Page 12 of Shadow Weaver
It was Payne that answered. “I called her in.”
“Carter, please,” my mother said. “We don’t have to do this.”
“Yes, Lea,” Payne said. “This is way overdue, don’t you think?” There was suppressed anger in his tone.
My mother sucked in a sharp breath and then buried her face in her hands and began to sob.
Brunner shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Carter, maybe you should explain the situation to Miss Justice.”
Payne tore his gaze from my mother’s sobbing frame and fixed it on me. The anger that etched his features immediately melted and something akin to a mixture of awe and confusion took its place.
“I spoke to the head weaver about your ability. It turned out there was no need to do any further research. He knew exactly what it was. In fact, he was extremely excited by it.”
“Carter …” my mother pleaded.
Payne ignored her and continued. “Your ability is called shadow casting, and it hasn’t manifested in any weaver in over a century.”
“Wait … did you just sayweaver?” I looked from my mother to Brunner to Payne.
“That is correct,” Brunner said.
“That makes no sense. I’m not a weaver, so how could I have this shadow casting power?”
“I asked the same question,” Payne said. “It turns out you couldn’t. You would have to be a weaver. Specifically, from the Payne weaver line.” His jaw ticked.
I was so confused.
“Carter … please.” My mother reached for Payne’s hand, but he pulled away.
Suddenly, the confusion was gone. Because the reality of the how and why was crystal clear.
“You two …” My eyes grew wide. “Am I …?”
“Yes,” Payne said. “You’re my daughter.”
Four
“It was a fling,” my mother said. “A mistake. I love your father. I do. I just … Carter was so kind to me, and then when I found out I was pregnant, I realized what a mistake I’d made. I had to make things right.”
“You realized you could be tried for treason.” Payne looked disgusted.
Of course. It was against the law for a nightblood to procreate outside our race. Nightbloods prided themselves on the purity of their race. Oh, God. I wasn’t meant to exist. I was literally against the law. Panic gripped me. What did that mean? What would they do to me? I’d heard the rumors, horror stories that said that the council killed infants found not to be pure blood. If that was true, then what would my fate be?
“It’s all right, Indigo,” Brunner said kindly. “You’re safe. I’ve spoken to the council, and your unique attributes have been taken into consideration, and you have been pardoned. You will remain here and complete your training.”
“Just like that?”
She sighed. “Master Payne pleaded your case quite vehemently.”
I glanced across at him, but he had his head bowed. He’d fought for me, and he barely knew me, and the woman I called mother, the woman who’d given birth to me, had done nothing but turn her back on me all my life.
I looked at my mother now but addressed Brunner. “What about her?”
It was Payne who replied. “Your mother has claimed ignorance to the council. Ignorance that you were mine.”
My mother stiffened. “I didn’t know.”
“Bullshit,” Carter said. “You knew. It’s why you cut ties with me and agreed to marry Baron. You let him believe my child was his. You lied to us both.”
