69 – Mother Or Monster?
69 Mother Or Monster?
lone.
I knew it was her before she even said my name.
“lone?” my mother called, but I did not stir from my supposed sleep. Sleep was far from me since my mind was still trying to wrap itself around what I had witnessed in that other realm.
“lone?” she called again, closing the door behind her. She proceeded towards me and stood at my side. The silence was uncomfortable, to say the
least.
“You are not asleep, and we both know it,” she said dryly. ‘Get up.”
Reluctantly, I opened my eyes and sat up. I kept my eyes on the quilt that covered my body.
“How do you feel?” she asked.
I wanted so much to roll my eyes, but all I could do was sigh. “I know you are not here for that, Mother.”
Her tone changed instantly. “Ungrateful thing!” she spat. “You can’t accept my care, but you would take it from a maggot. But the truth is that you do not deserve any sympathy. You have only yourself to blame for what happened to you,” she said self–righteously.
I turned to her, my expression incredulous.
“What!” she hissed defensively. “I have said nothing false. Even when a useless child like you is granted an undeserved gift, you still cannot, for the life of you, do it right,” she kept ranting.
Every word should have been ineffective in hurting, but each word was like a well–aimed blow to the chest. I bit my lips to prevent them from quivering. My mother did not like to see me cry.
When she was done disparaging me and undermining my pain, she stopped. An awkward silence engulfed the room. “So-”
“I saw nothing, Mother,” I answered her before she could complete whatever she was about to ask. “Nothing at all.”
Silence.
Then my mother broke into a loud cackle. “Are you insane, child?” she demanded. “Do you really think that you can fool me?”
I swallowed my fear and tried to act as detached as I could manage. That was the only way I could get through this cursed confrontation unscathed. “That is the truth,” I insisted. “I have done what you asked of me, so-”
The sound of the slap echoed in the room, sharp and stinging. My head snapped to the side, my cheek burning from the impact. I bit down on my lower lip, tasting blood, but I refused to let any tears escape. My mother stood over me, her eyes blazing with fury.
“How dare you lie to me!” she seethed, her voice low and venomous. “Do you think I’m a fool? Do you think I don’t know what you saw?”
I kept my gaze down, my hand instinctively going to my throbbing cheek. Her words were like daggers, each one piercing deeper than the last. I knew better than to answer back; any response would only fuel her rage.
“After everything I’ve done for you, this is how you repay me?” she continued, her voice rising. “I gave you life, and this is the thanks I get? Lies and
deceit!”
I clenched my fists, nails digging into my palms. I wanted to scream, to shout back that I hadn’t asked for any of this, that I was just as trapped as anyone else. But I knew it would be pointless. Her wrath was a storm, relentless and unforgiving. There was no reasoning with her when she was like
this.
She took a step back, looking down at me with disgust. “You are nothing but a disappointment,” she spat. “A worthless, ungrateful child. You think you can hide the truth from me, but I will find out what you saw, one way or another. And when I do, you will wish you had never lied to me.”
“Mother-“I tried to say, but as it usually was with my mother, she would not stop.
“I am not your mother. Daughters don’t lie to their mothers.”
After everything that I had gone through in the other realm, I lacked most of the energy that I would have needed to endure her tyranny. I don’t know how the sound managed to slip out, but I scoffed. My first openly blatant act of defiance against the woman who birthed me. It was small, but it
meant far more than that, judging by the way my mother froze.
“What did you just do?” Her voice was dangerously low.
I said nothing, unable to still look her in the eye.
Without warning, my mother grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked hard. Pain shot through my scalp, and I gasped, my hands flying up to try to lessen the pull. She forced me to look up at her, her eyes blazing with an intensity that made my blood run cold.
“What did you just do?” she hissed, her voice low and dangerous. Her grip tightened, and I could feel tears pricking at the corners of my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I couldn’t give her the satisfaction.
I bit down on my lip, tasting the metallic tang of blood. “I… I didn’t do anything,” I managed to choke out, my voice barely above a whisper. The pain was excruciating, but I didn’t dare try to pull away. Any movement might make it worse.
She leaned in closer, her face inches from mine. “You think you can defy me?” she sneered. “You think you can mock me?” Her voice was filled with
each word like a dagger aimed straight at my heart.
venom,
Setting
21:06
69 Mother Or Monster?
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out her words, the pain, the fear. I could feel my body trembling, every muscle tense and aching. All I wanted was for this to end, for her to let go, for the torment to stop.
But instead, she jerked my head back further, forcing me to meet her gaze. Her eyes were cold, filled with a cruel satisfaction. “You are nothing,” she spat. “Nothing but a disappointment and a disgrace. You deserve every bit of suffering you get.”
With one final, painful tug, she released her grip on my hair, shoving me back onto the bed. I landed awkwardly, my scalp still throbbing, my breath coming in ragged gasps. I lay there, staring up at the ceiling, tears finally slipping free and trailing down my checks.
She stood over me, her expression one of pure disdain. “After what your maggot of a lover did to us, the least you can do is your part. Use your gift for the reason it was given to you.”
To serve in your deplorable agenda, but I did not dare give voice to the words in my head.
“Because of you, Cassian almost died. Because of your lover, I almost lost my son and the Alpha of this pack,” she barked.
“I did… nothing!” I tried to scream, but the words came out in a whimper. My voice refused to rise. “I would never…”
“Maybe you and the maggot planned it together,” she accused. “But you got out scot–free. You are showing your true colors now.”
I bit my tongue so hard that I could taste blood. She knew what she was doing. This was not about Cassian or what he had gone through but about manipulating me into doing exactly what she wanted. Despite knowing all that, her words still cut deep. They always did. She had a way of twisting the truth to fit her narrative, making me feel small and worthless. The worst part was that part of me believed her, despite everything.
I struggled to sit up, my body still shaking from the confrontation. My scalp throbbed where she had yanked my hair, and my cheek burned from the slap. The physical pain was nothing compared to the emotional turmoil roiling inside me.
“You will do as I say,” my mother commanded, her voice cold and unyielding. “You will use your gift for the good of this pack. For Cassian. For all of us. If you don’t, you will have nowhere to go, no one to turn to. You owe us that much, at the very least after all that you have done to this pack.”
I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms. The urge to scream, to lash out, to tell her exactly what I thought of her and her manipulation, was overwhelming. But I knew better. Any defiance would only lead to more pain, more punishment. Still, my blood had come to a boil, and I found myself unable to hold back.
“What do you want to know?” I demanded, angry tears streaming down my cheeks. My mouth still tasted sweet from my favorite pudding, but everything else in my life was utterly bitter. “You want me to tell you that I found out that Iris is a devil. She has done diabolical things; she even plans to do even more heinous things. She plans to burn our pack to the ground. Is that what you wish to hear?”
Suddenly, she looked intrigued and pleased. “Really?” she asked, wide–eyed. “You found all of that out?” She almost looked entirely too excited, and it made me sick to my stomach.
“No,” I deadpanned. “Instead, I found out that it was Rolan who hired Alaric to kill Cassian during the coronation!” I revealed, my chest heaving. As the words left my mouth, I watched my mother’s expression closely. For a split second, her eyes widened, and a flicker of something–shock, fear, or perhaps realization–crossed her face. But it was gone as quickly as it came, replaced by a calculated calm. She recovered so swiftly that if I hadn’t been watching so intently, I might have missed it.
Her reaction–or lack thereof–was telling. The way she blinked, the slight twitch of her lips, the quick dart of her eyes before she regained control–all of it screamed that she already knew. The revelation wasn’t a surprise to her. My heart sank further, a cold, hollow feeling spreading through my chest.
She had known. All along, she had known. Dread pooled in the rising tide of shock, hurt, and betrayal.
my
stomach as I realized the extent of her manipulation. I tried to ground myself against
“You knew, didn’t you?” I accused, my voice shaking. “You knew all along.”
”
