How or what could I possibly say to the mother of my best friend…
My eyes snapped to the singular door in the tiny cabin. It was closed. It didn’t quite fit the frame so I could see beyond it, enough to know it was raining heavily outside. A puddle was growing, spreading across the wooden floor and staining it a muddy brown.
“When will he come back?” I asked. “How long?”
Verena shrugged, her eyes never leaving me. “That would depend. He comes and goes. Don’t bother asking me where to exactly, because I don’t know. Since my stunt the first night of the trials, he’s kept me at a distance. Distrust is a poison in Tomin’s eyes. Once it takes root, there’s never a chance ofhoping to cure it. The only thing keeping me alive is his need for me, thank Hekate.”
My sore head raced to make sense of what potential outcomes I had missed. Tomin had been here, knocked me out and tied me up. It had been hours since, so there was no telling if my coven were coming after us. I had to hope that Kai was sticking to his part of our plan. The verdict was, I didn’t have long to act.
My free hands started patting my pockets, delving into them in search of something.
“I’ve already checked you over, Hector. Whatever you brought with you, Tomin now considers himself the owner of.”
Verena was right. When I found my pockets empty, I smiled wider.
“Now that’s the best news I’ve heard all day,” I muttered, heart beating slightly too fast in my chest.
“It was foolish of you to come,” Verena said with an ounce of motherly condemning. “You know that, don’t you?”
“Of course I do,” I said, jutting my chin as my confidence returned. “Foolish on whose behalf is yet to be determined, though. Foolishness is exactly why I came.”
Her deep eyes narrowed on me. It hit me just how much her eyes looked like the jewels set into Romy’s face. Bathed in the light of a singular orange bulb, there was no denying the truth anymore.
Verena must’ve read my mind, because her expression softened as the barriers came down, and pain was let in. “How… how is she?”
“Your daughter?” I asked as if I really was the fool. “Oh, you know. Furious. Confused. Focused. Intelligent. Capable. Brilliant. All the things she was before your little revelation was spilled out before her.” I leaned forwards as much as my chains allowed. “Romy’s the sunshine, and the moon. She’slight incarnate. And she doesn’t deserve to be hurt by anyone. Especially notyou. Am I clear?”
“Crystal.” Verena blinked, eyes glistening slightly more than they had a moment before. “I had always hoped as much. I’ve only ever wanted the best for her.”
It took great focus not to let her reply crack my soul in two. Having a focus, something so intense as the secret plan I carried, was enough to keep my emotions at bay. “Verena, I do understand.”
Her brows quivered. “How could you possibly…”
“I said I understand,” I repeated, firmly. “That doesn’t mean that Romy does. Not yet. I may not have played the game of life the way you have, but I can see that your intentions towards her are pure. I mean, how can they not be? But it’s going to take a lot of time to stitch the wounds between you. Blood is thick and all, but time really is the gaping wound we all fear it can be. Be patient with Romy. Let her come round to the idea that her mother is alive, and has been this entire time.”
A flush crept across Verena’s cheeks, exaggerating the warmth of her skin. I felt, for just a moment, that she looked at me differently. Perhaps it was the tilt of her head, or the inquisitive gleam in her eyes. “You remind me a lot of her, you know.”
“Who?” I asked.
“Your mother. Heather.”
Hearing her name spoken aloud was a medicine to my soul. In a way, I wanted to demand Verena say it over and over, just to recognise that she’d existed.
Instead, I swallowed a stone, a thick and bulbous stone of sudden grief. “You knew her?”
“Romy isn’t the only person who can be described with the impressive nature of a planet, Hector Briar. Heather was someone you gravitated towards. She was someone the worldgravitated around. Not only when she became Grand High, but long before that.”
It took everything in me to steel my expression, but I failed. I felt the muscles in my forehead tense, and my lips draw tight into a line. “I didn’t realise you knew her.”
“Because the moment you became aware of me, I was dead to the world, right?” Verena asked.
I nodded.
“Heather was determined. She was clever. But she was also sly. Serpent, we used to call her. ‘As slippery as a serpent whose scales are slick with melted sugar’. Her smile was so impressive, it distracted the recipient from the sharp teeth she had hiding behind her upturned lips. And before you ask, this isn’t me bashing your mother. I was… in awe of her.”
My reason for being in this cabin, the plan that smashed on my skull in determination not to be forgotten, all but faded to the wayside. “It’s not often I get to hear people talk about her.”
“That’s because she was so incredible that words could barely do her justice.”
