Page 107 of Beneath the Flames
“Mom!”I cried, desperate for her to hear me, to know I was okay and that I was trying to get home.But no matter how much I screamed and sobbed, she didn’t hear me.
The picture grew fuzzy as they moved and Carrow tsked.
“What kind of a daughter are you that you’d abandon your family for a Fae you barely even know?”he asked, driving a symbolic knife into my heart.
I watched as my parents silently argued, how with each step my father tried to take toward my siblings, Mom matched him, not letting him near them.
That’s a first.
Had my absence finally forced her to face that broken piece of herself and protect them?
Maybe being away had done some good in the end.
My heart broke watching my father advance on my mother, on seeing the fear in my siblings’ eyes.I wished I could reach through the magic and pull them to safety over here.Not thatherewas currently any safer.
“Wouldn’t you rather be there, right now, to help?”Carrow taunted.
I was too lost in watching through the magic mirror to answer.
And then time seemed to stand still, and my mom moved.
It was impossible—there was no way my mother could actually see me—but somehow, her gaze flicked to mine for the tiniest second, those gray eyes that I’d inherited briefly flashing in surprise, before being replaced by the most determined look I’d ever seen on her face.
She gave the smallest, infinitesimal shake of her head, as if to say, “Don’t you dare come home.”
The words she’d told me before I went into town the day I was kidnapped repeated in my mind.“You deserve to live your life.”
I had never felt like I could, because my mom wouldn’t fight back.She wouldn’t stand up for my siblings.It had always fallen on me.
But, with me being gone, she’d finally been forced to step up.
Though she faced the wrath of my father, her eyes shone with love for me, silently telling me tolive.
Tears welled in my eyes and I tried to reach for her when the violet magic collapsed on itself, and my family was gone.
“Bring them back,” I demanded, reaching for nothing.
“I don’t think I will.”
A sob worked its way up my throat.“Please.”
“As much as I like it when you beg me…no.”
My stomach churned, my insides twisting with a boiling rage that I was struggling to hold back.
“If you’re so desperate for me to fail, why don’t you just send me home right now?”I spat at Carrow, courage surging through my body after seeing that look on my mom’s face.
A muscle flexed in Carrow’s jaw.“The curse forbids my interference.”
“Excuse me?”
“Unless youchooseme, to leave Rhydian and to go home, I cannot interfere in such a way.The curse won’t let me.”His words were bitter, like he detested the fact.He’d probably like to slay me where I stood if he could.
The words were a relief, though I never thought I’d say such a thing.I didn’t like the idea of Carrow having the ability to send me away when I didn’t want to leave.
Because if there was one thing I realized, especially after seeing my mother and having her silently tell me to live my life, it was that I wanted to stay here with Rhydian.I wanted to see what a life with him could look like.
I’d fallen for him, and without the burden of my family needing me, I was free to make the decision I’d wanted to make all along and had been denying.But could I?Could I still leave my family forever for a Fae I had met only a few weeks ago?
