Unmade (Unborn #4) - Amber Lynn Natusch Page 0,36

find Oz—”

“Ah, of course. The Dark One…his presence seems to trump all, does it not?”

“I do not have time for your petty arguments, Sister,” I said, pushing past her. She caught my arm and held fast, not allowing me to go. “Some would deem this unwise.” I looked to where her hand gripped my forearm, then back to her face. “Some would die for such an affront.”

“Well, I am not ‘some’, nor do I care what you think you can do to me. I want to know why you are here, and I want to know now. Or have you forgotten that, while you may be the Princess of the Underworld, I am still Queen…”

I leaned into her hold instead of pulling away. “I came to speak with Aery to see if she has had any of her visions regarding my mother.”

Her eyes narrowed. “And why would you need to know that?”

“Because my mother is gone.”

“Gone?” she scoffed. “Perhaps my assumption was a bit too on the nose—”

“She is missing,” I corrected. “I believe something has happened to her.”

“And why do you think this?”

“Because she left me in my room in the Hallowed Gates and never returned. Not long after that, Deimos’ brother drove me from there.”

“And you think one has something to do with the other?”

“I think she would not have promised to return then not followed through.”

“Of course you believe that,” she said, releasing me. “Why wouldn’t you? Mommy would never do something like abandon you, now would she?” The ice in her tone traveled up my spine. “You are like a child when it comes to her.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning you are blinded by a relationship built in your mind over time. Delusions of that magnitude are hard to see past, even when the truth is staring you in the face.”

“And what truth would that be, Sister?”

For a moment, sympathy flashed behind her dark eyes. Sympathy and understanding.

“The one you likely have not yet entertained: that your mother has not been taken. That, instead, she lured you into a den of lions and left you to your fate.”

“No—”

“See?” she interrupted. “You balk at the mere suggestion that she might have abandoned you, but did she not do the same to you the day you were born? Ridded herself of you so that she might earn back her precious white wings?” Her eyes narrowed. “Tell me something, Khara: when did she go missing?”

“Once we were inside the Hallowed Gates, she brought me to my room and left me there. I did not see her after that.”

She nodded slowly. “And why did you leave?”

Silence.

“The Gates were under attack, though I have since realized that the fear god might have fooled me into believing that was the case.” As if she had heard the omission in my statement, she waited for me to offer up the rest without interrogating me. “The doors and windows were magically locked and could not be broken. I melted the window with dragon fire and escaped—”

“Escaped,” she said, a wry smile tugging at her mouth. “That sounds as if you knew you were a prisoner.”

“I do not know what I was. But I did not believe—do not believe—that my mother was to blame.”

“That’s too bad,” she said, drawing a finger along my jaw. “It will hurt so much more once you learn the truth.” Her arm fell gracefully to her side as she sighed. “Perhaps you should let it go, Khara. Give up the search for her—it might be easier for you this way.”

“I do not think I can.”

She nodded. “I know. But remember this: Hades loves you. Your brothers love you. The Dark One…well, I’m not certain what I would call that, but you have him all the same. Maybe you should be thankful for those you already have rather than chase after the ghost of a mother you never did.”

I stared at her, surprised by the boldness of her words—the rawness of them. For a moment, I wondered if they were fully meant for me, or if somewhere under her hardened exterior was a softness that somehow understood my position. A reminder that Persephone was a far more complicated being than I had ever given her credit for.

“Khara!” Aery’s familiar voice echoed off the stone walls as she sped toward us. “Oh my God, you’re okay.”

“I am fine—”

“I just—” She stopped at my side and worked to catch her breath. “I was just coming to find you.”

“How did you know I was here?”

“I didn’t. I was