“How is it that you came from the same womb that my own mother did?” Valerie asked, that deep sadness she felt shifting into her tone. “You are polar opposites of one another. My mother was kind and loving. Shehelpedpeople while all you do ishurtthem. It’s…it’sunfathomableto me, that you share your blood with her, that it’s evenpossibleyou do.”
“She was alsopoor,” Madame Allegria bit out, spitting out that last word like it was diseased. “And maybe you understand a little of what that feels like, Valerie, considering your mother barely had two credits to rub together. Even still, you’ll never know the poverty thatwegrew up in. You never knew hunger so painful you’d eat paper to soothe it. You never knew the disgusting looks thrown your way, as if you were no better than dirt.”
“So that’s it?” Valerie whispered. “You’re cruel because you don’t want to be poor? It’s always about credits?”
It was true. They had been poor on Genesis, but not in the way Madame Allegria was describing. Her mother had never really talked about her childhood, about her parents. Over the years, Valerie had been able to piece together bits, little slivers of conversations and spare words that came together to form a broken picture.
And if what Madame Allegria was saying was true, that the two sisters had grown up in extreme poverty…it made sense. But her mother had also hinted at abuse. Hell, Valerie had seen the marks on her mother’s back, though she’d desperately tried to hide them from Valerie.
For the first time, Valerie wondered if Madame Allegria held the same marks across her own back—the marks that Valerie and her mother had worn.
Had their father…?
Pity and empathy came. But then anger did too when Valerie remembered.
“She was your sister, your blood,” Valerie whispered, tears pooling in her vision. “Mymother.You had all the credits you could ever possibly need. It would’ve taken no effort at all for you to help us when she got sick. But you didn’t care.”
For the first time, Madame Allegria’s mask slipped and Valerie saw an expression on her face that was neither confident nor infuriated.
“You let her die,” Valerie continued, holding her aunt’s gaze, even as tears slipped down her cheeks. “You let your sister die even after I begged you to help her, to pay for her to get the medicine she needed.”
The expression on her aunt’s face was one of…resignation. As if she had accepted her decision long ago and had to live with the knowledge that she could have helped.
“Just one injection! One injection would’ve saved her life. 1000 credits would’ve saved my mother’s life. It would’ve beennothingto you. And you turned your back on her. Onme!”
At least until Madame Allegria had brought her to Everton.
Maybe Valerie could understand her aunt slightly. Because the fury and bitterness that had been swirling within her foryearsfelt tainted and wrong and permanent.
Valerie would never forgive her aunt for this. Never. She would be marked by this hatred for the rest of her life, just as Madame Allegria had no doubt been.
“You really are a monster,” Valerie whispered, shaking her head. “And while I understand hatred, while I understand never getting something you want more thananything, I willneverunderstand your cruelty.”
For once, Madame Allegria didn’t say anything. She sat behind the reception desk, her fingers still tightly clenched on the Nu device, staring at Valerie across the wood. Her eyes were like shards of ice. She was cold-hearted to her very core.
“You don’t have anything to say?” Valerie asked her, wiping her cheeks. She didn’t care if her aunt saw her cry. At least Valerie couldfeelsomething that made her cry. Like grief.
“Your mother made her choice,” was what Madame Allegria said, “when she decided to marry for love and not security. And look where that got her when her husband died. Look where it got you. She was irresponsible.”
Valerie’s breath left her.
“I won’t make that mistake when it comes to you,” her aunt continued. “You should be thanking me.”
Her lips parted.
Valerie shouldn’t be surprised. Did her aunt truly believe that she was doingrightby Valerie? That by marrying her off to one of the wealthiest families on Everton, she was somehow…making thingsright?
“You’re delusional. And twisted,” Valerie said, stunned. “I feel sorry for you.”
“Think what you want,” Madame Allegria said, her voice hardening. “But early on in my life, I learned the hard lessons that your mother refused to even consider. I loved my sister, make no mistake about it. But I also knew that she was a fool, one that would be eaten up by this world. Nowyouhave a choice to make. If you want to end up like her or if you want to survive like me.”
Valerie laughed.
The sound was loud and heartbreaking and humorless.
If it surprised her aunt, she didn’t show it.
That laughter turned into sobs, deep, aching sobs that racked her entire body and made it hard to breathe. She marveled that just mere moments before, Dravka had kissed her and she’d felt so…light. So wonderful.
