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I’ll never get out, never be able to feel the wind on my wings, never see Nathan again.
Red-hot anger bubbles inside me as I realize she will keep me here for the rest of my life, a prisoner.
She will keep me locked up simply for having the gall to come back.
The ember of emotions that I had tamped down deep below me begins to glow as I throw caution to the wind and release the emotions that link me to the world.
To him.
My Summer Fae.
I will not be trapped.
Fury bursts through the cold facade I had painstakingly created on my journey here. The veneer I had pulled over myself, the emotionless Fae my mother wants me to be, cracks into a million pieces. I canfeeleverything.
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “That is not okay with me.”
She must see something in my eyes, for my mother steps back towards the glass window. She raises her hands in supplication, her thin lips tilting down. “Elva, child—”
I raise my hand, freezing the air so quickly that the window shatters behind her. Quickly, I summon a gust of wind to pick up the pieces and deposit them on top of a nearby roof. The air from outside is warmer than here, and my mother shivers as I cover the room in frost.
“I am not a child!” I roar.
Advancing on my mother, she flicks a hand, trying to encase me in ice once again, but it won’t work. I turn the magic back on her, forcing bands of ice to wrap up her legs and bind her in place.
“You will not trap me here again,” I force out. “I refuse to be your puppet any longer.”
“But you’re so good at it,” she says placatingly. The tone of her voice makes it sound like she thinks it’s a compliment.
“Good?” I scoff. “Nothing about me is good. You made me into a monster. Do you want to know what I spent all these years doing when I was away from here? I was killing people. I worked as a bounty hunter for a filthy human, and you know what? That was still better than being here with you.”
My words seem to hit their mark as I watch my mother’s eyes widen. “You would rather be with ahumanthan with me?”
“I would rather be anywhere else than here.”
All traces of kindness, of emotion, leave my mother’s eyes. Her face transforms in front of me into a cold, steely woman that mirrors the painting of my grandfather in the hall.
I smirk. “I was wondering how long it would take for you to show me your true colors,” I say. “Less than an hour, and you’ve already abandoned the ‘nice mommy’ act. Is that a record, do you think?”
“Where do you get off in speaking to your mother like that?” She twists in the ice, trying desperately to break her bonds.
She won’t be able to.
“You might have given birth to me,” I say. “But you’re not my mother. Mothers love their children, and all you’ve ever done for me is teach me that emotions are wrong. Well,Mother, let me tell you something. You were wrong. I’ve met someone and he’s taught me that feeling is good. It’s not dangerous. It doesn’t make me weak. In fact, it makes me stronger than ever.”
She laughs.
She has the gall to laugh at me while she is bound in front of me. “Oh, you foolish Fae. Do you think that someone could love you? You’re a monster,” she seethes. “I knew exactly what I was doing when I raised you. You are a creature of my making. No one could love you. You’re made of ice and pain.”
Every word that comes out of her mouth is one that I’ve told myself. She’s echoing things I’ve said a thousand times over.
But the difference is I can feel how Nathan’s fire makes me into a better Fae.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Mother. He sees me for who I am and loves me for it.”
Deciding I’ve had enough of her words, I create a long dagger made of ice. It’s an intricate and dangerous weapon, over a foot long, with an osprey etched onto the hilt. I weigh it in my hand, walking around my mother as I watch her.
“You can’t kill me, you know,” she says.
