The drive to Shadowre took four hours.
Four hours of watching the world change from the manicured grounds of the Blackwood estate to the wild forest that surrounded it. Four hours of the car moving through winding roads, climbing higher into mountains, passing landmarks that Lilith had known her entire life.
She pressed her forehead against the window and watched them pass.
The old oak with the lightning-split trunk, where her father had taught her to fight when she was twelve. Where he’d shown her how to read an opponent’s stance. Where he’d said, "Pain is just information, little girl. It tells you you’re alive. Now get up and keep moving."
The stone bridge over the creek, where she’d run laps in the sumr sun, where she’d trained with other warriors, where everything had felt possible.
The adow where the pack gathered in sumr for celebrations, where she’d danced at sixteen, where boys had looked at her with interest, where the world had felt wide open.
Each landmark was a weight. Each one was a reminder of who she’d been before her father died. Before the accusation. Before the Blackwoods.
She closed her eyes and didn’t open them again until the car started descending toward Shadowre territory.
By the ti the gates ca into view, Lilith had rebuilt herself.
Her composure was back in place. Her walls were rebuilt. The bruises were hidden under the collar of her dress. Her expression was neutral. She looked like soone who’d been treated well. Soone surviving, not soone being destroyed.
The car pulled up to the pack hospital on the southern edge of the territory. Modern building. Clean lines. The sll of antiseptic wafting out even from the parking lot.
The driver opened her door without a word. He was a Blackwood warrior....had probably been ordered not to speak to her, to simply deliver her and retrieve her.
Lilith stepped out into the afternoon sun and imdiately felt the weight of eyes on her.
Warriors standing outside the hospital entrance. Patients passing through the lobby. Pack mbers who recognized her and turned away quickly, like looking at her too long would contaminate them.
She walked through their judgnt with her head high.
Her father had been a Beta. A trusted warrior. A man who’d died protecting witches at an alliance eting. Whether they believed the lie about him or not, she was still his daughter. She still had his blood. And she would not let them see her break.
The hospital lobby was quiet. A receptionist at the front desk glanced up, did a double-take, then looked back at her paperwork. Lilith didn’t ask for directions. She already knew where she was going.
Room 304. Third floor. South wing.
The elevator was empty. The third-floor hallway was quiet. Most of the doors she passed were closed, the rooms beyond them containing people in various states of breaking.
She stopped outside Room 304 and took a breath.
Then she pushed open the door.
Her mother looked small.
That was the first thing Lilith noticed. Her mother had always been present in a room, commanded space without trying, drew attention through sheer force of will. Even unconscious, even broken, Lilith had expected to feel her mother’s strength.
Instead, she looked fragile. Diminished. Like sothing precious had been taken out of her and left a shell behind.
The machines beeped steadily. IV lines ran to her wrist. An oxygen mask covered her face. The monitors showed vitals...heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation....all the numbers that ant her mother was still tethered to this world by the thinnest of threads.
Lilith sat in the chair beside the bed. Slowly. Carefully. Like sudden movent might shatter sothing.
She reached out and took her mother’s hand.
The hand that had held her when she was small. The hand that had taught her to fight.
And sothing inside her shattered completely.
The tears ca without warning, without permission. She pressed her forehead against the side of the hospital bed and let herself break in the only place she could, alone with the mother who couldn’t judge her, couldn’t see the marks, couldn’t know what her daughter had beco.
"Hi, Mom," she whispered when the tears finally slowed. "I’m here. I made it."
She didn’t know if her mother could hear her. The doctors had said sotis comatose patients could hear. Sotis they knew their loved ones were there. But Lilith didn’t know if that was true or just sothing people said to make themselves feel better.
"I’m sorry I couldn’t co sooner," she continued, her voice hoarse. "It’s been... it’s been hard."
She wiped her eyes with the back of her free hand and forced herself to keep talking.
"I’m at the Blackwood estate. It’s big. Beautiful. There’s a library with books about all kinds of things. History. Fiction. I found a book about wolf-witch alliances and I’ve been reading it." She paused, swallowed. "Did you know about those? About the alliances? About witches helping packs?"
Cassandra didn’t respond. The machines beeped their steady rhythm.
"Mrs. Hallowell...she’s the head housekeeper, she’s been kind to . There’s another girl, Sera, who’s been... she’s been a friend. As much as anyone can be a friend in a place like that."
Lilith’s voice cracked.
"The brothers....the Alphas....they’re keeping their word about your care. Everything is being paid for. Dr. Reeves told your vitals are stronger than they were. You’re stabilizing, Mom. You’re going to wake up. You have to wake up."
She lifted her mother’s hand and pressed it to her cheek, holding it there like Cassandra could sohow feel her through the coma, could sohow understand that her daughter was still here. Still surviving.
"Dad wasn’t a traitor," she whispered. "You knew that. You would have said so if you could. Everyone believes the lie but you knew the truth. You know Dad. You know what kind of man he was."
The anger ca then, raw and sharp.
"I’m angry," she said fiercely. "I’m so angry at what happened. At how fast everyone turned on him. At how fast they turned on us. But I’m more angry at the Blackwoods for lying. For using us. For...."
She stopped. Couldn’t say it. Couldn’t tell her mother what she’d done to stay alive.
"For doing what they did," she finished instead.
User Comments
0 comments from readers