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We descend the manor steps into the night garden's wonderland of exotic blooms. The moon is waning tonight, so the garden isn't at its full beauty, but my mother is still entranced. It's hard not to be. Nodding moonflowers unfurl along the path, luminous petals stretched wide in welcome. I pluck a blossom and tuck it behind her ear, eliciting a smile at last from her worried face.
"Oh, Aurora, this place is magical!" Her voice hitches on the last word. She turns toward me, eyes glinting with unshed tears. "But I can see you're unhappy. I…I'm so sorry."
My smile falters and I press a quick finger to my lips. I guide Mother to a stone bench and as we sit, I clutch her hands, willing my voice to remain steady.
"Please don't cry. I'm safe here." I repeat the well-practiced line loudly enough for anyone listening to hear, ignoring the tightness in my chest. "Hadria treats me well."
"That woman has only locked you away!" Steel edges her words. "No matter how luxurious, this place is still a cage."
I drop my gaze to my hands, twisted in my skirt. "No, Mama, it's not so bad as you imagine. My quarters are lovely, I lack for nothing?—"
"Except freedom." Mother tilts my chin up sharply. Her eyes pierce mine, full of fire. "I see the truth, Aurora. You're pale as these moon blossoms. She doesn't let you out during the day, does she? She keeps you in darkness—all the time—" Her voice cracks.
I nod mutely, not trusting my voice, though I wonder how she guessed so easily. But I have to speak. I have to. My only chance is to plan something with Mama, ask her to find a way to raise enough money for a ticket somewhere.
Because I know I can't stay in Chicago when I leave Elysium. Nowhere in the city will be safe. "Mama," I begin, so softly that she has to lean in to hear me, "you need to be careful about what you say. There are always people listening."
Her stern expression crumples and she pulls me fiercely into her arms. "My poor darling, condemned to endless night." Her tears dampen my shoulder. "I should have protected you. Can you forgive me?"
I make soft hushing sounds, stroking her hair. This is really not how I imagined tonight would go. Drawing back, I meet her eyes. "I'm stronger than I realized. Than you and Father ever realized. And Hadria has been kind to me."
Mother recoils, eyes flashing. "Kind?She's poisoned your mind, that monstrous devil."
I wince. Monster, devil…I used to think those things myself of Hadria, but now the words seem like a betrayal of my growing connection with her.
Sensing my withdrawal, Mama squeezes my hands, face softening. "Forgive me. This reunion should be a happy one. My little dreamer." She tucks the moonflower behind my ear instead. "You always did believe in making wishes come true. And now, by some miracle, we're together again."
"Yes, I wished with all my heart to see you. And here you are." I take a breath, about to raise the topic I really wanted to talk to her about, but I can't yet find the words. "It's good to see you," I finish awkwardly.
Why can't I do it? Why can't I ask my mother to help me find that freedom she herself said I deserved? If she could get together some money, even over a few years, enough for me to get out of Chicago, then maybe I could do what Hadria did. Disappear and survive on the streets. I can take care of myself now, I know how to fight?—
But Mama is glancing around the shadowy garden, and when she looks back to me, I see something terrible in her eyes. "I'm so sorry," she says again.
"It's not your fault."
"Yes it is," she says in the same undertone I used when warning her to watch her words. "Oh, God, yes it is. I'm so sorry, darling, but you being here…itismy fault."
I pull back a little. "What do you mean?"
Her eyes dart nervously away from mine, and she unconsciously moves to find a shadow, so that her expression is hidden from me. "The tiara," she half-whispers, half-mouths.
"You gave it up to Hadria long ago, to protect me—" She shushes me, though I spoke softly.
"Yes," she says. "But then…" She sucks in a deep breath. "When your father arranged for you to be married to Nero, I was desperate. I didn't want you to suffer the same life I have suffered. And so I…" She swallows. "I came here to hire the Styx Syndicate. I'm not even sure what I wanted them to do. Kill Nero? Pay off your father's debts? Or…remove him completely…"
My heart is racing. Only a few months ago, my mother so freely admitting to wanting my father dead would have shocked me, despite his cruelty, despite the way I know he treats her.
But now…now I understand.
"What happened?" I ask when she stops.
"I was invited here, to Elysium. I was told I would be granted an audience with Hades. And I was taken into that dark room, the one with the throne, and saw a woman sitting there—the same woman who had come to collect your father's debts all those years ago…" She clenches her jaw. "And she was wearing the tiara, Aurora. She waswearingit."
I picture it in my mind. I know how scary Hadria can be, and I can just imagine the cold look on her face when my mother entered the war room.
Mama goes on. "Some wild woman had escorted me in—" Lyssa, that must have been "—and gave me a little shove, told me to—to kneel. So I did. God help me, I did, because I was desperate, and I still didn't understand. I knelt down and Hadriasmiled, the same horrible smile I remembered from that day she came to threaten your father, and she asked me if I had finally realized who she was. And I did, then. I realized that all those years ago, I'd given up my tiara to Hades herself—and that by contacting her again now, I was only making a deal with the devil. But Ihadto. I couldn't let you go to Nero."
I take her hand, squeeze it. "And I'mgrateful," I insist. "I'm so grateful?—"
