Accepting Fate - (Slums to Riches, Book one)

Chapter 33

Hearing his voice raised so many questions, yet none of them seemed important or even pertinent to the situation. She read everything Cook had about shifters and witches, and nowhere did it say a shifter could leave behind a part of themselves to return at their leisure, the way a witch did.

"I might not have been around your whole life, but I bet I can guess what you're thinking. How can my dad be standing in the same room as me when a demon gobbled him up? Well Princess, the answer is simple. The demon didn't gobble your daddy up because that vile creature wanted me to see what he and his sister was going to do to everyone we saved from them."

"Saved how?" she whispered, still staring down at her book.

"Your mother and Aunt Eve made a whole bunch of jewelry. They could have opened a store with the amount of gems Eve brought down from that mountain. Instead, they passed them out to every shifter they met before we even set foot on this land. That's why they all flocked here after we settled in."

"I have been wondering about that. I've been wondering about a lot of things, but none of the answers matter anymore," Angelique said.

He materialized in front of her. He looked exactly as he did the last day she saw him, not that it surprised her. He always kept his hair trimmed below his ears and wore a ghastly, old-man's robe around the house. His hazel eyes often twinkled with mischief, as it did that moment.

"Why is that, Princess?"

She ran her fingers over the page. "All questions lead to answers, which in turn lead to more questions and more excuses. However, all questions lead to one day so far back in the past, no one could get the details right. It all leads back to the day the witches banished that tiger to purgatory, or another dimension, as they put it. Everything went to crap because they created that demon."

He knelt on the floor and laid his hands on her knees, but they lacked the warmth she needed from him. "I know you must be so mad at us. Talk to me. Tell me what's on your mind."

She shook her head as tears prickled her eyes. Was he serious? She had so much on her mind, she did not know where to start. However, one question needed an honest answer.

"Why Logan? I know you didn't like him at first, but you treated him like a son in the end. Why did you have to use him? He begged to be released from that spell."

"Don't tell me you are holding that against him?" Her mother's voice was as condescending as she remembered it. The woman materialized right beside her father, wearing the same white nightgown she died in.

"That's your first question?" Angelique asked, glaring at her mother, a much older version of herself. "If you hoped your interference would separate us, you failed. You failed at being a mother, and you failed at being a mentor to Cook."

"Princess—"

"No, Dad. It is the truth and she knows it. I was three years old, trying my best to do exactly what she asked, in the hope of seeing a smile on her face. If I wasn't doing something wrong, I was doing it too slow, or not using enough energy, using too much energy, not concentrating enough, or concentrating too much. The best was when I started using my own emotions to heal. Witches did not do such things, she said. Well, I did. I healed Michael by combining my emotions and energy without knowing I was doing it and he has no scars. Not a single mark on his skin to remind him of the torture he endured."

She stomped to the door and then stomped all the way back again. "Was that the only reason you bound Logan to the vow?"

"No. It wasn't the reason at all. No one else wanted to help us, even after I told them it was to save your life."

"Meredith!" her father scolded.

"I am not going to lie to her. She already thinks I tried to ruin her life. I won't add splitting her and Logan to the list of things I got wrong. I said from the start they belong together and I still mean it."

"So I'm supposed to help people who would rather have seen me dead than lose their precious queen? Did my death have anything to do with that vision you forced?"

Anyone who Angelique and Meredith together right then, facing off against each other, would have misinterpreted the vision. Until Meredith's face crumpled in pain.

"I asked for that vision because of all the others. At the start of my third trimester, I had the first vision. Because of our rules, I could not divulge any details about the vision. I had to let things run their course. After the third vision, the mothers gave me two options: spend five years with you, or end the pregnancy. I couldn't do it. I refused to end your life before it began. Stephan agreed. Five years was better than not having any time with you. They showed me what I had to do. I chose to save six lives in exchange for ours. 

"I knew they would take you and you would save those kids. That's why I left out the symbol. I did not know they would find a way to infest you with their despicable black souls. By then, I couldn't think straight anymore. I showed you that spell, because the mothers told me to. I never questioned their orders, never wondered why a two-year-old would need to know such an advanced spell. If I knew they could find a way to control you after your powers returned, I would not have cast that spell. I couldn't tell you about the spell, or ask your permission because I did not want to risk altering the course of your future."

"If you asked, I would have said no. Then I would not have gone to Mrs. Samuels, or the Harlows. Mickey would have died at Robert's hands. The goddesses alone know what would have happened to Jenny. I know Thomas and Patricia would have killed Andrew, Ty, and Jamie. Without me, they were nothing more than food. I taught Cook that spell and she had to draw energy from the earth, because you didn't take the time to teach her properly. She may have different gifts, but she is no less powerful than you and you would have known this if you gave a shit."

"Do you know why her husband had to leave with her son?" her mother asked.

"Why are you trying to divert the conversation? Ty is her grandson and that is all I need to know about her personal life."

"Very well, but keep an eye on Ty. When he starts to change, think back on this conversation. It is why I had to stop training her."

Her father started fading. He jumped up and waved his hands. "Wait. Just one more minute. I need to tell her something important."

"How are you even here?" Angelique asked. "Is it because of your watch?"

Her father materialized again. "Yes and no. I'm able to enter the attic because your mother sent the watch to her chest, but the mothers allowed me to come to one last time. Now, I don't have much time. Read the first page of my first diary, and you have to find the note I tucked into the binder for safe keeping. I made you a promise, but that was before I knew you would end up at the orphanage. I do hope you will try to have some fun. I can't wait to see you walk down the aisle, even though you will not be on my arm. But a wolf cannot live without his mate. Logan needs you as much as you need him. Please thank him for us. We are truly sorry it had to be him. Tell him we loved him like a son. And lastly, I need you to remember, everything can be cured--"

"With laughter," Angelique and Stephan said together.

 He father floated back a few steps and clutched her mother's hand. "You know we love you Princess. It's why I asked for a second chance to tell you how proud we are of you. Don't stay mad at your mother for too long, please. And do not mourn us. We had a happy life."

Though he asked her not to, tears fell from her eyes as they faded and disappeared once more from her life. She made her peace with their deaths a long time ago, but speaking to them, seeing them inches away from where she stood, brought back all the heartache.

With most of her mother's deeds behind her, others yet to be discovered, Angelique set off to the forest to release her energy and shift. She desperately needed to talk to Logan about the wedding, but could still not sense him.

She should have asked her parents about that.