“Thank you for coming to save us, Cousin,”one said, and several said the same, a few saying that her daughter was a warrior or praising Theresa in other ways.
Aurora beamed at the praise of Theresa before turning back to her mother.“This is your last chance, Mother. I know you won’t take it, but I had to try.”She let out a shaky breath.“I pray the gods are merciful when you meet them and maybe one day you see the truth.”
“I know the truth, girl!”her mother snapped as she pushed to her feet.“I pray the gods punish you as harshly as you deserve for ruining this family. You are my greatest shame.”
“No, you areours,”Theresa sneered, shocking everyone there.“You are no mother. You are—you truly are a cow who was bought and bred. You have no idea how to be a mother orparent, you sow.”
Everyone there was shocked, conversations dying and even people freezing in what they were doing, but Aurora completely understood. She went over to Theresa and took her hand, raising it to her lips and kissing her daughter’s skin.
“There is nothing my daughter could do that I would wish thegodspunish her for, much less harshly. No matter what crime she might ever commit, I would beg for their mercy or to pay her punishment myself so she never suffered.”Aurora met Mrs. Grave’s gaze.“That is a mother’s love and I knew you never had it.
“You were broken and too full of hate.Youare the broken one, not me. Not us. You want the world to burn and everyone to suffer like you have. That is the truth. You hate me for freeing the others and breaking your illusion. Your pride is your prisoner.”She looked around and found who she wanted. “What do you see in her aura?”
The witch smirked at her. “You know. Jealousy. Hate. Rage. So much rage that if she had magic, she would destroy you with a look. None of it is righteous. She does believe some of the drivel she spews, but she wants to still be free of it. She just can’t admit she was wrong or did horrible things like letting her daughters be sold or hurt.”
That was the closure Theresa and Aurora both needed. They turned away and went to help the others, but I went by her mother.
“Translate,” I told one of the men there who clearly understood. “And she will be taking a new name of her own choosing so she will never think of Graves or any of them again. The only thing this woman did right was to have an amazing daughter who rose from the ashes of this place to save others and shut this hell down.”
I mentally winced when I saw Aurora was watching me. I simply winked at her… And missed what her mother was doing.
Whatever, I simply wiped the spit off my cheek.
“Pathetic,” I mumbled and went to join my mate. “The place ready?”
“No, and there’s a lot to do, but we have the keys,” she said with a sigh.
“We will help however you need, Cousin,” one of the women said in amazing English. She dipped her head to me. “I am—I was living in an English-speaking country. I was sold twenty years ago and my mate—he is not a good man, so Aurora—manyof us were pulled out by the European police and brought here with our children to be handled at once.”
“That can’t be good,” I muttered. “That sounds like a setup.”
I was glad when Theresa clearly agreed and went to talk to one of the witches with us. I went over to the female cop Aurora had been working with and while she didn’t say anything, her eyes said alot. She also authorized a large group to go through the first portal Theresa had opened. I lied to Aurora that everything was fine but to get people going and she had the keys.
“No lying,” she reminded me but still went.
“I’ll apologize later,” I sighed, but she was already gone.
“What are you thinking?” Theresa asked.
“Too many cops for a hit or something but maybe just a way to make it look like a clusterfuck? I would think…” I saw a weird flash and turned. “Press. Up there.”
“Always something,” Theresa sighed and went to handle that.
But the hair on the back of my neck was standing up. I realized what it was after studying the men all around me.
Amusement.
I went over to the head cop. “You’ve undoubtedly looked into me, yeah?” I waited until she shot me a look and nodded. “I’ve been in enough setups to know when shit’s about to get real. Check out the men on their side. They’re amused. They lost. Why would they beamused?”
She was smart enough to listen to a warning no matter the source and tuned in to her own powers to sense more than what I was even getting. “I feel some of these people will need medical attention. I think we should bring a large group to ASH now and handle the logistics later.”
“I think that smart,” I muttered, not seeing the connection but willing to go with whatever she wanted to handle as the play.
She jumped up onto the front of a vehicle so she was higher and easily able to be seen. “Any person who wishes to leave this place or give information about crimes they have witnessed is allowed to. Given the level of abuse we have seen, we are relocating to a medical facility since we were not prepared for this situation.
“Officers can return for your belongings later. We will make it clear that additional charges, penalties, and damages will be claimed, but we have limited time. So please make haste and come with us now if you wish to depart.” She glanced around and told officers to quickly do sweeps while the magics opened portals.
Whichpissed offthe once-amused men around us.
