A serv
delivered the note as I was dressing for another day of official duties.
My mother’s handwriting, urgent and unsteady, requesting my presence immediately. I hesitated, remembering our last conversation about leaving together when the contract expired. Still, something in her words made me uneasy.
I found myself at her apartment door within the hour.
‘Mom, what’s wrong?” I called, knocking before pushing the door open.
She sat on the sofa, her face pale and drawn, hands clasped tightly in her lap. When she looked up, I saw traces of tears on her
cheeks.
“Elowen,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Something cold settled in my stomach at her tone. “Yes, I am here, mom. What happened?”
“Seat down with me, would you?” she asked, patting the space beside her.
“Okay, I can do that.” I moved cautiously, sensing whatever she wanted to discuss wasn’t going to be pleasant.
She took a deep breath, seeming to gather her courage. “Do you know I once loved Alaric?”
“What?” The question caught me completely off guard. After everything she’d told me about her captivity, her torture at his hands, love was the last emotion I’d expected her to mention.
“It sounds strange, I know.” Her eyes took on a distant look. “When I was first brought here, he wasn’t always cruel. There were moments of kindness, of something that felt like tenderness. I was young, vulnerable… and he knew exactly how to manipulate those feelings.”
I listened in growing discomfort as she described the early days of her captivity. How my mother’s account matched exactly what Alaric had told me. He’d messed with her head, making her fall in love with him over and over, only to crush her each time. He’d hurt her repeatedly, until she couldn’t separate the lies from reality anymore.
“I was such a fool,” she continued, her voice hardening. “I believed he could change, that I was special to him. But I was just another possession, another conquest.”
“Mom, what are you trying to say?” I interrupted, unable to understand why she was telling me this now.
Her eyes focused on me with unsettling intensity. “How many times have you asked, or rather… begged Kaius to step out of his line of ambition, just so he would be safe?”
“I don’t know. The question confused me.
“Tell me the truth, Elowen,” she pressed.
“A few times,” I admitted.
“Did he listen?”
I thought of the challenge against the elders, his determination to claim the crown despite my fears.
No… But he spared you that
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Chapter 126
“So that’s the litt
hope you hang unto?” Her voice held a note of ply that stung.
“Stop this right now, mother. What is your problem? You said you would let me be. Why are you bringing all this up after all this
time?” Irritation flared in me.
“Elowen, you lied to me. About the contract, you told me that this was temporary; you never told me you loved him. Why would you do this to me, Elowen?”
“Mom…” I began, but she cut me off.
“You told me, Elowen, you said we would leave this place together.”
Guilt twisted in my chest. “I am sorry.”
“Why?”
“This is not a big deal, mother. If you don’t want to stay here, then I could arrange something for you; you could be happy
elsewhere.”
Her eyes widened. “And you would remain here?”
“I am his mate…”
“No, you are not.” The cold certainty in her voice sent a chill through me.
“Listen to me, mother. I can never leave him; in him I had found the happiness I had long sorted for; he is nothing like his father; just stop comparing them; Alaric is dead; we need to move on; why do you always have to dig into past memories? My voice rose
with frustration.
She mumbled something I couldn’t catch, her eyes cast downward.
“Mom, you are scaring me.”
“You don’t understand.” She shook her head slowly.
“Then make me.”
“When I left this pack… I discovered that I was pregnant.”
I froze. “Pregnant. You never told me anything about losing a child.”
“I never lost the child, Elowen.” She raised her eyes to mine, and I saw something break inside her. “You were the baby I had with
Alaric.”
The world seemed to tilt beneath me. “You were pregnant with me?
She nodded, tears spilling down her cheeks.
“Do you know what this means?” she asked, her voice barely audible.
The truth crashed over me like a wave, stealing my breath. “It means the monster is my father.”
“Alpha Kaius is your brother, Elowen.”
“What?” The word came out as a gasp, my mind refusing to accept what I was hearing.
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Chapter 126
“I’m so sorry, I should have told you a long time ago; this is all on me; it is my fault, and I know it, but please…”
“No. I don’t believe you, mother; you are lying, right?” Desperation clawed at my throat.
“No, baby, I am not, and you know that.”
“I don’t know that! I don’t know you anymore; the only thing I know is that you never want to see me happy. Why, mother? Why do you want to take away the one good thing in my life, the one thing that finally makes me happy?” The words tore from me, raw and painful.
Alaric’s words came back to me suddenly, his taunting voice crystal clear in my memory: “Have you ever wondered who he was? It could be anyone–a road side drunkard, a soldier, a captive, or… even me.”
He’d known. He’d known all along, and he’d enjoyed watching me squirm at the suggestion, never realizing the horrible truth of it.
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