Page 121 of The Forsaken Heir
“You must choose,” Lorraine added.
“What path you want to take,” Cassius finished.
“Past, present, or future,” Delphine explained.
My gaze bounced from box to box. Delphine symbolized my past, Lorraine my present, and Cassius my future. But I didn’t want to choose between them. Each had their good parts and bad.
“Time is not on your side, daughter of wolf,” Cassius said. “You must pick. Quickly.”
The choice, however difficult, was easy enough to see. You couldn’t live in the past because there was too much pain there,and if you tried to stay in the present forever, your life would stagnate. There really was only one choice.
“Okay, fine,” I said, reaching for the box in front of Cassius.
Before I could touch it though, he grabbed my wrist.
“Well chosen,” he said. “But first, you must confront what made you who you are.” He yanked on my arm with his left hand and opened the box that sat before Delphine with his right.
The lid snapped open, and I tumbled inside, hauled forward by the king’s strength. Moments later, I found myself falling through darkness, wind billowing around my body and buffeting my hair into my face. Sightless, I could do nothing but feel the sensation of descent. Faster, and faster, and?—
“Momma, don’t send me away,” I cried. “Please.”
“Elle, Elle, don’t go,” Sophia and Freddy cried out from behind her.
Mom turned and shouted at them. “Will you hush? Elle needs some time to herself. She’s proven that she’s not meant to be here.” She huffed. “Now, where were we?”
“You were going to give me the bank account information,” Delphine said emotionlessly. “For the money your daughter will use to live.”
“Right,” Mom said, and dug out a piece of paper, handing it to my nanny. “We’ll have her allowance deposited every Monday. We’ll make sure there’s more than enough.”
“I don’t want money,” I whined. “I want to stay here.”
Mom leveled her gaze at me. “You aren’t staying here. You aren’t a true wolf.” She couldn’t keep the disappointment and anger out of her voice. “I need my children to have the right people around them.”
“But…but…I’m the heir, Momma. I have to stay here to?—”
“Absolutely not.” Mom gasped. “A shifter who can’t shift being the heir to the Laurent house? Are you crazy, girl? What a disgusting thought. Your brother Bastien will be the heir,” she said, flashing a proud smile at him.
Rather than looking heartbroken like my other siblings, he had a self-satisfied smirk on his face. When my mother turned back to Delphine and me, he flipped me off.
“Be gone, girl,” Mom said. “It’s time to do this. Like a Band-aid. Rip it off quick. That way it’s over fast.”
It was then that I remembered where I was and what was happening. I refused to let this end the way it had all those years ago. There would never be another chance to experience what it would have been like to speak my mind. Deep in the back of my mind, that strange amorphous and androgynous voice of the wellspring whispered to me.
“What would you do…if given…the chance?”
Without realizing I’d even made the decision, I lunged forward and jabbed my finger in my mother’s face.
“You know what? Fuck you.”
Her mouth dropped open in shock and surprise. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. Don’t start acting all high and mighty now. You’re the one sending your firstborn child away. Treating melike trash just because I can’t shift. You know what I say about that? I sayyou’rethe one who’s trash. You’re the one who’s garbage. What kind of mother does this? How fucking dare you?”
“How dare I?” Mom said, managing to gather herself a bit. “How dare you? Trying to pass off yourself as a Laurent. A Laurent with no inner wolf? You should be ashamed of yourself.”
Unconsciously, I pulled my arm back and swung forward, slapping my mother across the face with all the force I could muster. My palm cracked against her cheek hard enough to turn her head and send her tumbling to the ground, clutching at her face and screaming. Everyone else stared at me in horror, including Bastien. Leveling my eyes on my brother, I pointed at him.
“Yourass is next?—”
