Page 94 of This Ravenous Fate
Elise’s mother lowered her hand and stroked a curl behind Elise’s ear. “How could I not have known how much pain you were in? It’s like I…lethim do this to you.” Her voice trembled as her eyes filled with more tears.
“I don’t think there is anything you could have done, Mother,” Elise spoke softly. “You know how Father is. I’m just glad you and Josi are all right. Stephen almost ruined us today, and to think Josi was almost here to witness all of this…”
A sob tore from Mrs. Saint then, and Elise tensed as her mother broke down. “I’m your mother. You should not be worrying about me. I’m supposed to be the strong one.”
Elise moved closer and rested her head on her mother’s shoulder. “Neither of usneedto be strong. It’s okay to just be.”
Mrs. Saint sniffed. “This is how my own mother taught me to survive. Listen to my husband, always keep moving, never slow down enough to let me realize my pain, or ask for help because I would fall apart otherwise. But I see the damage that has caused now and I want you to know, Elise…” She moved back so she could look her daughter in the eye. “I am always here for you and I do not want you to carry your pain alone.”
With those words, the pressure of the past few weeks began to drop from Elise’s shoulders. She thought then of Layla and how she had no one to go home to, no one to assure her.
“Mother,” Elise said quietly. “It’s not your fault.”
Her mother’s brow creased. “He is not the man I married. Josi was so little, still sleeping in our room after the incident with the Quinns. Your father was having a hard time letting her out of his sight. I’d never seen him so scared. He…he never seemed like the person to intentionally hurt anyone, much less a child.” Analia Saint dabbed at her eyes. Her voice broke as she continued. “He said it was an accident and that he only wanted the reapers to refuse the treaty, not kill the Quinns. He certainly did not think Layla would have been involved.”
Tears filled Elise’s eyes, and her mouth went dry. “Mama, I think he lied. He might have been honest about wanting to protect us, but his means to do so were just as sinister as his fear of losing us was intense.”
Analia Saint touched her fingertips to her lips. Her eyes were shiny, and her hand shook. “I always thought it was admirable how much he cared for us, but I can see now how suffocating and dangerous it’s become. Particularly for you.” She cupped Elise’s cheek. “I’m so sorry, baby.”
Elise broke down. And when her mother pulled her in for an embrace, she finally felt at home.
***
A familiar face met Layla at the entrance of the Hotel Clarice when she returned that night. Valeriya stood by the door, arms crossed while she blew out smoke from her cigarette.
“You’ve made a mess of my clan, Layla,” Valeriya drawled.
Layla’s jaw ticked. “You were gone for weeks. I assumed you didn’t care about us.”
“There’s no one left to care for. You made sure of that.” Valeriya stubbed out her cigarette and approached Layla. Despite having just finished a smoke, she smelled of crushed roses and powder. The sweetness drew Layla in like a moth to a flame, memories of comfort associated with that scent.
“Where is Josephine Saint?” Layla demanded.
The older reaper sighed. “You’re not here for her.”
“You worked with Stephen and Tobias behind my back—”
Valeriya shook her head. “But you said we could trust them, remember? I only did as you asked.” She pulled something out ofher pocket and it wasn’t until the wind picked up and the white fabric spread that Layla realized Valeriya held Josi’s ribbon between her fingers. “I know I’m selfish. I no longer want this life. Josephine reminds me of my own daughter. Innocent and undeserving of the inevitable cruelty of this world. I only wished to protect her when her father approached me with a deal. How depraved this world has made us…eradicating reaperhood is the only chance for her. For everyone else.” Valeriya crushed the ribbon in her hand and glared at Layla. “I would have made you my heir. But you never know when to quit.”
Layla’s heart lurched. “Valeriya, I’m sorry—”
“No, you are not.” Valeriya’s next words emerged as a low snarl. “I gave you everything I could not give my own child, and you still turned away from me.”
Goose bumps rose on Layla’s body. “I want to make things up to you. The Saints are done. And with Elise and her mother on our side, perhaps we can settle this mutiny.”
At this, Valeriya laughed. “You cannot possibly think any of this will end well. It has been only a few weeks and you’re already so infatuated with that Saint girl, you’re willing to put everything on the line for her—”
Layla glared. “It’s not just about her. A eugenicist wants to turn us into weapons and destroy the world. Stephen Wayne poisoned us; he turned Giana and Shirley and Mei into monsters and wanted to use science to justify violence against us. He stole a young woman’s research to benefit his philanthropy, then he killed her. His poweris built on nothing but lies and manipulation. Elise Sainthelpedus. She did that on her own. Her father had no hand in that.”
“You’re sick with love, and that’s all it is: an illness. It will pass. She is a Saint, Layla. I know you’re not dumb enough to believe she will ever truly be on your side. For heaven’s sake, the Saint patriarch was willing to hurt his own daughters to get ahead. In centuries of living, I have never seen a human change,” Valeriya snapped.
Her words flipped in Layla’s mind for a moment. She knew there was no simplicity in the choices they made surrounding the Saints, nor would there be any simplicity in the consequences that arose with those decisions.
“I’m not dumb. Maybe I’m a slow learner, but I learn. And you might have hundreds of years of knowledge and experience on me, but you were the one who hid while your reapers put their lives on the line to prevent a poison from being administered to our entire community. I made things happen. You did nothing.”
Anger rose around Valeriya so strongly, Layla felt it bristle between them. But she did not lash out. She looked back down at her fists and said in a soft voice, “When you live as long as me, life becomes less precious and second chances less feasible. Until you have been sold like cattle, bound to a surgical table, forced to ingest contaminants, and stripped of everything but your name, you will not speak of my sacrifices for our race. My body was host to countless abuses. I was made to hold the plagues that the white men brought to this country so they could figure out how to cure them. I was made to suffer the consequences of their ignorance. Do not tellme I did nothing when I was held down and injected over and over, forced to hear my daughter scream for me while they filled her with another experimental cure. Even when my body was chained down, I did not do nothing. I fed her opium until her heart stopped so she would no longer need to suffer. And even then I said her name so the last thing she heard was my voice. How dare you condemn me.You know nothing. So do what you want. But do not expect my sympathy, or my mercy when the Saint stabs you in the back.”
Layla’s breath stuck in her throat. The pain in her mentor’s fixed stare was so sharp, Layla felt her own eyes burning with tears. “Valeriya. I won’t accept the destruction of this relationship on my end. If you don’t want to help me, that’s fine, but if you need me, I will be here for you. Because I still appreciate you for what you’ve done for me.” Layla didn’t wait to hear Valeriya’s response. She left with a decision made.
