The Immortal--A Novel by Gena Showalter

Author:Gena Showalter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HQN Books
Published: 2021-11-22T17:00:38+00:00

17

Shock kept Ophelia in a daze. Perhaps the reason Halo remained at her side during the endless meeting with General Taliyah and Commander Roc.

The conclusion of the hours-long briefing came only after the freeze. Halo flashed Ophelia to a private, candlelit feast in the royal dining room. To be invited here, where only the strongest of harpykind and their loved ones dined, was a true honor.

An honor her sister—her mother had never extended to her.

A lump lodged in her throat, clogging her airway. At any other time, Ophelia thought she might have gawked at the furnishings. Today she just didn’t care. She shuffled to her seat. Her head hung, and her shoulders drooped.

Halo held out her chair for her and claimed the seat beside her, then filled her plate with delicacies. “To earn each bite,” he said, so gentle she almost couldn’t fathom it, “you have only to breathe. All right?”

“I can do that, I guess,” she mumbled. But she couldn’t quiet her mind.

Nissa was her mother. The irritating sibling who had yelled at her again and again for oh, so foolishly throwing away her future had given birth to her. Nissa had bedded the nymph, not the dead mother the General had ridiculed on multiple occasions.

All Mother had to do was say no. N.O. It’s not that difficult. Look at me. No. No!

Queasy, Ophelia used the fork to push her “earned” food around the plate. What sucked most? Despite the hypocrisy of it all, she hated that she’d upset Nissa. It was one thing to disappoint your sister and quite another to disappoint your mother.

“What can I do to help you?” Halo asked.

“I want Vivi.” Her eyes burned, and her vision wavered. “Is there any way you can unfreeze her?”

“I do not think so.” He leaned over, grasped her by the waist and transported her to his lap. “What would Vivi do for you if she were here?”

What could the harpire do? No one knew if Nissa had been too embarrassed of her nymph daughter to admit the truth, or if the General Mother Dearest had kept quiet simply to maintain her title. Either way...

I was unwanted.

Hot tears poured down Ophelia’s cheeks. Embarrassed, she batted at the ridiculous droplets. Breaking down in front of an Astra? And not just any Astra, but hers. No, not hers. Not yet, maybe not ever. Humiliating! But the tears didn’t care; they fell faster.

“I think Vivi would mention how amazing I am,” she croaked. “Loyal. Honest. Dedicated. Rare, wonderful qualities. Ask anyone. And then she’d probably tell me that being rejected by my own mother proves nothing about my worth, only Nissa’s.”

Halo kissed her temple. “Vivi would not be wrong. But harpy? Amazing doesn’t come close to describing you.”

Ophelia sagged against him, resting her head on his shoulder. A position she appreciated more and more. “I don’t believe you. I mean, Vivi knows me, so her speeches work. You know nothing.”

“You believe I’m saying these things, simply to be nice?”

“I know! It’s shocking to me, too.

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