The Mother
1595 Words
The mountains were cold.
Silas led the way up a narrow path. I followed. Behind us, two of Marta's men carried the box of papers.
"How much further?" I asked.
"An hour. Maybe two."
"You said she was hiding. Not that she was on top of a frozen rock."
Silas didn't answer.
We walked in silence. The wind picked up. Snow started to fall.
"Why does she live up here?"
"Because down there, people want her dead."
"Same people who killed my mother?"
"Same people."
I pulled my coat tighter. "And you're sure she'll talk to me?"
"No. But you're our only chance."
The cabin was small. Smoke rose from a stone chimney.
Silas knocked.
No answer.
"Mother. It's Silas."
Still nothing.
"She knows you're here," I said.
"How can you tell?"
"I smell her. Fear. And something else. Regret."
The door opened.
An old woman stood there. Grey hair. Grey eyes. Wrinkled skin.
"Silas." Her voice was dry. "You brought the ghost."
"Her name is Rhea Vennier."
"I know who she is." Maris Draven stepped aside. "Come in. Before you freeze."
---
The cabin was warm. A fire crackled in the hearth.
Maris sat in a wooden chair. She didn't offer us seats.
"You have my mother's eyes," she said to me.
"So I've been told."
"And her stubbornness. I can see it in your jaw."
"I'm not here to talk about my jaw."
"No. You're here to talk about the Moon Court." Maris looked at Silas. "You shouldn't have brought her. This is dangerous."
"Everything is dangerous, Mother."
"This is suicide."
I stepped forward. "With respect, ma'am, I'm already dying. The curse is spreading. I have maybe three months."
"I know. I can see the black on your palm."
"Then you know why I'm here. I need your testimony. Your proof that the Court is corrupt."
Maris laughed. A bitter sound.
"You think my testimony will change anything? The other four judges will deny everything. They'll call me a liar. A bitter old woman seeking revenge."
"Not if we have the papers."
"What papers?"
Silas opened the box. Spread the documents across her table.
Maris's face went pale.
"Where did you get these?"
"Your vault," Silas said. "The one in the Bone Quarter."
"I told you never to go there."
"You told me a lot of things. Like how you let Theron kill Rhea's mother."
Maris stood up. Her chair fell backward.
"I didn't let anyone do anything. I tried to stop it. I voted against the bribe. But I was outvoted."
"You didn't try hard enough."
"I retired in protest!"
"Retirement doesn't bring anyone back." My voice was shaking. "My mother is dead because your Court took money to look the other way."
Maris looked at me. Her grey eyes were wet.
"You think I don't know that? You think I don't see her face every time I close my eyes?"
"Then help me."
"How? How can I help you?"
"Testify. Tell the world what the Court did. Give us the names of everyone involved."
"And then what? They'll kill us all."
"They're already killing us. The curse is spreading to every hybrid in the territory. Elena told me. The fae woman."
Maris sat back down. Slowly.
"Elena is still alive?"
"Barely. Her brother is dying."
Maris put her face in her hands.
"I didn't know it had spread so far."
"Now you know. So what are you going to do about it?"
Silas poured tea. We sat around the fire.
Maris stared at the papers.
"These documents are real," she said. "I recognize the handwriting. Judge Vane kept meticulous records."
"Can you authenticate them?"
"Yes. But it won't be enough. You need someone who was in the room when the bribe was discussed."
"Were you?"
"I was."
"Then you're enough."
Maris shook her head. "I'm one voice against four. The Court will claim I'm senile. Or bitter. Or both."
"Then we need more than one voice."
"There is no one else. The other judges won't turn on each other."
"What about their assistants? Their clerks? Someone must have seen something."
Maris was quiet for a long moment.
"There is one person. But she's dangerous."
"Who?"
"My former clerk. Lena. She handled all the paperwork for the Court. She knows where the bodies are buried."
"Where is she?"
"Lunaris City. She runs a brothel in the red district."
Silas choked on his tea.
"Lena runs The Velvet Claw?"
"You know it?"
"Everyone knows it." Silas wiped his mouth. "I didn't know Lena was a former Court clerk."
"She's not a clerk anymore. She's a survivor."
I looked at Maris. "Will she talk to us?"
"Maybe. But she'll want something in return."
"Everyone wants something. What does she want?"
"Protection. She's been hiding from the Court for twenty years. If she testifies, they'll come for her."
"We can protect her."
"Can you? You can barely protect yourself."
I held up my blackened palm. "I'm stronger than I look."
Maris studied me.
"Yes," she said. "You are. You have her fire."
"My mother's?"
"No. Your own."
We spent the night in the cabin.
Maris cooked soup. Silas chopped wood. I sat by the fire, reading through the papers again.
"Your mother stayed here once," Maris said, sitting across from me.
"When?"
"A few weeks before she died. She was scared. She knew Theron was coming for her."
"Did she tell you why?"
"She said she had proof. Something that would bring down the Court. She didn't show me. She said it was too dangerous."
"It was in the vault."
"Yes. She trusted Silas to keep it safe. He was just a boy then."
"Did he know?"
"No. She left him a letter. Told him to open the vault after she died." Maris looked at her son. "He didn't read it until years later."
Silas didn't look up from the woodpile.
"I was angry," he said quietly. "I thought she abandoned me. I threw the letter away."
"But you found it again?"
"My guilt found it. Buried in a box of her things." He finally looked at me. "I've been carrying it ever since."
"What did the letter say?"
Silas pulled a folded paper from his jacket. Handed it to me.
My dearest Silas,
If you're reading this, I'm gone. Don't be angry. I chose this path. The Moon Court is corrupt. They kill people like me—hybrids who smell the truth. I have proof. It's in the Bone Quarter vault. Guard it with your life.
One day, someone will come looking for it. Someone who smells lies like I do. Help them. Train them. Love them, if you can.
She's your sister, Silas. Half-sister. Rhea. I never told Marco. He wouldn't have understood. But you're blood. Both of you.
Protect her.
I love you.
—Mother
My hands shook.
"You're my brother?"
Silas nodded.
"Half-brother. Same mother. Different fathers."
"My father is Marco Vennier."
"Yes. And mine was a vampire she met before him. That's why I'm hybrid. That's why you are too."
I stood up. Walked to the window.
All this time. All the pain. The loneliness.
I had a brother.
"You should have told me," I said.
"When? When you were dying at the border? When you were broken and terrified?"
"Yes. Then. Any time."
"I was scared."
"Of what?"
"Of you hating me. Like I hated her for leaving." Silas stood beside me. "I'm not good at family, Rhea. I'm good at killing and lying and surviving."
"Then learn."
"What?"
"Learn to be good at family." I turned to face him. "Because you're all I have left."
He didn't speak. But he put his hand on my shoulder.
It was the first time he'd touched me without training or urgency.
It felt like home.
That night, I dreamed of Kael again.
He was in a dark room. Chained to a wall.
"Kael?"
He looked up. His face was bruised.
"Rhea. You shouldn't be here."
"Where is here?"
"My father's basement. He found out I've been helping you."
I stepped closer. The chains were silver. They burned his wrists.
"I'll come get you."
"No. He wants you to come. It's a trap."
"I don't care."
"I care." His silver eyes were fierce. "If you die, I die. And I'm not ready to die yet."
"Then how do I save you?"
"Go to Lena. She has the rest of the files. The ones that name Theron directly. Once you have those, my father has no power."
"Where does Lena keep them?"
"In her office. Behind a painting of the moon."
"How do you know this?"
"Because my father told me. When he was drunk. He thought I was on his side."
I reached for him. My hand passed through his chest.
The dream was breaking.
"Rhea. Don't forget. Lena. Painting of the moon."
"I won't."
"And Rhea?"
"Yes?"
"I love you. I should have said it before."
The dream shattered.
I woke up gasping.
Silas was sitting by the fire.
"Kael," I said.
"What about him?"
"Theron has him. Chained with silver."
Silas stood up. "Then we need to move faster."
"We need to go to Lena. Tonight."
"Why?"
"Because she has the files that name Theron. And because Kael is running out of time."
I grabbed my coat.
Maris stood in the doorway.
"Be careful," she said. "Lena is not what she seems."
"No one is."
I walked out into the snow.
Behind me, the bond pulled.
Kael was in pain.
And I was the only one who could save him.
- Writer
