They stared down at their granddaughter, and I couldn’t read the expression on their face. It could have been reluctance, guilt, or disgust. Grace stared up at them with genuine curiosity, her head tilted as her eyes darted between the two of them, as if searching for herself in their features.
“Hi,” she said, waving awkwardly.
“Hi,” Mom said.
Dad’s jaw twitched, but he didn’t greet her; instead, he turned back to me. “Well,” he said, his tone still clipped, disappointment etched all over his face. “I guess you remember where your room is. You and…Grace will have to share.”
I gave a curt nod, again trying to hide that frustration. He wasn’t even trying to hide his feelings about the situation. At the very least, he could have tried for his granddaughter. And in a way, I could feel that kernel of hope that I had secretly harbored dissipating. I had thought that maybe, given the circumstances of my return, we might be able to start over. Not as a family, necessarily, but maybe we could have built back to it. I had never wanted Grace to have only me.
But one look at Dad’s face told me everything I needed to know about that possibility. It didn’t matter to him that his daughter had been picked as luna, that the Oracle had prophesied it. No, I was forever and always going to be a disappointment to him. I was weak. I couldn’t shift. Last time he saw me, I could barely stand up for myself. And, of course, I was a woman.
For a wild moment, I almost considered spinning on my heels, bundling Grace in my arms, marching to Elias’s house, and demanding that he let me stay somewhere,anywhere, else. But I remembered the pack and its obsession with tradition. I was stuck here, stuck with my parents, until the mating ceremony.
For the first time since all this had happened, I actually found a reason to look forward to it. Towantit.
All of this flashed through my mind in a matter of seconds as I nudged Grace into the house and up the stairs to my childhood bedroom.
***
I came downstairs the next morning to the smell of sizzling bacon, Dad’s favorite. A meal I personally hated. If it was a directed attack, it was a subtle, clever one. Enough petty revenge that I couldn’t complain or really attribute it to malice.
“Good morning,” Mom said as I walked into the kitchen.
“Morning,” I yawned.
We regarded one another for a long moment, sizing the other up.
“Your father wanted eggs and bacon,” she said. “I don’t suppose you would want any.”
“Nope. I’ll go to town and get myself something at the bakery.”
Mom pursed her lips, eyes flicking up and down my body in pointed silence. I didn’t have to guess what was running through her mind at that moment. My jaw clenched, but I stayed silent. She had never missed a chance to critique my figure before. I was surprised she was holding her tongue now.
A rustle of movement behind me, and Grace pushed past me.
“I like eggs!” Grace beamed up at Mom. “Can I have some?”
Mom stared down, and I could see something flicker in her face that looked as though her frozen heart might be melting a little.
“Sure,” she said.
I stared down at Grace. As of right now, she was acting more like this was an interesting, permanent vacation. She didn’t realize her mother was being forced into an arranged marriage. God, how was I supposed to explain all of this to her? How much did I try to explain to her? I couldn’t tell her about Elias. No one could know who her father was. There was no telling how they would react, including Elias himself.
Dad’s thundering footsteps dragged me back to reality. He marched into the room, glaring at me as he sat down, and Mom filled his plate. He started scarfing down food, darting glances between Grace and me.
“So,” Dad said. “How is Grace’s father going to feel about all this?”
The tone came across as though he was attempting to make light conversation, a small chat over coffee, as if he was asking about my day. Except I could see the disgust in his eyes, and I knew him well enough to recognize a deliberate barb.
“Mom doesn’t talk about my dad,” Grace said.
“Grace, why don’t you go upstairs and get changed?” I said. “I’ll take you out on a walk here in a bit.”
If she noticed the hostility rippling between my father and me, she knew better than to comment. She scurried off before Mom could fix her a plate.
“I don’t know,” I said when I knew she was out of earshot, keeping my tone even, matching that forced casualness. “But I think that stopped being your business the second you kicked me out.”
His eyes narrowed. “You’re staying in my house, you’ll do as I say,” he barked.
