Page 77 of The Gathering Storm

Wilhelmina cupped her hands together on her lap, her posture rigid. “How is she?”

“The same,” Will said.

“She’ll wake in a while.”

Will grunted.

Wilhelmina pressed her lips together, shook her head once. After a while, she said, “I’m sorry.”

Will glanced at her, sharply. “Why?”

She shrugged, lifted her hands in a helpless gesture, let them fall onto her thighs. “I was wrong about her.”

“Yeah, well.” Will bit his tongue, staunching the bitter flow of words crowding into his mouth. “You could’ve believed in me.”

“I do, Will.”

“Really.” The word fell flatly between them, and Wilhelmina flinched. Will soldiered on, determined to get out what he should’ve said years ago. “I’m a grown man, have been for a long time. You made sure of that, you and Dad.”

She turned her face away from him, toward the sunlight softening under the clouds darkening the sky. “It’s our way.”

“Yeah, that’s my point. It’s the People’s way to breed strong Sons, but you, you left me here to run The Omega and raise Casey, and I did. I did everything you asked. I did it without complaining, without once mentioning that maybe I had something different in mind for my life.”

“Will,” she said softly, and he rushed on, afraid if he stopped, he’d never speak again.

“I did that because you asked it of me. I did it because I loved you so much, I would’ve done anything for you. Anything, Mom. And in return, when I finally found somebody I loved as much as I loved you, you tried to come between us. Threatened to disown me. Turned your back on me.” He fixed his gaze on the even rise and fall of Sigrid’s chest, and swallowed down the bitterness coating his throat. “You were the one who abandoned me.”

“Will.” The word trembled and broke. Wilhelmina touched her fingers to her mouth and two tears streaked down her cheeks. “I’m sorry, baby, so sorry. I didn’t realize you felt that way, that you wanted something different. Why didn’t you say anything?”

He shrugged, uncomfortable now that the words were out. He could’ve been kinder, maybe should’ve been, but how? How could he have cushioned his mother from the truth, when it was so hard and harsh inside him?

Wilhelmina slid off the bed and knelt beside the one Sigrid lay on. She rested a hand over his, on top of the afghan, stilling his movement. “I always thought we could tell each other anything. When did we stop doing that?”

“I don’t know.”

He shook his head, trying to pinpoint the moment they’d stopped talking. Had it been when he’d taken over The Omega at sixteen, or later, when his parents had embarked on their world tour, leaving him and Casey here to depend on each other?

What did it matter now? The past was gone, over and done. There was nothing he could do about it now.

He sighed and dropped his hand, and looked straight at his mother for the first time in a long while. Fine lines were etched around her eyes, laugh lines, he hoped, and a few strands of silver shot through her hair. She was no longer a proud immortal Daughter of the line of Abragni, but a mortal wife and mother, his mother.

And he loved her.

He stood and leaned across Sigrid, and pressed a kiss to his mother’s forehead. “We’ll work on that.”

Her fingers tightened on his hand and she laughed, low and soft. “Yes, we will. I’ll leave you to your duties now. We’ll have a feast tonight, to celebrate. A Daughter has found her heart, and my son has found his.”

And those were always cause for rejoicing.

Will sat back down and watched his mother leave the room. As soon as the door shut behind her, he resumed his watch over the woman who had stolen his heart and claimed him as no other could.

Sigrid slowly rose through the thick fog clogging her head and woke to a brightly lit, unfamiliar room. Will was sitting beside her, his forearms propped on his thighs, staring at her with the same inscrutable look he’d worn since the end of the challenge.

His eyes met hers, and he slowly leaned back, trailing his palms over his thighs. “You ok?”

She mentally probed the corners of her mind, then ran through a subtle check of her body. “I’m fine. What happened?”

“You passed out.” One corner of his mouth quirked into a smile. “Amma said you submitted your will to me.”

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