Miora crossed her arms. “That’s cruel, and so very your grandmother.”
Grandma Elira nodded. “It’s strategic.”
The room felt smaller now, not claustrophobic, but the walls felt like they were pressing closer.
“Grandma,” I said, my voice steadier now, “there are stories about her. About how long she’s been alive. Stella mentioned that it wasn’tnatural.”
“Yes,” Elira replied. “It’s true.”
“So the stories are accurate?”
She held my gaze.
“She’s had children before your mom,” Elira continued. “Grandchildren. Those she’d tried to mold. Those she tried to persuade to stand beside her.”
“And?” My fingers tightened on the mug.
“They disappear,” Elira said.
“Disappear how?” I pressed.
My grandma shook her head slightly. “Records are inconsistent. Some are said to have left willingly. Some are said to have opposed her and vanished from family accounts. Some are simply no longer mentioned.”
A shiver ran through me.
“That could be folklore,” I said quickly.
“It could be,” Elira agreed.
“But?”
“But I happen to know that she’s indeed had other families before yours.”
The fire popped softly, and I felt something sharp and protective flare inside me.
“She’s been around a long time, and there is something that is keeping her…timeless. It’s said to be from shadows or something even worse. We don’t know for sure, but that’s how she kept going. But recently, the last fifty years or so, things…slipped.”
“How so?”
“For whatever reason, she aged after she gave birth to your mother. She can no longer conceive.”
“So whatever she took is wearing off?”
“Possibly, or it only held for so long, or she did something to change the course.”
“What about my mother?” I asked.
“She left,” Elira said calmly. “And she survived.”
“But the others didn’t survive, did they?”
Elira’s silence gave me my answer, and my mind leapt without permission to Celeste.
She was so bright, curious, and stubborn in the ways that both worried and delighted me.
The idea of Mariselle turning her gaze toward my daughter made my stomach twist hard enough that I set the tea down before I dropped it.
“Grandma,” I said, and this time my voice was quieter. “Is it possible she… uses family?”
