Page 5 of Broken Princess
Now that I finally did, my mind was flooding with endless questions.
Was the supreme leader of the Order always a Hale? Was that why I’d always been kept in the dark—because I was technically a Thorne?
How exactly were the new Order leaders chosen over the decades, and what the hell did the code names mean?
As the current leader, what was my mother’s end game? What was this ‘greater good’ she claimed the Order was working toward, and how many people had she destroyed over the years to get what she wanted?
Why was she so desperate to hook me up with Willow only to take her away from me as soon as we started getting along? What was she going to do to her?
Why did she try to kill Chloe? Even though Willow ran her over and Quinn covered the whole thing up, my mother was still the one who set the whole ‘accident’ up in the first place. How the hell could she do that to her own daughter? And what would she do to me if she ever found out how much I knew? Right now I was one step ahead of her, but that wouldn’t last forever.
And what about my dad? Did he know his wife was Q, or did she fool him like she fooled me and everyone else?
She pulled away from our embrace and reached for her teacup again. “So, what did you want to chat about?” she asked before taking a small sip. “I have some more ideas for the campaign if you want to hear them.”
I swallowed thickly. “I was actually hoping to get your advice on something.”
“What is it?”
“Uh… it’s a bit embarrassing,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck.
Mom patted my shoulder. “Don’t be silly, darling. I’m your mother. You can tell me anything.”
I let out a deep sigh. “All right,” I said, trying to make myself sound as reluctant as possible. “Willow and I had an argument at the party. I thought it was just a minor thing, but she ran off afterward, and I haven’t seen her since. I don’t know what to do.”
As I spoke, I stole a glance at my mother to gauge her reaction. The story about the argument obviously wasn’t true, but she didn’t know that. I only said it because I wanted to see how she would respond to the fact that I already knew Willow had gone missing, and I needed to bring it up in a way that made it seem as if I was totally clueless about what was really happening.
“Oh, no,” she said, raising one hand to her parted lips. “That’s terrible.”
Her face was the picture of innocence. Anyone else would’ve believed that she genuinely had no idea that Willow was gone.
I suppose it made sense. Willow once told me that Q had to be a fucking good liar. Had to have the ability to blend in smoothly and never raise any suspicions. My mom obviously had that game down pat.
I sighed again. “I thought she might’ve come home, but she’s not in our room. I don’t know where she is. I feel like a total fucking idiot.”
Her brows puckered together. “What prompted the argument?” she asked. “I thought you two were getting along really well.”
I threw my hands up. “We were. We’ve been happy together lately, even with all the horrible things that have been happening. She’s even started visiting Chloe with me.”
I paused to look at her again, wondering if the mention of my sister would spark even the tiniest flare of emotion in her eyes.
It didn’t. Her expression remained as pure and guiltless as ever.
She was a complete psychopath.
“So what happened tonight?” she asked, tilting her head to one side.
“Well, she seemed pretty miserable at the party. I know she’s still upset over her dad, and she has every right to be, because it’s barely been two weeks since he died, but I was hoping all the Christmas stuff would cheer her up a bit. I just hate seeing her sad. So I ended up saying something like ‘your dad would want you to smile and have fun tonight’.”
Mom sucked air through her teeth. “Probably not the best thing to say to a grieving woman.”
“I know. I didn’t mean it in a bad way. I was just trying to cheer her up.”
She patted my shoulder. “Of course you were.”
I leaned forward and focused my gaze on the fire. “Anyway, she got really pissed and stormed away. I let her go. Figured she’d need some time to cool off.”
“Uh-huh.” Mom motioned for me to continue.
