She always does it—every time.
There’s a pause before she nods but doesn’t look back. Doesn’t seek me out with the tender stare I crave.She used to try, but her eyes didn’t lie, and I could see the roiling fear below the surface.
Again, I look at the tapestry, tilting my head to the side as I study the half-finished piece of a face shrouded in a nest of flowers. I note the shape of the woman’s eyes and the half-moon irises, the burst of orchid threads a stark contrast to the rest of the piece.
In it, I see Orlaith.
“You like her,” I murmur, and the air between us tightens.
Her head bobs. Slow.
Cautious.
“I like her, too.” I saunter forward, heavy boots hammering the stone. “The talon Orlaith came here with is gone.”
Her hands still. Even the tremble abates for a beat before reigniting tenfold.
Disappointment clogs my throat.
I had my suspicions, but seeing it confirmed is a different beast entirely.
“She used it on Rhordyn,” I admit, forcing back a breath burdened by her undiluted fear. Guess I should be used to it by now, but she shouldn’t have therightto be scared of me.
I’m her fucking child.
“A little bird once told me you sent a tapestry to Rhordyn’s territory. Call me sentimental, but I tried to find it. You know—wanting to keep the entire set intact because I’m such a good son.” I study the flowers she’s pieced together thread by tedious thread. “I failed, of course. Though, for you, I guess that’s hardly a surprise. But after finding Orlaith on the island tonight, I wonder … were you trying to sendclues?”
Her shoulders stiffen in the silence.
Blessed fucking silence.
I cross my arms and study the back of her head. “Is that true, Mother? Did you hope Orlaith would see me throughyoureyes and do what you failed to do?” I grip her stool and whip it around, wooden legs screaming against the stone. “But where would you be without me, hmm?”
She flinches again as I crouch, bringing us face to face. She doesn’t even bother to hide the fear in her wide, pasty eyes.
“Dead,” I pronounce. “You’d bedead. Need I remind you, the only reason you’re stillbreathingis because I need your filthy blood to keep Father from slipping away entirely.”
She makes some sounds I pretend not to hear, molding her hands into shapes I never bothered to learn the meaning of.
I drop my head, massaging the bridge between my eyes. If I wanted to listen to her speak, I would never have cut out her tongue.
“I heard you talking with Father, you know. When I was small.Pleadingwith him.” She becomes still, and I can feel the warm tickle of her undivided attention blazing across my face.
There she goes again, trying to manipulate the situation by feeding me drips of hope that shecares.
I lift my head, looking up at her from beneath my brows. “I heard you say that what I lack in power I also lack in empathy.”
Her mouth falls open.
“That you’refrightenedof my capabilities. Ironic, since you mated a monster. I’m not sure what you were expecting to end up with.”
All the color slips from her face that used to be beautiful once upon a time. Before I started starving her of the thing maintaining her youth. A little petty, but I do hold a good grudge.
“Any weakness I have is because of you,” I scoff. “My pathetic,mortalmother who can’t even look at her own son without shuddering. You’re the reason I’m not stronger. The reason I’m pure bloodlust and no fuckingpower.”
I reach up, and she flinches as I snag some silver strands and squeeze them between my thumb and finger, desperate to tame them.
Later. After I’ve dealt with my pretty flower.
