Crown of Wings and Shadows by Val St. Crowe

Author:Val St. Crowe [St. Crowe, Val]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Punk Rawk Books
Published: 2018-02-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Zorah didn’t know what her son had been saying, but threatening to rip out a man’s rib cage was a generally bad sign.

On the other hand, he was awake, and he was still in the cell, so that was something. She would rather him threatening verbally than actually doing the ripping. She stepped close, shoulder-to-shoulder with Henley, whose body was trembling with rage. “Thank you, Henley,” she said softly. “You may leave.”

Henley looked at her. “Your Majesty, I don’t think—”

“I wish to talk to my son,” she said, turning her gaze to Kane.

Kane let out a wild laugh. “Your what?”

Zorah lifted her chin. “Hello, Kane.”

Kane’s jaw twitched. He looked disheveled—his hair mussed, his shirt hanging off of him in torn tatters. Zorah wondered how that had happened. She could see his skin, and then the edges of scar tissue on his shoulders, around his sides. She gasped at the sight of it. What had been done to him?

“Your Majesty, I think that he may have been very vicious with the Lady Galalie, and I don’t know if we can allow that to stand,” said Henley.

“He’s done a great many vicious things,” said Zorah. “Please, Sir Mordha.”

Henley gritted his teeth. “Your Majesty—”

“That’s an order,” she said quietly.

Henley didn’t like it, but he retreated, going up the stairs and finally leaving her alone with the boy she hadn’t seen in over ten years. Her heart hurt. She wished, more than anything, that should could wrap her arms around him, that somehow, she could make it all better, the way she was able to when he fell and hurt himself as a little boy. But that was not to be.

She stepped forward and reached through the bars.

He backed away from her hand, looking down at his shoes. He wouldn’t meet her eyes.

“I’m sorry I didn’t come back for you,” she said.

He looked up, and there was naked pain in his eyes. “Shut up.”

“I meant to, I did, but your father kept you so close. You were never on your own. You were always under guard. And then you were… turned, and…” She licked her lips.

It was quiet.

“And then what?” came his dark voice.

“And then…” She pulled her arm back through the bars and massaged her elbows. “I don’t know. You’re right. I shouldn’t have stopped trying. At first, though, when I heard the rumors, I thought you really were a monster.”

He laughed, an uncontrolled sound. “Of course I’m a monster, Mother.” A pause. “No, I won’t call you that. You were never a real mother.”

“Kane, I know that things have been hard for you. You’ve committed terrible acts, but maybe you didn’t have a choice. I know what your father can be like. Maybe he forced you to hurt people.”

Nothing from Kane.

“Did he?” she whispered.

“You have no idea what he’s done to me.” Kane’s voice cracked.

She sucked in a breath, and she put her hand through the bars again, feeling as if she might be getting through to him. “Well, if you’re away from him, then you won’t have to do those things anymore.

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