Untitled Episode
1085 Words
My mother’s voice came out smaller than I had ever heard. “I didn’t cheat, Mother. It has been years, and you still hold a grudge.”
Her voice cracked.
“I’m sorry.” She let out a small choking cry.
For the first time since I had known her, the proud Queen of Aether looked fragile.
My mother never cries.
Yet now, before the Family Matriarch, tears slid freely down her cheeks.
The Matriarch sat there untouched.
“Kent fathered her.”
My mother’s shoulders shook as she finally admitted it.
Tears flowed freely down her cheeks. Kent was moved. He finally touched her shoulder and patted her.
“I know,” he whispered.
My grandma looked away. She turned and smiled, saying nothing.
Audrey and Caleb joined to kneel.
The white serpent etched into the stone stared up at them from beneath their bent heads.
All kneeling before the woman who truly ruled this family.
My father finally spoke.
“Mother, it has been years.”
His voice carried a trace of frustration.
Grandma started admiring her nails, ignoring him completely.
“And you are still finding it difficult to accept Vivian. She has borne you three beautiful serpents.”
She stopped.
For a moment, she looked as though she hadn’t heard a single word he had said.
Her laughter erupted and echoed through the room.
Slow.
A dangerous laugh.
“But she keeps questioning one of my grandchildren’s bloodlines.” Grandma was visibly angry now.
Kent hesitated again before he said.
“A mistake, Mother,” he had admitted defeat.
But she ignored him.
“Three beautiful serpents, you say.”
Her eyes moved towards me, just briefly.
“And yet here we are.”
She pointed at Kent and my mother.
She smirked and added, “Can you blame me, Kent?”
Daring him to challenge her.
“No, Mother.”
He bowed his head and accepted that Mother was right.
My grandma continued,
“If truly Sara is my blood...”
She paused.
Her gaze found my face and lingered there.
Those sharp eyes.
The whole room seemed to hold its breath around it.
“Then she has the blood of the Serpent Clan flowing through her.”
The silence was heavy.
But her response had passed a message.
I felt it.
The recognition.
So did everyone gathered here.
It felt more like a whisper laced with warning.
“You have to be careful,” Grandma added.
“I’m sorry, Matriarch. Forgive me.”
Vivian apologized again, bowing her head down to the marble floor.
Caleb tried to help her to her feet.
Her defender and her loyal shadow.
My grandmother’s voice stopped him before his hands reached her.
“I haven’t asked her to rise yet.”
He stopped on track.
“Forgive me, Grandma.”
He said with a tightened jaw.
She gestured for my mom to sit.
This time around, I helped her up.
“Easy, Mother,” I told her reassuringly.
When she finally settled, the Matriarch began almost immediately.
“I can see you have bestowed upon Audrey the Royal Serpent Staff.”
Mother’s face was expressionless.
Her eyes were doing the calculations.
Audrey rose to her feet and bowed to Grandma.
“I’m grateful,” she began, with so much humility.
My mom’s eyes beamed with pride, and Father nodded in approval.
“For the love I have received from my family, the staff will help with my cultivation.”
My father smiled, looking proud.
Caleb tried to suppress his smile.
Grandma stopped their short-lived pride.
“Make sure before today’s end you hand Sara her own staff.”
Audrey’s face tightened.
She reached for Caleb’s hand.
His face burned with fury, but he brushed her hand away.
My grandmother did not wait for a response.
She began to rise slowly, one hand resting on the arm of the chair.
When a messenger arrived quickly to announce that Declan and his people were at the kingdom gate.
The sudden visit.
Hmmmm.
Why? I asked no one.
We all followed my grandma in a single file, heads bowed.
Each woman was walking step by step with her staff except me.
We got to the palace hall, and the Matriarch stopped.
Pointed at Audrey and me.
“Please go and change into a better outfit that suits your royal status.”
We both bowed and hurriedly left.
I was finishing my makeup touch when Audrey walked up to me dressed in such a provocative manner.
Her dress was quite revealing, and her golden scales were made visible, allowing her cleavage to be on display.
She smiled warmly.
“My dear Ubi, how do I look?”
I glanced at her and returned the smile, and complimented her.
Before, I would have thrown a fuss and told her to dress properly, but now...
Let us all be consumed.
“Ubi, your white dress is too plain, and your hair—”
She stopped to touch a strand of my hair.
“It’s getting darker.”
Then she shrugged it off.
“You are aging.”
She said it in a very demeaning manner.
“The older, the better,” I replied.
“Declan,” she began.
“What if he learns that you are defective? Will he still hold the alliance?”
She is testing the waters.
That I know.
“That should not be your concern.”
My response was not what she had imagined.
But she was still restless.
“What if he wants me and not you?”
She was looking at me with deep intensity.
What I know right now is this: you will not end me nor be the reason for my end.
“Why would he want you?” I asked as I applied my eyeliner.
I caught her off guard and pushed one more time.
“Who would leave Aether’s first daughter and choose the second?”
She couldn’t control herself again, and she flashed her snake tongue at me.
“Be careful, Sister,” I said carefully.
“Or what?” she cut in sharply.
“You have been behaving strangely since yesterday.”
Then she raged more.
“Urethra Matriarch values bloodline and strength. She will fling you out before—”
She stopped.
Mother was standing at the door.
She heard all that her precious daughter had just spewed.
I still don’t understand Audrey’s sudden interest, but I will figure it out before my dead body does.
- Writer
