopped walking, her voice softening. “Your mother and I were the best of friends. When we found your father near death and washed up on our shore, we made a pact. Together, we would nurture him back to health, keeping his existence a secret from our community. You know how those women are. Men are not welcomed on that island. Especially not sailors.” Eva knew this. After pirates took everything from those women, claiming them as their own when they were all still human, they vowed to never trust men again, their hatred only growing over the centuries.
“I’ve got to say, I’m a bit surprised you allowed one to slip in,” Eva commented while she worked on settling her spinning mind. Because she never had a relationship with her mother she didn’t know anything about her father. This was the first she heard about him. She wanted to hear more. For the first time in her life she began to picture her father in her mind, creating an image of him based off Hella’s tale.
“I can assure you, it’s a mistake I won’t make again.”
“What did he do, screw your best friend?” When a light began emerging from her hand again, Eva realized she might have pushed Hella too far.Looks like he did. It was time to reign her back into the conversation. “So your best friend, my mother, went behind your back and slept with someone you cared about. Is that right?”
The fire diminished. “Cared about? I loved that man. Your mother hardly knew him. I was the one that spent every night with him,nother.Ikept him company.Inursedhim back to health.” Anger brewed within her, her face reddening. “In the end he showed his true colors, as every man does.” She shook her head, as if trying to rid herself of the memory. “Those two went behind my back, betraying the love I had for both of them. And what was the product of their betrayal?” She took a powerful step in Eva’s direction. “You.I could’ve killed you, but I wanted to watch your mother suffer for what she did, and you needed to be alive for that to happen. So I started by killing that asshole father of yours.” She began to examine her nails, as if her words meant nothing.
But her words meanteverything.
Shewas the reason Eva never got to meet her father. Gods, everyone back at Castle Brannack better succeed in killing this bitch. It took everything in Eva’s power not to attack her right there. She needed to continue to prolong this conversation for as long as she could, because once Hella began to strike, Eva was as good as dead.
“After killing the bastard I searched for a witch on the mainland. I needed to destroy your mother. I wanted her to hurt like I hurt. And what better unnatural species to do the job than a witch?” Witches were incredibly powerful, their spells long lasting. Only, they didn’t wield magic as easily as sorceresses did. Their spells took time, sometimes taking days to conjure. “Naturally, the witch refused to do anything for free. So I offered her something she couldn’t deny. I offered that witch my soul, and what a great deal that was. Once my soul was hers, my anguish simply… disappeared. I suppose it worked out perfectly, because if I still had my soul I might have actually cared about the suffering I would put your mother through.”
Eva bit her lip. No wonder Hella was so evil. She was no longer capable of feeling. Her soul was gone, trapped somewhere unknown.
“What was the curse?” Eva still wondered. She didn’t care much for her mother, considering her mother didn’t care much for her. That didn’t make Eva any less curious.
“Ah, yes. The curse. I had the witch curse her so she would be unable to show her child any sort of compassion and unable to come to her child’s aid for as long as that child lived. Oh, and she was unable to tell a soul about her curse. I couldn’t risk any sorceresses trying to break her free from it. Her curse was her burden to bare and hers alone. Her love for you would never be received by you, just as my love for your father was never received by him. It was extremely fitting, wouldn’t you say?”
Eva’s body began to quake, a rage she had never known shooting through her.
Her entire life was a lie. Every memory of her mother was wrong. All those days her mother ignored her, all those days her mother acted like she didn’t care about her… it was all a lie.
For years her mother was screaming inside, screaming for someone to help her. But no one could. No one could hear her screams. And the daughter she gave birth to would never know that she was loved.
Evanever knew that she was loved.
And her mother, being unable to turn to anyone for help, must have been completely and utterly alone. More alone than Eva could comprehend.
Eva was fuming, her reality seeming to be crumbling around her. “It’s so obvious now, why my father chose my mother over you.”
