Page 121 of The Alpha's Cursed Queen

“It looks cute!” Darian protests as I push him out of the room. “Mira?”

My daughter looks down at her hands.

It takes me half an hour to untangle her hair. “Daddy isn’t going to be good at everything, you know. But he’ll learn.”

Mira watches me in the mirror as I braid her hair. “Do I really not have to go to school anymore?”

“Well, for a couple of months. Then you’ll go to a new school, one where you can learn all sorts of things.”

“Really?” She tilts her head back to look at me. “Uncle Jimmy said we’ll be moving.”

I curse Jimmy and his big mouth under my breath. Darian and I have been trying to take things slowly for Mira’s sake, to let her adjust to each new step before we inform her of the next one. I wasn’t planning on telling Mira about the move until the divorce from Willow is finalized.

“Is that true, Mom?”

“Yes, we will be moving,” I tell her hesitantly. “But not yet.”

“Oh.”

She picks up a pin to hand to me, and I happen to see the edge of a piece of paper folded carefully under her teddy bear. After putting the final touches on her hair, I pick up the paper. “What’s this?”

“No!”

Mira tries to snatch it from me, but it’s too late. I’ve already opened it to reveal a drawing of a lake. Normally, it wouldn’t raise any alarm bells, but the setting is far too familiar. As are the people she has drawn.

My blood runs cold. “Mira, what is this?” She tries to take the paper back, but I hold it out of her reach. My voice turns harsh. “Mira, I asked you a question!”

It’s the lake where I saw the witches, the one where the dark witches had been supposedly buried, where Darian and I met for the second time.

“Why do you have this picture?” I demand. When she presses her lips together, refusing to answer, I find myself yelling. “Mira!”

She flinches, and I hear footsteps. Darian enters the room, frowning. “What’s going on? Why’re you shouting at her?”

Trembling, I hold out the drawing to him.

For a moment, he doesn’t seem to comprehend what he’s seeing, and then his brows knit together. “This is the lake where we… Do you have a photo of it that she has seen? And who are—”

“There’s no photo,” I say grimly, my heart pounding in sick fear. “Mira, tell me the truth. What is this place? Why did you draw it?”

I see the tears well up in her eyes, and Darian immediately moves to protect her. “Maybe she dreamt it. You don’t have to be so hard on her.”

“Yes, I do,” I say tightly. “We don’t have secrets in this house. And she knows it.”

“I’m not supposed to tell!” she wails.

“You’re—”

“Let me.” Darian stands between us, his voice low. “Whatever is freaking you out, scolding her is just going to make things worse.”

My whole body is shaking, and I realize he’s right. I know my daughter; she won’t talk until she’s ready. And from the look on her face, she certainly won’t say another word to me right now.

Leaving her room, I try to even out my breathing. I need to calm down. I need to think.

I look at the picture again. There’s no mistaking it. My daughter drew the witches in the lake.

My memory of that dive has become clearer over the years. Mira has drawn the witches in the same position I remember seeing them. I sink onto the couch in the living room, shaking my head slowly in confusion. There is no way Mira could have seen or even heard about this lake or the witches. Even Mary doesn’t know anything about them.

When I hear the sound of a door opening, I raise my head. Darian soon enters the living room, holding a stack of papers. He sets them down in front of me on the coffee table. “There were more.”

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