The Last Hope

28 - Ring

SONG FOR THIS CHAPTER - Please don't let me be misunderstood, a cover by Eliza Shaddad - Originally by Nina Simone. Linked above! If you enjoy the chapter please vote and share, it means a lot. Also, I actively encourage commenting and am trying my best to reply to any as quickly as I can. Want a chat? Don't be shy!

________________________________________________________________________________

"Mona? It is, isn't it? You're Mona Lucille De Nova, aren't you?

"You know me?" Mona's brow furrowed.

"You know her?" Mercy asked in disbelief.

Yaakov readjusted to sit up straighter, wincing in pain. "There's a portrait of her on the wall in my great grandmother's house - her great, great grandmother was Lady Evangeline Dobache." At the name, Mona started. Mercy watched her carefully.

Evangeline. Mercy had heard Mona say the name before, but she couldn't remember how it had come up in conversation. "Who is Evangeline Dobache?" Felix asked before Mercy could get the words out.

"Evangeline is the noblewomen I stayed with my first year on Earth," Mona said, looking over her shoulder at Mercy, then she turned back to Yaakov, "then you are a direct descendant of...?"

"Emelie Loiseau, her youngest daughter."

"Emelie was the first to grow suspicious of me when I was uninterested in their lifestyle. She was... inquisitive and persistent. She hounded me for answers and when I refused to give them to her, I left before it could escalate. The portrait in your grandmother's house was painted a month before I left."

"And when was that?" Felix asked curiously.

"Around two hundred years ago."

"Why aren't you surprised?" Mercy asked Yaakov, whose face was alight with curiosity, but wasn't as shocked as he should've been after hearing that Mona had been on earth for two hundred years.

Yaakov's eyes brightened, "Emelie Loiseau was indeed inquisitive, to the point of obsession. After Mona left their estate, she made it her life's mission to figure out the truth behind the mysterious woman who'd shown up out of the blue, stayed for a year without ever showing affections for any men, and then left in the middle of the night with not a word - leaving her babe behind at their door as she disappeared."

Mercy's jaw went slack. So did Felix's. Her babe! Her babe - Mona had been pregnant-
Mona turned on them both sharply, "what you just heard, you didn't hear it, okay?"

"But - Mona-"

"No. Listen to me. We are not discussing that, okay? That's not why we're here, we are here to talk about the sword and nothing else."

Mona had been pregnant. She'd had a baby. Jaxon's baby, presumably, but - twelve months? The timeline didn't make sense. And she'd left her child behind. Why? Why on earth would Mona do that?

If the furious expression on her face and the venom in her tone hadn't been enough to deter Mercy, the crackling static, and the scent of burning in the air which Mercy had come to associate with Mona's magic definitely was. Mercy took a step back and clamped her lips together tightly. A surreptitious glance over at Felix revealed that he too had taken a step back, now standing on the other side of Yaakov's bed.

She would get answers. Just not right now. Mercy would make sure of it.

It was Yaakov who broke the burden of silence, "I'm sorry if I offended you, believe me, that was not my intention. You are something of a legend in my household, many people in my family have spent their lives searching for you."