And why did I still care about that?
“My father and our royaltrokavfound a way to nullify anything Southern about me—as well as my twin. Neither one of uswerefree of his grasp until recently. And thereisn’texactly a line of Southerners willing to train me, soI’mdoing my best to figure it out on my own.”
Val looked at me thoughtfully, and I could see the wheels spinning in her head, ready to ask her next question already.
“The organizations you mentioned, they’re why you were there the night of the ball, correct?” I inquired.
“Yes, but it was a setup. Even within those groups, I was never fullywelcome. There was always somebody trying to trip me up. Despite my best efforts, they got the best of me that night. I was supposed to get close to you, but not close enough for this,” she motioned between the two of us, “to happen.”
“Hmm,” I hummed, processing each crumb of information she was feeding me.
“It must have been your mother that was Southern, then? Do you know where she is, and could she train you?” Val asked, leaning forward slightlytodraw closer to me. I seemed to have piqued hercuriosity; she was looking at me like I was a puzzle she could piece together.
“Yes, my mother was Southern. My whole life I thought she had returned to the Stars, but now…” I trailed off, thinking back to the top of the tower.
And who resided inside.
Val studied me for a moment,searchingmy face and body language for answers. Only Aviva had ever been able to read me so thoroughly, yet there was Val, doing her best to figure me out.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
“The tower.” Her eyes widened. “Tell me your motherisn’tup in the tower. You acted so oddly afterwards, Iwasn’tsure whatcould’vebeen so upsetting, but…”
I shifted my gaze to look at the ground far below us. The estate was on the edge of a large piece of land, scattered with small streams and tall trees. I took a moment to collect myself before quietly admitting to Val whatI’dbeen terrified to voice aloud.
“I don’t know what to do.”
We lapsed into a brief moment of silence.
Stupid, I screamed internally.Now you’ve screwed it all up and—
“If I had the chance to see my father again, I’d take it,” Val said quietly.
She stretched out one of her wings and gently brushed it against my own in a comforting motion.The contact sent chills down my spine, spreading across my skin in an instant.
“What happened to the rest of your family?” I askedaftera moment.
Val pursed her lips together hesitantly before responding.“They’reall either dead, dead to me, or out of reach. Doesn’t really matter much now, does it?”
Those words rang out like bells in my mind.
Dead.
Dead to me.
Out of reach.
“No,” I responded quietly. “I guess it doesn’t.”
As Val and I headed to the table to try to salvage what parts of dinner we could, those words kept circling in my head like a cyclone.
Father was dead.
Aviva was dead to me.
The female I’d pined after for years was out of reach.
But Mother? She wasn’t dead, or dead to me. And she didn’thaveto be out of reach if I didn’t want her to be anymore.
