Page 3 of Ellie 3

I winced. “It’s not like how witches and warlocks have it. I can’t see anything from those related to me by blood. It’s like a built-in privacy shield. I’ve also never had any real training. For all I know, I’m assigning all the wrong colors to emotions or—I couldn’t ever tell people to get help.”

She let out a long, shaky breath. “I believe your birth mother is dead. I don’t know. I didn’t do it, and I never saw her body.” She gave me a moment with that. “After Kenneth admitted to us he knew, I received word that she took off. I didn’t believe it, but one of the maids said it was like she packed a bag and took off in the night.

“Maybe she did. Maybe he threatened her or told her that he would bring her to the castle to take care of you. I tried to press him, and he told me over and over again that he had no idea and that was what I got for trusting a stupid maid.” She swallowed loudly and wiped her eyes again. “But I never believed him. She loved you and Theresa so much.

“Nothing could have made her leave you both and never come back—never contact either of you. It’s been centuries and she never found you? It’s not possible. It’s just not. If you need confirmation, I would suggest having him forced to confess now that he’s in custody, but that could bring up what you are.”

“Does he know?” I asked, wincing when she had to answer.

“No. He knows you’re special, but I never told,” she said too fast. “I think he killed her. After you ran and there was no trace of you, I found him drunk and he was complaining that if he was destined to have a bastard as his heir, he shouldn’t have taken out the chance to have another extraordinary one.”

I swallowed loudly and took a moment with that before being honest. “I was too afraid to ask because I was scared you killed her.”

“I never could have. Never. She was a darling woman.” She sighed when I snorted. “Yes, I committed enough other sins against her. I understand that now. I… I have no excuse or justification. I am a monster for what I did. I didn’t see thatthen. I always knew murder was wrong. That is the point I’m trying to make.”

Fair enough.

She waited until I seemed to accept that. “Your mother was noble born.” She nodded when I simply blinked at her with wide eyes. “Her father was to inherit their coven even. She never told me which one, but I had guesses from the way she talked. Her mother was said to be the last sprite. From her own accounts, her father truly loved her.

“But her mother died during early childbirth, the body of a fae not built to give birth to a vampire. She did not get your grandmother’s golden eyes or any of her abilities. That is why she was expelled from her family’s house. Her father said she killed someone extraordinary, the last sprite and the woman he loved, and she was completely ordinary.”

“Poor woman,” I whispered, shaking my head. “I still want to hate her for raising Theresa and just accepting all of this like it was the best thing for me to be—”

“I’m sorry that’s the perception Ievergave you, but your mother hated me,” Aurora rasped. “She wasnotcomplicit in any of this. She—she was simply a good woman who would nottake my sins out on Theresa. She never treated Theresa like her daughter or that we just switched. Your mother cried for you every night.

“She did not accept any of what was done. I could have accepted if she ran to getyou, but that was the only way, Ellie. She would never have left you. She stayed because it was the only way she received word about you. If she did as she should, I gave her updates three times a week and snuck her in to see you when you were younger.

“I let her see you from afar when you were older. I let her work parties as a maid then. If she was good.” She quickly wiped her eyes again. “Your mother did all of it to stay in your orbit, not because—she was never as brainwashed or twisted up as I was. She was the righteous one I thought myself to be. She should never be the villain of your story. I am.”

And my mother was always the victim.

I bobbed my head. “I will call in a favor to get the answer then and—” I gasped as the door burst open and was on my feet in a flash… Jumping in front of Aurora.

Oh, that was something to discuss with my friend Renee who was helping me out as my therapist later. Most definitely.

Ha-joon was standing there looking scared and a bit wild. His gaze locked on me and instantly I was away from Aurora and behind him.

“What do you people want from Ellie now?” he snarled, his power pulsing the room.

“Tone it back,” I told him. I smacked his arm when he didn’t listen. “Ha-joon, I’m going to get pissed.”

Instantly, he reeled it back in and stepped aside so he could see us both, looking like a pup who had just been spanked.

“She needs help,” I muttered while Aurora got herself under control.

He gave me the look I probably deserved. “Yeah?So?”

I sighed. That was… Fair.

Really fair actually.

2

Ha-joon

I was on cloud 9 after Ellie let me kiss her in the lobby and everyone knew we were together. I didn’t care if it was her jealousy or wanting to mark her territory that made her want to do it. Hell, I appreciated marking territory as a damn wolf.

I just didn’t want her to regret it or change her mind.

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