Page 95 of Hunters and Prey

Cailyn pursed her lips, annoyed. “Huntterly Pond Grammar School was just fine.”

“I suppose it was sufficient,” Cecilia said, pushing a strand of hair from Cailyn’s face. “He's a handsome boy. I’ll give him that. Do you think he is the one?”

There. She did it again. Cailyn almost shouted at her that Asher wasn't a boy.

She shrugged, keeping her face unreadable. "I don't know."

Liar.

Asher had always been the one.

One day she would marry him, but there was no way she could tell her mother that. Not now.

"Tell me the truth, Cailyn.”

"Why do you care? Hunt and Olivia will give you grandchildren soon."

"You’re my daughter. I love you. I want to make sure you don’t make a mistake."

"I'm an adult. Do I have to tell you everything going on in my life?"

Cecilia's smile faded. Her blue eyes held Cailyn's, making her suddenly wish she hadn’t just said that.

"Yes. You do," she said. "Shame on me for caring about your safety."

"What are you talking about?" She'd never heard her mother talk like that.

My safety?

What did she know? She never told anyone about her premonition nightmares. She almost shivered as they stood there in the darkness of the foyer.

Why did Cecilia always want it so dark in the house? Now she seemed to be waiting in the shadows to catch her disobeying her rules.

Moving in with Asher was sounding better each moment she stood there under her mother’s judging eyes.

“Well?”

Cecilia stepped past her, brushing Cailyn’s cheek with a warm thumb before passing her to step outside into the cool morning.

"Come with me, Cailyn."

Cecilia stood on the front porch that wrapped around both sides of Alexander Hall. She looked like a model in a painting just then. A thick forest and mountain range stood before them in the distance.

“I’m waiting.” Cecilia’s voice was hard.

Cailyn fell into step alongside Cecilia.

“It’s time you know the truth of your heritage, what your father tried to shield you from as long as possible.”

Cecilia tilted her chin up so that she could look her in the eye.

She swallowed. Her mother’s blue eyes looked especially bright and eerie at that moment.

“Come, my darling, and I will tell you everything."

---