Page 172 of First Ritual
“Daughter,” Rowaness said. “What was Hope?”
Mother closed her eyes. “Hope was endless. He was angry. He was unfaltering and wise and held power unlike I’d ever seen. I was the only one he loved, and that is the only reason why I survived our coupling. His power should have extinguished mine. Even then, only the gate to his realm saved me. Our babies.”
I’d never seen my grandmother appear shocked.
And she didn’t disappoint me now. Her face and tone were calm. “The father was a demon.”
“Was,” my mother said. “He is their father. I will hold these children in my body. I swear it to the mother. They may be the first. They may be impossible. But I will give my last breath to see them in this world.” Her face crumbled. “I don’t know how. I can feel… Mother, I can feel all is not well. Whatever Hope did helped to stop the drain on my essence, but it has started again. I worry that I cannot provide the power they need to live. They’re half demon.” She started to shake. “The coven will never accept them.”
The words echoed in my ears.
Half demon.
The coven will never accept them.
I backed up a step. I wasn’t just harboring a demon.
The demon was part of me. Half, if Mother was right.
I took another step back, but I couldn’t tear away from this moment of revelation, even if my world was crumbling to dust with every word.
“The coven will help us,” Rowaness said.
Mother covered her face. “They won’t be able to. I didn’t know what I was doing. He never told me until it was too late. The rifts.”
Grandmother peered around herself. “You mean this ravine?”
“A ravine with a gate is a rift. Rifts are how demons expand their realm. Their magic pushes outward from their territory like snakes to spread division from beneath the surface, Mother. With growing division, their magic thrives. Their power grows and they push their gates forward. When the gates reach the coven… they attack in certainty that the territory will be theirs.” She dropped her hands, and a fierceness I’d seen so many times in my life came over her. “The gates are close, Mother, and I did that by allowing a demon to stretch his power here, and to place his children in my womb. I did not know until too late.”
“You loved him, Hazel.”
Her lip trembled. “With my heart and soul, Mother. But I would have left the coven rather than see my family and friends dead and gone, enslaved by Hope’s kind.”
Grandmother stiffened. “That will never happen.”
Hazeluna turned from her. “I shouldn’t blame myself entirely. This gate was already near. Yet I did accelerate the process. If I stay, Mother, if I birth my children here, then I am sure the rifts will reach the coven.”
“This… we need to take a moment and assess this, daughter.”
“What do you think I’ve been doing for the last year? You think I was discovering new flora?”
Grandmother’s lips twitched. “I rather gathered not. The project wasn’t nearly convoluted enough.” Her humor faded.
“I’ve betrayed your trust,” Mother whispered.
“You betrayed only what we are taught to believe our lives should look like,” was the reply. “That is no betrayal at all. The mother created us all. If there is life within you, then she created that. If my grandchildren are meant to survive, then we will be provided with the tools to protect them.” She took her daughter’s hand. “You made a discovery. You stepped from the norm and challenged what has always been and your ideas of what should be. You fell in love. You navigated impossibilities to conceive. You grieve the loss of the man you loved. None of those are betrayals. I trust you as I ever did. All that remains is to leave the coven in the light of these so-called rifts and gates, and dedicate all our power and knowledge to nurturing these precious, one-of-a-kind girls.”
My mother didn’t look like my mother as she looked at Rowaness. She appeared as a child seeking comfort. “This is not your battle, Mother.”
“I fought to get you into this world, Hazeluna. That fight never stops. Mothers are the most absolute, fearsome force in this world. Why else do we share the title of the mother herself? Never doubt that I would tear someone’s throat out if they tried to hurt you. As to what’s ahead. I choose it with my head held high, unapologetically and without regret. As you will do.”
My mother tilted her chin higher. “As I will do.”
“You have babies to care for, and you’re not alone.” Grandmother smiled. “We will make ready. Until then, we go on as normal.” She stopped and swore violently, checking the sky. “Caves.”
Mother laughed without humor. “Caves indeed.”
Rowaness shot her a look. “No.”