AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“My number one concern. How did you know?” Fucking weird old woman. I crossed my arms and leaned against a post.
She raised a very dangerous-looking eyebrow at me. “And she pushes her luck too. Very well. I’ve known your mother for a while now. She contacted me when she gave birth to a little two-spirited child from a doomed love affair. Needed a contact to help keep the child safe and hidden.”
“How?” I asked, my voice strangely calm for how completely shocked I felt.
“How?” the woman jeered, gesturing to the shop around her. “Use your head, girl.”
Razai’s tidbits about mage magic returned. The realization was obvious as hell. “She wanted to conceal me with charms and spells.”
“Better a slow brain than none at all, I guess. But yes. She wanted to hide you. For some gods-forsaken reason, that woman thought it best to keep her half-blood spawn in the heart of Demon Territory, around the worst kinds of people.”
The worst kinds? Who were the worst kinds? Mom never kept me around bad people, per se. I’d been homeschooled with a few other kids from neighboring families. Cousins, Mom had told me once, but I’d never met their parents or gone to their birthday parties.
In fact… I never met any of Mom’s family. At all.
“I was safe,” I insisted. “My life was boring, actually. Duller than anything you could imagine. I don’t even have impressive or interesting memories. That’s how fucking lame my childhood was. And you’re calling it dangerous? Like I’d been in some creepy mafia family?”
Her flat, disappointed stare only heightened my rage. She sighed, “You remember what you’ve been allowed to remember, dimwit.”
Chapter Fifty-Five
“That’s fucking ridiculous,” I dismissed. “Why would she erase my memories?” Even in the absolute certainty that I was right, a tiny cord of worry snaked through the cracks.
She shrugged. “You don’t have to. I don’t exactly care if you do. I can lead you to the trail your dear mother left behind, but whether you want to dig through it is your choice.”
“Then answer the question!” My patience ran thinner and thinner with each passing second.
“Your mother is from a ruling family. Must I spell it out for you even more?” She leaned into her pestle and ground the herbs, which began to take on the color of vomit.
“Yeah, I know she’s well-connected. I figured she was part of that circle.”
“This is infuriating,” she sighed. “She’s an important figure. She was ascending in power. Do you think she’d want to drag along a useless, shamefully illegal child? It’s like pulling a skeleton from one’s closet and dragging it behind oneself for all to see. You were dead weight, girl. A liability. She loved you, so she got rid of you humanely.” After popping open a jewel-red bottle and sniffing, she tipped it over. The thick liquid drooled onto the herbs. “Nice that you had a place to land on the other side. In Divine Territory, I mean. Most children get abandoned in the Underground. Most die.”
Feverish sweat laced my skin. My insides trembled like I was cold. An intense, overwhelming pressure stole the wind from my lungs. I stumbled, clutching my throat.
As the room rippled and hazed away, I tipped over just like that bottle. In the distance, the woman’s deep voice thrummed. “What are… you… oh… what a… sneaky little bitch.”
Her rough voice warbled closer and further away. Hands held my shoulders and guided me upward again. The back of my legs hit a chair, and I dropped into it, feeling drunk. What the fuck was happening?
She lifted my brows with her thumbs and stared into my eyes. She grumbled, “Your family always knows how to sneak, don’t they?”
I wanted to fight her off, but she was either really strong or I was really weak.
She tsked and released me. “What you’re experiencing is part of a spell’s defense system. Your memories are being suppressed, as I’ve told you, and this illness is how it reacts to being threatened.”
“How do I fight through it?” I said, fighting to get each word out.
“You can’t. You either break it or you don’t. And you’re not ready for that tonight. Look at you.”
“Not… your… choice.” The pressure in my head increased again, and I slumped against the wall.
“If you push any more, you’re going to lose consciousness. Go ahead. Waste the rest of your evening. You clearly didn’t have any other important matters to attend to.” She swayed back to her countertop, oozing disdain.
What a bitch.
The seizing tension and spasms in my body heightened. I cried out in pain.
“Let it go, girl!” she snapped, whirling. “Breathe deeply. Stop holding it all in. Let the sensations pass through you like a phantom. See it in your mind’s eye. Tonight is not the night for this. Listen to this wisdom.”
