[[OLD]] A Handful of Daffodils (Forgotten Series, #7)

Chapter Forty-Five

Two days later

"This is all your fault, you stupid fucking bitch!" Father's voice was a low hiss and I hung my head, staring at the light blue skirt that Lisa had given me to wear as nausea swirled in my stomach. I was so nauseous now. "They are gone because of you." There was a hatred, a vitriol that made the words sharp and had me flinching.

"The fuck do you think you're doing?" Simon bellowed it out and I glanced up right as he grabbed father's collar and yanked him away from the door to the bedroom. "Mum left because you're a fucking piece of shit! You don't get to blame Menza for you not keeping your cock in your fucking pants." He yanked father close, twisted his fist in his collar. "If you come even close to this room, I'll kill you myself. Now fuck off!" Simon shoved him and I could hear father shouting in surprise.

"You little fucker! You're nothing but disrespectful!" Fathers voice followed Simon into the room but it became harder to hear as he thumped quickly down the stairs and Simon closed the bedroom door.

"Ignore him." He murmured the words as he came closer and my stomach cramped viciously. "He's just hating the fact he lost control of his family." Simon sat beside me before grabbing my hand and squeezing it.

"He was right though." My voice cracked and tears burned my eyes as they slid down my cheeks. He was right. It was my fault that Lisa and Ellie left. It was my fault the family was falling apart. Even Simon was getting physical with him.

"No he wasn't. "Simon spat it out before he took a heavy inhale as if to calm himself. "What happened was a long time coming. You just happened to be the straw that broke the camel's back. Mum didn't like him treating you like he was. That's on him." He then grasped my arm. "Come, turn around, let me see your back." I shifted on the bed, giving him my back and he carefully pulled up the shirt that I was wearing, nudging my hand to hold it up and I grabbed it over my shoulder. "Not bleeding through, that's good." He hummed slightly and I closed my eyes as he unwound the bandages from around me. I didn't know what my back looked like but I figured it looked horrible. Ellie refused to even look at it and the one time she had, she puked.

The bandages tugged slightly on my wounds and I swallowed convulsively as I felt like I was going to throw up. "I know. I know. Just give me a second." He muttered it out and there was the sound of a tin opening and then there was a cool sensation as he spread the paste across my back. "The stitches on some of these are holding. They look good. You're healing really well." There was an edge of skepticism to his voice and I sighed.

"I met Mene. She gave me a gift." I could remember every moment of my time with the goddess. Both the ritual and the meeting where I had made my deal. It didn't feel real but I knew the goddess wouldn't have brought me back, given me the choice, if it wasn't. I had a child growing inside of me, a daughter. It was a secret I needed to keep.

"Yah? In Altia?" He continued to spread the cooling and numbing paste over the lashes across my back and I nodded.

"There was a ritual we did. Mene brought me closer to the shifter side, let me find kinship in other shifters, gave me the ability to hear better, I have some instincts now, and better healing." I let out a heavy breath. It felt like Mene had known I would need it. It was like she knew what I would be walking back into and she gave me something that I would need to keep me alive.

"That's pretty cool." Simon's hand moved down my back with a low hum before he finished with the paste. With that done he carefully started to rebandage me. The gauze bandage wrapped around and around me until he tied it off at the bottom. He reached up and nudged my hand out of the way as he pulled down my shirt. He made sure it was sitting properly before he swallowed hard enough I could hear. "I'm sorry we didn't find you sooner. I'm sorry you had to go through all of it by yourself." His voice was thick and he coughed to clear it. "Don't think that anything that happened between mum and dad was your fault. It wasn't."