Sweep of the Blade (Innkeeper Chronicles #4) - Ilona Andrews Page 0,62
it shut.
“It’s a problem that has a straightforward solution. There is no need to make a hissot out of it.”
Fantastic. Her might be mother-in-law just compared her feelings to a ball of wriggling venomous snakes.
“It’s not just me,” Maud said quietly.
Ilemina leaned forward. “Do you honestly think your child would fare better on Earth? She has killed, Maud. She has fangs. She’s a vampire child if I ever saw one. We can do so much with her. Humans can do nothing. You will have to hide her for the rest of her life. Can you do that to your daughter?”
“What do you want from me?” Maud growled.
“I want to get to the bottom of this. Stop pretending to be an idiot and tell me what’s holding you back, because my son is miserable and I’m tired of watching the two of you dance about each other.”
“I’ve been on the planet for three days!”
“Three days is plenty. What is it you want, Maud of the Innkeepers?”
“I want Helen to be happy.”
Ilemina sighed and drank her wine. “My parents had no use for me when I was growing up. Their House was a war House. There was always a battle they were fighting or preparing to fight. They didn’t notice me until I grew enough to be useful. I exerted myself to my fullest, I excelled, I volunteered for every action, just to get a crumb of their attention. When I met my future husband, I was the Marshal of their House. I talked to Arland’s father for less than an hour, and I knew I would walk away with him if he asked. For the very first time in my life, someone saw me as I was.”
The words sank deep. She’d shown Arland exactly who she was and he’d admired her for it.
Ilemina smiled. “I did walk away with him and then I fought a war against my parents’ House when they tried to punish me for finding happiness. It was the ultimate act of selfishness on their part. So when my daughter was born, I swore that I wouldn’t be my mother. I paid attention to my child. I was involved in every aspect of her life. I nurtured her, supported her, encouraged her. I trained her. So did my husband. Some might say that my husband and I neglected our own union for the sake of our daughter and they wouldn’t be wrong.”
Ilemina paused, tracing the rim of her glass with her finger. “When my daughter was twenty-two years old, she met a knight and fell in love. He was everything I could ever wish for in a son-in-law. My heart broke anyway, but I didn’t want to stand in her way. She married him. She lives halfway across the galaxy and visits once every year or two. Arland was ten years old when she left. He barely knows her. I have grandchildren I almost never see.”
Maud had no idea what to say, so she stayed silent.
“Children leave,” Ilemina told her. “It is the greatest tragedy of motherhood that if you have done everything right, if you have raised them in confidence and independence, they will pick up and leave you. It is as it’s meant to be. One day Helen will leave.”
Anxiety pierced Maud. She swallowed, trying to keep it under wraps.
“If you try to hold and restrain her, you’ll be committing an irreparable sin. We shouldn’t hobble our young. We do not cut their teeth. One day it will be just you, Maud.”
“I understand,” Maud murmured. Thinking about it hurt.
“Where do you see yourself when that day comes?” Ilemina asked.
She knew where she wanted to be but getting there was so complicated.
“So I’ll ask again. What is it you’re afraid of? Are you trying to out-vampire us? It’s futile. Nothing you do will change the circumstances of your birth, and if my son had wanted a vampire, he has a veritable crowd of women with ancient bloodlines falling all over themselves to love him. Are you ashamed of being a human? Do you hate your species?”
Maud raised her head. “I have no desire to pretend I’m a vampire.”
“Then what is it?” Ilemina raised her voice.
Something inside Maud snapped like a thin glass rod breaking.
“House Ervan threw me away. They threw my daughter away like we were old rags. We had no value to them outside of my husband. All the time we lived among them, all the things I’d done in service of the House, all the