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Chapter Two
Diana
Present Day
It’s time. Past time.
Pulling in a deep breath, I release the mental walls I erected to protect myself when I was a little girl too overwhelmed with grief and terror to know what to do with these memories.
One part of me sits here, playing cards with Kelley on an old quilt spread out on the cabin floor, studying the lump on her head from where Bane slammed her skull into the fireplace. The other part is busy fitting memories from the past together like a puzzle until they form the picture I’ve avoided seeing for so long.
Did Bane kill our mother?
I don’t know for sure. But he was definitely there just before I found her on the bathroom floor, and he was definitely angry with her about something.
Really, really angry.
I rack my brain, but I can only understand what four-year-old me understood. That he was angry and using bad words and accusing our mother of…something.
But what?
Finally, the not knowing becomes so torturous, I can’t help but ask, “Do you know anything about my mother, Kelley? About what happened the day she died? Between her and Bane?”
Kelley stills, her hand pausing mid-reach for the draw pile. “What do you mean?”
“I mean… Bane was there. Right before, screaming at her,” I say, figuring that at this point I have little to lose by telling the truth.
Kelley seems to be on our side, working against Bane. But even if she’s not, I’m already Bane’s prisoner and under his control. Even if he realizes I’ve remembered that he might be guilty of murder, it won’t matter.
The people here are his creatures, completely loyal to him, and he’s not about to let me contact anyone back home who would actually care.
“Please,” I press after a moment. “If you know anything, I’d like to know, too. I hid in my room while he and Mom were fighting. I heard some things, but I was too young to make sense of them. And now all of those memories are kind of…making me crazy.”
Kelley sets her cards down and laces her fingers together with a sigh. “I didn’t suspect anything at the time. Back then, things were still good between Bane and me. The way he cried when he found out…” She trails off with a shake of her head. “He was so broken. So shattered. I believed he was devastated. I would never have imagined…”
She fixes her gaze on mine as she adds in a flatter voice, “He told me the truth last year. That he killed her. I’m not sure how, he didn’t elaborate, but he wanted me to know that he was responsible.” She swallows. “He wanted me to understand that he wouldn’t hesitate to destroy anyone who stood in his way, even someone he loved. Like a mother or…a mate.”
I press my lips together, not sure what sound I’ll make if I give the swarm of emotions churning inside me a voice.
“Your mother was lobbying for your father to make Maxim his next-in-line and train him to become Alpha,” Kelley continues. “Mara didn’t think Bane had the temperament to lead the pack. Seems she had a pretty good idea her oldest child was a sociopath.”
“Psychopath,” I force out, my throat so tight I can barely breathe.
There’s been so much horror these past two days, I suppose I should be prepared for something like this, but…I’m not.
I’m still reeling.
My brother killed our mother. Killed her.
He took her away from me and everyone who loved her all because he wanted power so desperately. But what kind of power is that? Power that you gain from stealing peoples’ lives and breaking other peoples’ hearts? It’s certainly nothing to be fucking proud of.
“Yes, he is,” Kelley agrees. “But he used to do a much better job of hiding it. I’m sure your mother had no idea he would do…what he did. If that’s any comfort. At least she didn’t have to live with the knowledge of just how evil her son was for very long.”
“I need to kill him,” I whisper, even more eager to spill Bane’s blood than I was before. “I need to be the one to do it. For her.”
“We’ll try,” Kelley says. “But the most important thing is keeping you alive, Diana. That’s what your mother would want. She would want you to live a long, healthy, beautiful life filled with hope and happiness, doing good work for your people. You’re going to be one of Willow’s top advisors, and maybe queen yourself someday if she decides to pass the torch.”
My brow furrows. “I don’t want to be queen.”
