Chapter 16
Sixteen
“ D enara. Denara!” My mother’s voice sounded behind me. So I proceeded deeper into the forest, away from the cottage and away from the town.
“Denara, please stop and let’s talk.”
I should keep going. My fury ran deep, and I feared what I might say or do if I engaged with the woman following me. But I was never good at bottling my emotions for long.
“What is there to talk about, Mother? That you left us and then started a new family, a new replacement family.”
“It’s not like that. It was never like that.”
I noticed the mist curling around us and stilled. Glancing past my mother, I saw Vaelor standing not too far away. The clench of his jaw made it clear he thought about intervening.
“I’m fine, Vaelor. You don’t have to stay,” I said.
His frown deepened, but then he nodded and walked away, taking the mist with him.
“Please, Denara. I had to leave,” my mother pleaded.
“Yes, because you murdered someone.”
Mother twisted her fingers, worry in her eyes. “The man whom I murdered wasn’t just anyone. It was your father.”
I stared at her, aghast. “What?”
“Your father didn’t abandon us when you were little.
No—we left him. I don’t know if you remember, but he would fall into these terrible drunken rages.
I took most of the beatings.” Her voice tightened slightly.
“He never touched you until one night he was so drunk he nearly struck you in your sleep. That’s when I knew we couldn’t stay. ”
“You told me he went away… that it wasn’t possible for us to keep the house anymore.”
“Because I wanted you to distrust him if he ever came back.” She exhaled slowly.
“I wasn’t sure how much you remembered. You were older, but I often sent you to the neighbors during the worst of it.
When we left, I changed my name, and we started over.
But then—five years ago—that worst-case scenario finally came true. ”
My chest clenched. “He found you.”
Mother twisted her hands in her skirt. “He recognized me, and I knew it wouldn’t take long for him to ask around, learn my new name, and discover where we lived. He had this gleam in his eyes, and I feared Denara. I feared for all of us.”
I beheld the terror in her pale face as I whispered, “So you killed him.” The words came out of me strangely detached. My sympathy for my father had ended long ago when mother had told me he’d left, so to find out the worst of him, or his gruesome end, didn’t bother me.
But when my mother did the same thing—disappeared with no explanation—that destroyed me.
That moment revealed a pattern, and I was the common factor.
A haunted look passed through Mother’s eyes as she relived that night in her mind. “Yes, but a soldier saw me, and I had no other choice but to flee. I’m so sorry, Denara. I never wanted to leave you or Gerand. You being here and alive is a miracle.”
I wished her explanations were enough. “Do you know what I had to do to survive?” I asked in a low voice. “And now I find out that you are a hedge witch, that I am a hedge witch.”
“Humans distrust hedge witches, my dear. Not to mention your father was aware I had powers. The last thing we could afford to do was draw attention to ourselves.”
“Yes! But you could have told me !” The words burst out of me, so loud that birds resting in a nearby tree took flight. I glared at my mother, breathing hard, the fury burning in my veins.
“I knew that if you realized you had such power, you would be too tempted to use it.” Mother gave me a gentle yet condescending smile.
That only spiked my rage further. “I could have saved him, Mother! If only you had taught me, I might have protected Gerand. Instead, I was useless…” A tear leaked down my cheek. “I was powerless. And I lost him. I lost the only person who never left me.” I swiped at the multiple tears now flowing.
Mother started to cry as well. “I’m sorry. Ever since we heard demons had attacked your town, we have been searching.”
“Don’t act like you care now.”
“Oh, honey. I never stopped caring. There is nothing I can say that can prove it, but all my actions were for the sake of protecting you and your brother. The soldier who saw me immediately raised the alarm, and the authorities chased me into the demon lands. I thought if I stayed away, you’d be safe. ”
“But we weren’t,” I snarled.
“I know. I soon learned how unforgiving the demon lands could be.” She rolled up her sleeve and showed a brand mark on her arm.
“I was taken captive almost the instant I entered their lands. Eventually, I met Bargoth, and with his help, I escaped. My captors chased us all the way here, into Misophae. My powers had been growing ever since my captivity. I had been trying to escape with my magic. I’d learned a powerful protective charm and cast it over this town.
It instantly became a haven for demons searching for a more peaceful life. But I didn’t realize the consequences.”
“What consequences?”
“The only way the town stays hidden is if I remain here. The moment I leave, the magic falls apart. It nearly killed me when I found out. But you see, I couldn’t come for you.
And I convinced myself that you were safer where you were—to even send someone to drag you across demon lands would have been dangerous.
I only escaped my captivity because of Bargoth’s help.
But Denara, I’m so sorry for what you went through and that I wasn’t there.
Please, I beg you to forgive me.” She opened her arms, leaning in slowly, giving me time to pull away.
I didn’t, and her arms wrapped around me.
Gods, it felt so familiar as if no time had passed.
She’d been through so much. Logically it made sense—why she stayed away, how she had gotten trapped here, the danger of the demon lands, and yet there was one thing I couldn’t let go of and feared I never would.
I stepped from her, my shoulders tense, and my body more brittle than before. I brushed at my wet eyes another time. “I want to forgive you, I do. Your words are everything I ever wanted you to say…”
“But?” Mother prompted.
“Gerand is still gone.” Bitterness coated my tongue.
Mother nodded, devastation coming across her face. “We’ve searched, but we’ve turned up no leads so far. I swear we won’t give up on him. I understand you will do what you have to do, but please, at least stay the night. Get some rest?”
“We will stay the night, but Lord Vaelor needs us to keep moving. We’ll leave in the morning. But I’m not giving up on Gerand either. I will find him.”
“Then hopefully, between the two of us, we’ll locate your brother and bring him to safety.”
That was all that I wanted—my little brother safe so we might read stories late at night and I could chase him around the cabin again whenever he pretended to be too grown up for his big sister.
We left the forest behind and walked back to the log house in silence, the tension between us ebbing slightly.
Bargoth paced back and forth in front of the door. Vaelor stood next to the dwelling, arms folded. As soon as Bargoth saw Mother, he came up and said, “I need to speak with you.” They walked off in the direction I had barely come from.
I approached Vaelor. “Looks as if everyone gets to talk tonight.”
Vaelor glanced over to where my mother and Bargoth had left, and his jaw clenched. “Are things all right between you and your mother?”
I sighed. “No, but I didn’t expect one conversation to solve everything.”
He grunted, then shifted uneasily, glancing at me and then the ground. “Denara, I?—”
“Is it time to tell me whatever you were going to say to me?” My body felt as if I had been dragged through an emotional wasteland, and I wanted to lie down and take a long nap. But Vaelor had been wanting to reveal something to me, and the conversation might distract me from my heavier thoughts.
“Is now a suitable moment to inform you?” There was a slight edge to his voice as he glanced at the finger about my neck.
I looked down at it, the blood draining from my face. Shit. I forgot that what I said to Vaelor could be binding on him. All I’d said was ‘not now’, but that meant he’d need permission to bring it up again.
“You can tell me,” I said gently.
He opened his mouth, but just then my mother returned, marching straight up to Vaelor, a sternness mixed with urgency on her face. “Is it true?” she demanded. “Do you know where my son is?”
I blinked. What did she say?
Vaelor’s head dipped forward in acknowledgement. “Yes.”
A spark of light—of hopeful desperation—ignited in the darkness of my soul. I gazed at Vaelor in disbelief. “You know where Gerand is?”
“You mentioned that they sold your brother in Sheraniv. There is one local slave trader who runs that market. The night I went scouting, I stopped by one of his slave camps and used my connections to find out where your brother had been sold. He was bartered to a Misophae warlord, a dragon shifter by the name of Mirvarax. His lands are about half a day’s flight or a full day’s ride from here. ”
I slid my hands into my hair, the spark of hope growing stronger—and something else—tears stung my eyes. “This is what you wanted to tell me?”
“I tried to tell you when your mother first appeared, but you were too distracted,” Vaelor said.
I grimaced, remembering how I’d brushed him aside and then how I’d been the one to keep him from telling me because of the talisman.
Gods, after so many months of fretting, worrying, plotting, and desperately trying not to give up hope, I finally knew where my brother was. A small thrill moved through me. I turned to Vaelor, wanting to throw my arms around his neck and kiss him.
Shit. Where did that come from? I pushed down my urges and asked him, “Why did you do that? Why do you care?”
He shrugged. “When you spend enough time inside someone’s head, I suppose it’s impossible not to begin caring about the things they care about.”
I held his gaze, my chest tightening at the meaning behind his words. Reaching for his hand, I gave it a gentle squeeze, hoping it conveyed everything I couldn’t say aloud. A soft smile touched his lips as his fingers curled around mine in return.
Mother looked between me and Vaelor, an odd expression forming on her face. “Thank you, Lord Vaelor, for finding my son.”
I turned to my mother, determination burning within me. “We are going to free him.”
Mother’s jaw clenched, and she nodded. “Yes, we are.”