THE QUEEN'S CROWN [2]

17. HERE IT COMES

        "What?"

"It's just for a few weeks, at most, Lils-"

"No,"

"What do you mean, 'no'?" Charlie frowned, folding her arms across her chest as she stared across the kitchen table at her kid sister. "You don't have a say here."

"What the fuck, why not?" Lily demanded. "This is my life too!"

"I'm trying to make sure you actually do get a life, Lily!"

She jumped to her feet, feeling her hands clench into fists as she did. "I should at least get to go, if you really intend to go running into the very city that our mother died in!"

"Ryan and I are gonna be fine, Lils."

"Lottie-!"

"No arguments." Charlie stood, a stern expression on her face that told Lily not to talk back. "Maggie is gonna stay with you. It'll only be for a few weeks. I'm gonna be fine, but you have to be on your best behavior, too, Lils."

She glared at her, not being able to help the resentment that was building because she understood Charlie's reasons for deciding to go to New Orleans, but she wanted to go with her. It wasn't as if she actually wanted to go, as she wanted to repair her relationship with Charity, keep an eye on Louis and Asher, and she was finally getting somewhere with this weird ass mentor thing she had with Kol. As much as she despised Mystic Falls, she would much rather be here, where she felt she had some freedom, than a city that she damn well knew Charlie would force her to her side at every second. She would be protective of her in such a dangerous place, obviously, but Lily hated that side of her sister. But the problem was...she did understand it. It wasn't even because of her own death, or near death experience, but because the only reason she wanted to go herself was because she didn't want anything to happen to Charlie.

Their mother died in New Orleans. Their mother went there for the same reason Charlie and Ryan were, but she never made it back home. She didn't know what happened to cause Beth Ann Prince to die because she never said who murdered her, but she just knew her mom died there. She didn't want to be told that Charlie had gone alone and ended up the same way, all because she hadn't had the balls to demand that she go with her. It wasn't as if she was too selfish, she would much rather know what Charlie was doing than pretending as if she wasn't worried every second that they were apart and it was becoming clear that this was exactly how Charlie felt all the time. Protective, nerve-wrecking paranoia threatened to swallow her whole at the idea of someone taking her sister from her. Sure, something could happen here in their hometown, but at least it wouldn't be so unpredictable and so unfamiliar, even if the assholes that might stand in the way of someone harming them could also be the idiots that inevitably caused it to begin with.

"And if something happens to you while you're gone?" She demanded, refusing to back down. "Lottie, Mom died there."

"You don't think I know that?" Charlie scoffed, even if there was a softer look in her blue eyes now. "You don't think I don't know the risks? I do. I know what I'm doing, Lily. I'm not going to be alone. Ryan will be there."

"You think that makes me feel better? You said it yourself: Ryan abandoned us. He abandoned you! You can't trust him."

"I-"

"I'm coming and that's final."

"No, you're not." Charlie was firm in her decision and Lily despised the fact that it was clear she was not going to budge. "Lily, I understand the dynamics between us has changed, that you're not a child anymore. But you're also not an adult yet, which means I get to make the decisions and I'm telling you that you're staying in Mystic Falls. You've missed enough school and before you say that doesn't matter," she continued when she saw her sister open her mouth, to say exactly what Lily was going to say. "It does. You will graduate. Your birthday is just around the corner and I am going to be here to celebrate it with you. I want you to be as safe as you can be and Maggie promised me you'll be okay. But she'll still live next door, so you'll have more freedom, like you always wanted. So will you please try to make it easy for me?"