Emperor of Annihilation

SEVEN

she was ethereal.

🦢

 A MOTHER'S AFFECTION WAS THE ONLY THING I NEVER GOT TO EXPERIENCE in fairytales. Heartbreak and betrayal, but never love.

I set down my teacup on the table and sigh. I didn't want to be here but I knew Mia would be upset if I had left. She wants someone to vent to about the new boy on the block. She says she hates him because he climbs into her window and whispers dirty things to her. He doesn't talk much. She's the only one he gives a conversion to.

I look up from the tea set at mom. Her eyes hold generational sadness and yet she attempts at hiding her pity-soaken irises with a light smile and a laugh of the lips when Amorèt's mom says something. I'm not the only one that notices she's sad. I'm the only one that cares.

I tear my head from her when Mia and Amorét return with heart-shaped macadamia cookies. They set the pastries on the table and sit down next to each other. They've been inseparable ever since Amorèt moved here. It didn't bother me, though, because my friendship with Mia was stronger.

"What's wrong, Clem?" Mia asks.

I wasn't going to tell her about how the moment she left, everyone in our circle treated me like I didn't exist. I wasn't going to tell her how badly I wanted to be alone. I wasn't going to tell her how much I needed a hug, so I smiled. "I'm fine, just hungry." A partial truth.

I ignored the heated stares I got from the other girls as they glowered in secret at me. Ratting them out to Mia wouldn't have been a good idea anyway. She's popular and pretty. The lethal combo.

I take a cookie from the platter when everyone else does, including Mia. She lifts the cookie to her lips, about to take a bite when her mom calls her name. She immediately drops the cookie, her eyes widening only a little. I watch quietly as she approaches her mother, head lowered. This being the only time I've ever seen Mia Scuderi bow her head.

Mia stands before her quietly. I observe with wide eyes, feeling my throat tighten. Adelina grabs her chin and cups her cheeks with her hands. She smiles, looking almost serene. Perhaps maybe even...loving? She bends down, whispering something that causes Mia to freeze.

There's only one woman who rules New York as a highly-respected woman. Adelina Scuderi, former supermodel and now the owner of a multi-dollar jewellery company. Just like her daughter, everyone at the grown-up table showed the utmost respect to her whenever she was in the room. I hate her because of the way she treats my mother—like a second choice in her own marriage, even name-calling her in that honeyed, accented voice of hers, and I hate her more because she makes Mia feel bad about the way she eats. I'm 100% certain that's the reason she called her over.

Mia returns, this time in a worse mood. When Nicole offers her her half of a cookie, she snaps. "I'm not hungry."

I have to blink to process what just happened. Nicole looks over at the rest of the girls, her expression unsure.