So, no matter what she said about Sin and Kai being to blame for the way I was collapsing, it was clearly her who caused it all.
“Even if it is true, do you really think I’m going to listen to the words of someone who spits out insults all the time? Why should I listen to you?”
“It’s either cleave from my son, or go insane. The choice is obvious.”
I took a leaf out of Kai’s book and used his argument to make it seem like I had any idea of what I was talking about.
“Zania,” I said, feeling filthy even just saying her name. “I’ve just bondedtheRisler pack. Why the hell would I cleave? Even if Caspian loses his mind, think how much money I’ll get just from his bite. I’d be crazy to give that up.” I said.
Her smirk vanished, her nostrils flaring. “How dare you! There’s no way you could ever think of entering society with my son. I’ll forbid it, I’ll disown him, and you won’t see anything from me.”
I shrugged my shoulders as Caspian slammed himself against the refrigerator door, and I hid my pain.
“Sure, try it. Let’s see how that goes. And then we can disappear and never set foot in this country again, just like you asked me to. You’ll never see your precious son, and we won’t ever have to deal with you.”
Her growl shuddered through me, and it felt like I had actually made a dent.
“How would your pride take it if your son would rather run off to another country with a Knottinghill whore than be anywhere near you?”
There was another crack as her face twisted, her arms unfolding as she took another step towards us.
Her hyacinth scent thickened as anger set in, nearly choking me. I squeezed Sin’s arm, hoping his presence would still keep me safe from her.
“And what about your mother?” she asked, a slow smile spreading across her face.
“Excuse me?”
“You might think that my son can protect you, but what happens if someone visits your mother’s room late at night? And all those little wires and tubes keeping her alive are mysteriously disconnected.”
The world instantly went stark and silent as the implication of what she was saying sunk in.
My eyelids fluttered as I forced myself to stay calm, but it felt like she could see my panic.
I knew Caspian could feel me, too, and another roar tore from behind us. There was more banging and muffled yelling as Caspian reacted to my stab of fear.
It shouldn’t have been hard to find out about my mum if she did some digging into me. She threatened my life, so why wouldn’t she threaten hers? But it was such a mistake. Because I already had Caspian’s rage feeding me, so I wouldn’t let her win so easily.
He was here with me now. They all were, and I’d worked to get to something like this, where I could face her again.
But this time it was with pride.
Because she had crossed the line. And I wasn’t backing down in fear. I wouldn’t scream and cry and beg anyone else for help.
“I could say the same for you,” I replied, hiding my shaking fists behind my back. “What if Sin opens the fridge and the son you drove rogue goes for you?”
She chuckled as she looked at me. “You’ve been around him for less than a month, and you think that you know my son? Get over yourself. As if you would understand how valuable the Risler bloodline is to all of us. If you really understood what was happening, you would see he only bit you because he pitied you.”
I arched a brow, not quite sure if I heard her properly. Because the Caspian I had seen so far didn’t seem to care about anything like that. Even though he’d done so much to turn me away from them, I never once heard him say anything about bloodlines or whatever craziness she was spouting.
“It’s pathetic that you even dared step into my circle, let alone speak back to me. And it’s utterly foul that my son even touched you. You should be honoured to even be in the same room as me and Caspian.”
Everything was getting too tense. In his rogue state, Caspian reached for the three of us, crashing through his madness to feed my fury over her threat to my family, all while asking us to help him. And I wouldn’t abandon them. Especially when Zania looked down at me so triumphantly.
I wouldn’t let her rule my life. Whether I wanted revenge or she controlled us through forcing me to sever our bond, I wouldn’t let it happen.
I sucked in a breath as Kai appeared in the doorway behind her.
I didn’t know how I knew. Maybe it was the bond, or how Kai smirked, maybe it was the way Sin suddenly let me go, gently nudging me forward to stand on my own.
