Chapter 13
Elenda watched her mother leave. The radio in the kitchen clicked on, then got louder than Marian usually kept it. Pop music from Elenda's teen years, her mother's guilty pleasure known only to the three of them, created a fast-paced wall of privacy. When Elenda met her father's gaze, his eyes didn't look any less upset, but he was smiling.
"We don't have to do this now, Dad."
"We're both sitting right here. Your mother's making it clear she thinks it's time." He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, long legs stretched under the table. "I've never been more desperate for a change of subject."
A short bark of laughter, manic and strange, escaped Elenda's tight throat.
"It may not be a change of subject, not if Gram was telling me the truth." She drew in a shaky bre
