She climbs over the table, uncaring about dirtying it. Ruby simply shakes her head until her daughter has left the room then softly says, “I’m sorry about her. Somehow she came out slightly feral. I think it’s something she inherited from her dad.”
“When…” is all I manage to get out.
“She’s twelve. You were working in a diner and you’d begun dating again.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
She takes a controlled breath, tilting her head to check her daughter isn’t eavesdropping. I don’t think there’s an explanation she could give me that would excuse her selfishness, but she makes no attempt to lie to me.
“I told you that I tried to save you,” Ruby whispers, stretching her fingers out on the table. “That was true, but then…You had your own life, Delilah. I wanted the same instead of being trained to beRowan’swife. I’d spent my entire life knowing my role, sacrificing everything for you and Scarlet to have a chance to live, so I made my own.”
Ice invades my veins as she looks at me with a thin smile, tears shining in her eyes.
“Well, I wasn’t safe,” I spit, my voice cracking. “You just didn’t know what daddies do for their princesses.”
I’ve never seen my sister angry. Scarlet, yeah. She’s a raging bitch and wears it with pride. But Ruby was always calm, gently maneuvering around our parents, stopping tensions before they could rise. Now, as her tears slip down her cheeks, I’m surprised they haven’t evaporated from the hate burning in her eyes.
“He touched you?” she forces out, her voice still managing to remain soft.
I nod, feeling a weight lift off me at her believing me, instead of telling me to shut up. She stretches across the table, grippingmy fingers with both hands as she lowers her head. “I am so sorry, Dilly. I promise I did everything I could, but when they found out I was pregnant with Seraphim, they put me through fucking hell. There wasn’t a choice. I couldn’t risk them knowing she exists. If they find out, she won’t be safe.”
“Is that why you sold herpeopleto eat?”
She shakes her head, taking a deep breath. “This farm isn’t a working farm. It’s just for us, but you have to understand something. I would kill for you and Scarlet. I raised you, bathed you, read you stories. I sacrificed to keep you both safe. Whether I was successful or not is a different story. But I won’t sacrifice any more children to our parents’ ways. I will kill whoever I have to, eat their flesh myself if it means I get to be here,” she lightly presses her finger to the table, “to be the mother we never had.”
I can’t be angry at her for doing something I couldn’t. Not when I’d do anything to go back in time to prevent Helene hurting my babies. My selfishness has ruled every aspect of my life, ruined more than my own life, but it doesn’t factor into where the babies are concerned. I know without a doubt that if I went back in time, I would have prevented them from being born so they never knew pain. The firsthand knowledge of that pain and regret pushes the bitterness aside as I say, “You did the right thing.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, you did. We didn’t know we were surrounded by it all of our lives. At least there’s someone who isn’t. You changed it all, stopped history repeating itself.”
“I hope so. I’m just glad you’re alive. I tried hiding things for you in the crates, but you never called so I thought you’d managed to escape when Kane disappeared.” She squeezes my hand, wiping her tears off her cheeks. “Scarlet said you’d be cursing up a storm, calling us bitches for leaving you orfantasizing about our worrying, saying we deserved it for leaving you behind.”
A small laugh escapes at me, but I tense as the front door opens and multiple footsteps echo through the house. She rubs my hand and whispers, “It’s okay. I promise we won’t allow anyone to hurt you.”
“Auntie Scar!” Seraphim shouts from the top of the stairs.
“There’s my favorite diva. How much trouble have you caused since I last saw you?”
The teenager sprints down the stairs, nearly flying as she jumps off, missing the last three steps entirely. “I tried to shave my dad’s head like we talked about, but he woke up too early.”
“Try it again,” a deeper voice says. “We’ll have matching haircuts, little demon.”
They get closer, abruptly stopping when they reach the kitchen. A large man, the one who was by Ruby’s side during the wedding from hell continues walking. He nearly sits on top of Ruby as she slides across the seat to make space for him. His eyes are the strangest I’ve ever seen but I can’t see a plastic ring around his deep purple, nearly grey irises to show he’s wearing contacts.
“That’s Auntie Delilah,” Seraphim not-so-quietly whispers as I psyche myself up to look at the sister I haven’t seen since I was a teenager. “Mom said we have to be nice but she’s a bit dumb so you might have to speak slowly.”
I don’t know what to do. Should I stand? We always fought growing up, but we’re adults now. Do I ask her normal questions? What the fuck are normal questions to ask when I’ve had my head fucked with my entire life, trapped on an island with a perverted elderly woman that wouldn’t fucking die, then kept as a fucking sex slave alongside children?
Wiping my hands on my thighs, I slowly turn my head as I try to smile. Her eyes are wide, mouth slightly open, and shedoesn’t blink as a little boy on her hip lightly taps her cheek while sucking his thumb.
“Delilah?” she squeaks.
I nod.
“Shit. Holy fucking shit!” She runs at me and wraps her arm around me, squashing the child in the middle. “Fuck. You’re all grown up an—Shit, you’re so grown up.”
The little boy clearly doesn’t like being sandwiched between us as he whines, “Momma.”
