Pure Destiny (PureDark Ones #12) - Aja James Page 0,88

the Dark noble houses, after all.

They were mostly left alone, allowed to live in their own hut on the outskirts of the nobles’ vast property, for Papa needed to be close to the wooded mountains to hunt, and Mama was the healer for three different villages.

The Dark Queen was the most powerful of all, wasn’t she? Titi had only heard of her beauty, ruthlessness, but also fairness to a certain degree. Her laws kept Pure Ones and humans safe; vampire rogues who broke them were severely punished, even killed.

Surely, if Titi and Mama went to her and plead their case, she would help them find Papa and bring him back?

Why wouldn’t Mama move? Why did she simply sit there and stare unblinkingly at nothing at all?

“Filthy…he must be full of her filth by now…polluted…no longer pure…no longer mine…”

Mama kept rambling to herself, saying things that didn’t make sense.

Sometimes, Titi caught ugly words she didn’t fully understand. She only knew that they were cruel, that Papa’s heart would break to hear Mama say them.

Words like “whore,” “blood slave,” “rape.”

Titi covered her ears whenever Mama went on a rant, spitting awfulness like a snake hissing poison.

Why did she simply sit there and stare? Why wouldn’t she do something?

Titi brought her food and water. She didn’t know how to cook, not as well as Mama, but she knew how to boil eggs, dig up carrots and collect berries.

“Mama,” she tried again, sitting as close to Mama as she dared. “What will we do now? When can we go find Papa?”

They didn’t have a horse, or even a lame-footed donkey. The Ivory Palace could be seen, glowing white on top of the distant mountain, surrounded by towering walls. Titi would have made the trek on foot herself, but she didn’t want to leave Mama.

Mama was…broken. There was no other word for it.

And even though Titi intuitively knew it was a lost cause, she wanted to fix her. She couldn’t abandon her.

Tentatively, she leaned her head lightly on Mama’s boney shoulder. She seemed so frail, her body no better than an empty husk.

“I wish I could have loved you more,” Mama murmured.

Titi wondered whom Mama was talking about.

“If you took after him, perhaps I would have.”

Was Mama talking about Titi? This was so rare that Titi held her breath as she hung on Mama’s every word.

“But you are only half him. Half me. I do not love the other half. I hate it. So weak…”

Titi’s heart pounded with hurt and fear.

“I wasn’t always like this,” Mama continued, lost in her own thoughts. “There was a time when I used to be the most powerful of all. Only one other rivaled my strength. We existed in harmony; we weren’t enemies. Until we were.”

“And now look at me. I can’t even hold on to my Mate. Defeated by a lowly vampire queen. Trapped in this worthless, powerless shell…”

Titi eased away from Mama’s shoulder.

She was frightening her. What was she talking about? Titi didn’t understand anything.

Suddenly, Mama looked her full in the face, spearing her with those bottomless black eyes, glowing red at the centers.

“Be stronger than me, little girl. Either have no weakness or be powerful enough to defend it. I have nothing left to give you but these words.”

With that, she stood and walked out of the hut, going on one of her many walkabouts, Titi thought. Sometimes it took hours, sometimes most of a day. But she always came back.

And she did, that night.

Titi felt Mama’s fingertips in her hair, like the touch of a phantom they were so light.

“Be like him, Ninti,” Titi heard in her dreams.

“Live in the light. Stay away from the ravaging darkness. It will consume and destroy you.”

The brush of a knuckle against her cheek.

“Like it did me.”

And this time, when Mama left, she never came back.

Chapter Fifteen

“You’re in your birthday suits, aren’t you? Don’t worry, I can’t see anything naughty. I’m used to covering my eyes in the morning when I’m at home with Mom and Dad.”

Sophia came awake slowly to the sleep-muffled sounds of Benji’s voice.

She didn’t want to open her eyes. She was so comfortable and toasty, even though her body was sore all over, and the ground beneath her was deplorably lumpy.

And…Her heart still hurt a little from the memories.

She’d lost both parents within a short period of time, one after the other. Luckily, she’d found her own way. The Dark noble house treated her kindly, if with negligence. When she was old enough, she left