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“My little ember.” Her voice breaks, and I meet her tear-filled gaze with my own.

I don’t know what to say. What do I say?

“You’ve grown into such a beautiful young woman,” she murmurs, and my chest warms at the pride in her voice. Her fingers spasm against the curve of my cheek and her lips curve into a gentle, loving smile that’s so full of pain it’s blinding.

Leaning into her touch, I cover her hand with one of my own as more tears escape to slide down my cheeks. The sound she makes is one I’ve heard a thousand times. The tender empathy of a mother who would do anything to take her child’s pain away, but knows that she can’t.

“We’re going to get you out of here, alright? That’s why I’m here. So we can get you away.”

Soren inches closer, hovering while keeping his distance to give us some privacy… but where is Caelan? I turn my attention to our Bond and realize he’s upstairs again, but coming closer. I can feel him rushing back down, his side of the Bond pulsing with anxiety.

What’s happening?

“Idril,” she cuts me off, and her tone is still all wrong. There’s something not right about the way she’s saying my name, and every piece of me wants to ignore whatever she’s about to say because I know I’m not going to like it.

My hands tighten around hers. I stubbornly refuse to answer her, like if I just ignore what’s coming, I won’t have to face it.

“Darling, I can’t leave⁠—”

My eyes snap to hers, finally meeting her eyes when her grip strengthens, refusing to let me look away from her. “What are you talking about? Of course you can. That’s why we’re here.”

Her eyes shine bright with tears she refuses to let fall, and I know. I know, deep down, that she’s telling me the truth. “The runes, my love. I don’t know how your father learned how to do runic magic, but they won’t let me leave.”

I straighten, my resolve hardening, because… no. No. That is not how this ends. Not when I just found her. Not when I just discovered she’s been alive all these years.

“He’s using my blood,” I snarl, feeling my heart beat faster. The fury I felt earlier surges, blanketing all other emotions.

I expect her to look surprised, but she doesn’t. Instead, she just looks exhausted. Like the last seven years have taken their toll in a thousand different ways and she’s barely hanging on. She smiles, another resigned smile that I’ve been the recipient of more times than I can count. This time, I flinch, a hundred memories of a hundred different moments when father succeeded in ruining what little happiness we’d found. Trips we spent weeks anticipating, just to be told we don’t deserve to go, right as he stepped through the front door. Afternoons spent baking together followed by father’s rage when he got home and discovered we had “wasted” our entire day.

Almost every single happy memory ultimately ended with my tears and mother’s stoic reassurance and silent strength.

And the exact same smile she wears now.

I hate that smile. I hate that it’s all she had to offer each time father broke us. I hate how it always came with her weary acceptance of her place beneath him, like a punctuation mark of our captivity.

Fuck. That.

The flame in my chest explodes in rage, and I fall into it, letting it strengthen my resolve. There’s no way I’m letting him win again. No way I’m going to let him use me—my own blood—to keep me from my mother.

A hand wraps around my arm, and Soren steps up next to me. “We have to go, Little Mate. I’ll get your mom, alright? Step back for me.”

I don’t want to. I don’t want to move away from her, but I force myself to do exactly that. If the Severed are coming, we can’t stand around and waste time.

I turn back to face her, willing her to see the resolve in my eyes.

“This is Soren,” I explain, forcing the words out in a hurry when the sound of shouting echoes from the hallway above us. “He’s going to help you. We’re going to leave, alright?”

“Your father⁠—”

“He doesn’t get to decide this for us,” I snarl. “Not this time.”

But she’s still shaking her head, eyes pleading with me to understand.

“Idril, listen to me.”

I try to pull away, but her grip on my hand tightens.

“Listen! This is important. Do you remember our place? Our secret place?”