Seta's Fall

Chapter 9

"Hello, Mother."

Loma gasped, dropping the dish in her hand as she spun around. Her eyes moved from Seta to the door and back again as the dish broke.

"Seta? Is it really you? You are really here?"

"Do I not stand before you?" Seta asked.

"I had heard you died, and after you never returned..." Loma's gaze drifted to the door once more.

"You told me I could not return, remember?"

"Oh Seta." Her mother's gaze fell to the floor and when it returned to her, tears coated her dark eyes. "I was desperate to keep you and my grandson from being hurt. I would have taken you back. I love you more than I have ever loved anyone."

"Did you ever love anyone? My father? Hastiin Bidziil?"

Loma's mouth fell open, her eyes grew wide.

"I have been with my father's family. I know what happened. I know you had an affair with my real father and when the man you told me was my father found out you betrayed him, you said he took you without your consent. You had my real father killed along with other innocent members of his tribe. My family!"

"They would have killed me!" Loma looked to the door again and wept. "I never heard the door open yet you stand before me. It is true. You are dead and Rialto lives in the count's castle. You have come back to haunt me."

"I am not dead, yet not alive."

Loma's brow creased. "I do not understand."

Seta considered telling her mother the truth that she was a vampire, but that would mean exposing Eron and Christian. Hunters would be sent for them the moment she left her mother. It was best her mother thought her just a ghost. "I walk in the night but must hide from the day. I live in shadow now, forever mourning the loss of what I once was."

"No!" Loma fell to her knees on the floor, crossing herself. "Say it is not true."

"Count Roberto Garibaldi stole my son from my arms and threw me over the cliff outside his castle. I will watch over my son from afar until I can be with him again."

"I am so sorry, Seta. This was not the life I wanted for you."

"No. You wanted my life to be a lie, to never know who I truly was."

"I did it to protect you."

"You lied to me long after you were safe. I deserved the truth."

Loma looked up at her. "You must forgive me, Seta. Everything I did, I did for you."

"No more lies, Mother. There is no need to continue. You will never see me again after this night."

"Why did you come? I would have been more at peace believing you were with the Lord. Did you reveal your fate of unrest to me to punish me for a mistake made so long ago? I loved Hastiin Bidziil. I love you, Seta. I love Rialto."

"You allowed the man you loved to die? To be murdered?"

"He told me to."

"What?"

Loma stood and held on to the back of a chair to support herself.

"I knew I was with child. I told him. He was so happy, so proud, but he knew our love was forbidden. We planned to be together but your fath... my husband, he found out. He and his men found us together. Your real father loved you before you were even born. He told me the story to tell if we were ever discovered so that no one would try to take my life. He was a mighty warrior. He stood a chance, a chance he was willing to take."