"That's not all," Kai offered. "She's connected to Elise. I saw the two speaking a few nights ago."
Delight infused the Osiri's features when it looked at Elena’s egg donor. "Oh, my dear, you've been keeping secrets from me again."
Elise's face was blank. Her eyes that of a dead woman.
In Elise's mind, Elena was already lost, she realized with a sinking heart. There'd be no help coming from that direction.
Guess it was a good thing Elena had hardened herself against having expectations of the other. She'd sure be disappointed right now if she hadn't.
And if there was still a tiny kernel of hurt inside her because of it, no one needed to know that except Elena.
"Tell me pet—who is this child to you?"
The smile that touched Elise's face was bittersweet as she finally looked down at Elena. "I'd hoped for a happy ending, you know. Despite everything, I thought that one day I’d be able to go back to the way things were. I should have known a person like me would never be that lucky."
Elena's eyes widened as she caught her mother giving her the sign of love and devotion.
"I'm sorry to leave you so soon," Elise said, her expression hardening.
There was no warning as Elise palmed a blade, lunging at the Osiri. Her arm punching forward in a perfect strike.
The Osiri glided effortlessly out of the way.
Elena's mother reversed the strike, aiming for his heart.
Yes! Elena cried in her mind.
Her jubilation sank like a stone as the Osiri caught the blade with his bare hand. "I thought you would have learned how futile it was to resist after the last time."
The blade whitened, growing brittle right before Elena's eyes. Elise released it, right as the white reached the hilt. A second later, the blade crumbled into dust.
Elise whipped out a pair of knives, hurling them at him.
Elena flinched as the Osiri smacked them away, sending one of them rocketing at her. She squeaked as it embedded in the bed an inch above her head.
"I'm losing patience with you," the Osiri said.
He made a gesture. Elise flew back, landing in a heap a short distance away.
She was laughing as she rolled onto her side. "You're right. I did learn my lesson last time."
The Osiri's eyes widened. He whirled, a shriek leaving him at the sight of the knife above Elena's head. It was buried to the hilt, an odd energy running up and down it.
He set his hand on the bed, his forehead furrowing.
Elena tried to shrink away as a sense of wrongness invaded the space around her before withdrawing.
"You've killed it," the Osiri snarled at Elise.
"No, you killed it," Elise corrected.
The Osiri yanked the knife out of the bed. "You planned this."
Elise lifted onto one forearm, pain flashing across her face before she controlled it. "I did."
The Osiri stared, his rage saturating the air. Harsh and menacing. Fear pressed down on Elena. Though Elise never flinched, meeting the Osiri's gaze with the stubbornness that must have made her the perfect companion for Aunt Kira and Uncle Jin once upon a time.
The pressure in the atmosphere vanished as the Osiri stalked toward Elise with slow predatory steps. "You haven't saved your child, my pet."
