Page 25 of Of Daggers and Deceit

“What needed to be done,” I retorted as I trudged further inward, my shoulders relaxing slightly beneath the fury emanating from her. It confirmed to me that I’d done the right thing; her spirit was still intact.

She huffed. “I don’t need to be saved by my daughter, not when I am meant to be the protector.”

I tried to continue past her, eager to head to my room to use my hands, to immerse myself in colours and patterns, anything to detract from the anxiety gnawing inside me.

Footsteps behind me told me she was following me upstairs, prompting me to grip the railing tighter with every step higher. I couldn’t even seem to feel excited by the fact that I’d freed her.

“What did you give up, Raya?”

I ignored her. I didn’t want to get into this right now. I’d done what I needed to do, and now, I needed to focus on ensuring I completed the next phase of my plan. Survive. Save an Omega.

I turned towards my room, cradling the itch to draw, immerse myself in a world so unlike my own heightening. Footsteps hurried after me. I sighed.

“Raya, stop.” The edge in her voice was what gave me pause. I rubbed two fingers on my temples in an effort to calm myself down.

“Look at me, please.” No. I don’t want you to worry.

My chest inflated from my long breath in.

“Please,” she begged. My shoulders slumped at the sound of her voice. There was a reason I didn’t want to look at her face for any longer than I had to right now. I hated to see her sad in any capacity, and I especially hated to see her sad for something I had done.

I exhaled, defeated. I may as well get it over with.

I turned on my heels towards her, and I couldn’t stop the guilt that overwhelmed me at the sight of her worry deepening the few lines on her face. Her eyes flicked back and forth, searching mine, her mouth pinched tight.

I felt like I was drowning again in that same grief and guilt that had overtaken me when Jakari had stolen my father’s journals and I had to run back home and admit my mistake, to admit that I had lost the few prized possessions we had left of him.

“What did you give up?” she asked again, her face softening to something sadder, like she already knew what would spill from my lips.

I conjured every ounce of confidence I could muster before I spoke.

“I am to serve in the defence for a single season. It is a small price,” I replied, licking my lips and holding her gaze.

Her lips pulled back, revealing her sharp canines, highlighting a certain savagery I had never seen before from her. “It is not a small price at all,” she hissed. Her chest heaved with her barely-contained rage as she took me in.

“Then it is a price I was willing to pay,” I offered, her eyes darkening, reminding me of a thunderous sky. My hands shook. I stood taller than my mum by a head, my limbs thicker with muscle, supposedly much like my athletic father, but there are times when I looked at her and questioned things. Times like now, when she became so fiercely protective that it was like her presence in any room enlarged, became suffocating, almost dominating. It was that same thing I could feel shifting into the room right now, her overprotective, motherly instincts activating. She was one of the few Omegas in this city I consider to be just as mighty as any Alpha.

Her chin lifts upward, determination sliding across her face. “Then we will make a new deal or revoke the one you have.”

I marched towards her, my own fury now drawing upward to challenge hers. I could not allow her to ruin or change what I knew I could gain for this family. “We will not. I made a choice, and I will see it through.”

“You could die, Raya.” Her voice quivered and tapered off, but her steely stare held mine. I noted her arms hanging heavy at her sides, the shakiness of her hands as she clenched them. She never coped well with the absence of my dad. I knew it would destroy her to lose her child, but I knew I was strong now. I knew I could achieve what I set out to do.

I reached out to her, wrapping my coarse fingertips around her soft ones.

“I am not weak anymore, Mum. I am strong, fierce, braver than I ever was before, all because you helped me get control of my gift.” Her eyes clouded over, and her hand squeezed mine. “You believed in me then, back when everyone told me I was defective. And now, I need to know that you believe me to still be capable. That I’m every bit as strong and devastating in a fight as you told me I could be. That I know I am.”

She blinked a few times, and her brows scrunched together as she swallowed. “I don’t know what I did in this lifetime to deserve daughters like you and Riley, but I am so grateful,” she stated as a single tear rolled down her cheek.

I reached forward to brush it away with a soft smile.

“Even though you are stubborn, Raya, and reckless,” she scolded me before exhaling a breath in surrender. “I am proud of you. For fighting for your beliefs and for always trying to help this family.”

Warmth erupts in my chest, my body no longer rigid with guilt.

“Which is why I think it is time I give you something meant to be yours.” She squeezed my hand again before turning to quickly dart into her room, rummaging around in her closet.

I frowned, unsure what she was talking about, but she didn’t keep me wondering. Not even a minute later, she walked swiftly back towards me, her long skirt swishing at her ankles, a worn box held between her hands.

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