Chapter 718: The Lie Between Them
Sophia was silent for a mont after hearing the question.
The words drifted through the darkness around her, soft and affectionate on the surface. Once upon a ti, they would have made her heart race with hope.
Now they only made her tired.
Neoma growled.
Not loud enough to interrupt the connection, but enough for Sophia to feel the wolf’s irritation.
*She knows where we are,* Neoma said.
Sophia knew that, and hence why she almost scoffed when her mother had spoken those words.
Neoma was right. Victoria knew perfectly well where she was, but she pretended like she didn’t know.
And Sophia knew that, unlike how her mother had phrased it, this wasn’t a question. It was fishing.
A probe.
An attempt to see what Sophia would reveal.
And if Sophia’s suspicions were correct, her mother had not reached out because she suddenly missed her daughter.
If she really missed Sophia, then she would have tried to reach out to her even before now. But her mother didn’t try, nor attempt to reach out to her.
Which made Sophia certain her mother had reached out because sothing had changed.
Sothing involving her hair.
Sothing involving whatever had been done to her years ago.
Sophia released a slow breath then and replied to her mother.
"I’m in a safe place," she said.
Victoria imdiately sighed in relief.
"Oh, thank the goddess."
Sophia nearly rolled her eyes.
Her mother continued before she could speak.
"I’ve been so worried about you."
The words sounded genuine.
They always did.
Victoria had always been good at sounding sincere.
Sophia rembered being young and believing every word that ca out of her mother’s mouth. But she wasn’t that child anymore.
"You don’t need to worry about ," she said calmly.
"Of course I do."
Victoria sounded offended by the suggestion.
"I’ll always worry about you."
Neoma made a gagging noise that almost made Sophia laugh.
"You’re my daughter," Victoria continued, the words softer now, more emotional.
More vulnerable. It sounded like the voice of a loving mother, but it was all just a performance.
"No matter where you go, no matter what happens, you’ll always be my daughter," she said.
Sophia said nothing, and her mother took her silence as permission to continue.
"You should co ho."
Sophia remained quiet.
"You rember how much I protected you when you were little, don’t you?" Victoria asked.
Sophia’s jaw tightened.
Protected.
That was certainly one word for it.
Victoria kept speaking.
"I took care of you."
Another lie.
"I made sure you were safe."
Another.
"I gave you everything."
Another.
"No one loves you more than I do, Sophia."
Neoma snarled.
The wolf’s anger surged through their bond.
Sophia felt it too.
Not the explosive rage she might have felt years ago.
Not the heartbreak.
Not even disappointnt.
Just irritation.
Because Victoria was acting as though Sophia had not lived through her own childhood.
As though Sophia had not been there.
As though she had not experienced every cruel lesson, every punishnt, every manipulation.
As though she had not spent years desperately trying to earn affection that had never existed.
Victoria kept talking.
"You should leave wherever you are."
Her voice softened further.
"Co back to . Co ho."
Victoria paused, perhaps expecting a response. When none ca, she took that as a cue to continue.
"Surely you miss ."
Sophia didn’t reply.
Victoria tried again.
"You were always happiest with ."
The statent was so absurd Sophia didn’t even know how to respond.
Eventually, she chose not to.
Instead, she asked the question she actually wanted answered.
"Why are you contacting ?"
Victoria fell silent.
The emotional performance paused, but only for a second, and then it resud.
"I told you already," she said. "It’s our connection. The bond between a mother and daughter."
Sophia nearly scoffed again.
The bond between a mother and daughter.
Not black magic.
Not rituals.
Not strange connections woven through years of manipulation.
No.
Apparently, it was simply motherly love. How convenient.
Victoria continued.
"I gave birth to you. I carried you in my womb and went through pain to bring you into this world. That is enough connection between us."
The explanation sounded weak.
Even weaker than the tears and the false concern.
And Sophia deep down knew her mother knew that.
Her mother was carefully avoiding the truth.
"Sophia dear," Victoria spoke up before Sophia could.
"Yes?" Sophia called out.
"Do you rember what happened the last ti we t?"
Sophia froze.
The darkness around her seed to deepen.
She rembered everything and even more.
Should she tell the truth?
Should she reveal that she rembered everything?
That she suspected Victoria had done far more to her than anyone realized?
She was still thinking when Neoma spoke.
*Lie.*
Sophia blinked.
What?
*Lie.*
The wolf’s voice was firm.
Spending ti with Orion had made dishonesty more difficult. And it had rubbed off on her too, even when he wasn’t right next to her.
*I know you have found it difficult to lie since you t Orion,* Neoma continued. *I know this, and I also know he has influenced you in many other ways. But Sophia, this is a situation where you must lie. We need to know why she is really reaching out. If she knows you rember—if she knows the spell is weakening—things may take a turn we are not ready for.*
Sophia swallowed.
*You must make it seem like you have forgotten. Like you always did when you were young.*
Sophia understood.
She had spent years locking away her mories as a way of protecting herself.
Years hiding her true self.
And she could do it again.
She nodded, though Neoma could feel the agreent more than see it.
"Mum," Sophia said, her voice soft and uncertain, "what happened the last ti we were together? How did I even manage to leave you?"
She paused, letting the silence stretch.
"I cannot rember anything at all."
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