Some of my anger starts to fade, my emotions taking a different form. “I feel sorry for you. You rejected everything good in life until life rejected you.”
Mother goes so pale that I know my words struck hard and true.
“Where’s Father?” I ask. I don’t need a blade to drive a knife right into her. I see that now. And I need to pierce her hard shell deeper than ever before.
Her chin lifts. “Six weeks in his grave.”
Huh. I feel nothing. “Did you send him there?”
Her features, cold and brittle for so long, abruptly shift into something that makes her look almost human for once. “No. The healer said he had a weak heart.”
“He had a weak everything, if you ask me.”
Her eyes narrow, almost as if she wants to defend him. She doesn’t.
“Are you lonely now?” As far as I know, when Mother wasn’t sleeping around, they didn’t sleep apart. It always seemed odd to me that she wouldn’t share anything with him, and yet she kept him close.
I’ve never known her to answer a question like that. I’m shocked when she does.
“There is a void now. It’s unexpected.”
“Unexpected because you didn’t love him, or unexpected because you didn’t even feel that void when you killed your own children?”
Her expression hardens once more. “I never killed my own children.”
While that’s technically the truth, I nearly choke on the absurdity of her claim. My anger flares again. “You certainly orchestrated their deaths, especially Eleni’s. And you tried hard enough with me, or are you forgetting about Frostfire and the pit?”
“Forget Frostfire.” She flings a hand through the air, as if to shove aside the whole horrific incident. “Apart from that, I’ve only ever tried to bring you back!”
There’s no lie in her words, and I know them to be the truth. But Frostfire isn’t so easily forgotten, and I know the real reason she always wanted me back.
My laugh is dark. “Only to ensure your own survival. You sold me to keep your kingdom. Was your deal with Galen Tarva worth it?” I ask.
She draws slightly back. “Yes. As it turns out, I’m the only one who benefited.”
Disgusted, I ask, “Do you have any idea how that monster treated Ianthe? What he did to her?”
Something flickers in Mother’s eyes again. It’s fleeting, but I saw it. Through selfish, unfeeling actions, she lost Ianthe, too, and she knows it.
Griffin squeezes my hand. “Make your offer, Cat. Finish this.”
I nod, but before I can move or say anything at all, Mother’s telekinetic magic rips me away from Griffin and slams me up against the nearest cage.
For a moment, my ears ring, and I can’t breathe. But I don’t need breath or hearing to lift both hands and let twin bolts roll off them. I aim for her feet, and she leaps back from the charred stone, the hem of her dress singed.
My friends and brothers gasp. They didn’t know I could do that.
Growling his fury, Griffin helps to steady me. He looks me over with concern, but I’m fine. It takes more than one hit to rattle me.
Straightening away from the bars, I tap into Little Bean’s zip and zing to make sure she wasn’t too jostled. Her magic answers me reassuringly.
My own magic ignites. Lightning coils down my arm and gathers in the palm of my hand. I cock my head. “No potion needed. Your reign of terror is over, Mother. You’ve done enough harm.”
Her eyes dart beyond us to my friends. Power gathers around her, and she lifts her hand with clear malicious intent.
I send a lightning bolt straight through her raised palm just as the cages begin to rattle and rise. My aim has always been impressive. Mother cries out in pain.
“Don’t even think about it,” I say. “Or you won’t survive this.”
