Page 19 of Shadow of Fury
“Raven…” she started but her sister spoke over her.
“Don’t you ever just want to be happy, Wren? I mean, really? Don’t you ever wonder what it would be like if you stopped plotting and planning your revenge and just lived your life for yourself?”
Raven looked frustrated and Wren ducked her gaze, not wanting her sister to see the truth in her own eyes. Because yes, of course she wondered what her life would be like if she just accepted the status quo like everyone else seemed to, but it didn’t matter because she couldn’t give up now. She was too close to finally getting justice for Lark.
She owed her big sister that much.
When she tilted her chin back up, she met Raven’s unflinching gaze, “Lark doesn’t get to be happy. She didn’t get the chance to live her life because someone killed her and they need to pay for what they did.”
“How is that your responsibility?” Raven shot back.
“I’m the oldest!”
Raven blinked and Wren winced.
“After Lark,” she corrected herself. “I’m the oldest now so it’s my job to step up and demand the truth.”
“No. It was Mom and Dad’s job to step up when Lark died. You were just a kid, like me.”
Wren rolled her eyes and picked up her bag with her flip flops in it, “I have to go to work, Ray.”
“Don’t walk out on me when I’m talking to you.” Raven’s voice rose. “You owe me that much since you won’t tell me what happened to send you into such a tailspin last night.”
A knot formed in her throat and Wren swallowed hard, “I told you…”
“Yeah, that Logan is back in town and you confronted him but not what you said, or what he said, or why you couldn’t stop crying for hours after you got back.” Raven held up a hand when Wren opened her mouth to speak again which was good because Wren had no idea what she’d been about to say, only that it hadn’t been the truth. “It’s fine. I’m not demanding answers because it’s not my place. That’s my point. It’s not your place to demand answers for Lark’s death and you shouldn’t be giving up your own shot at happiness to do it.”
“I’ll be happy when Lark’s murder is solved.”
Raven groaned, “I’m worried about you, Wren.”
“I know, but…”
“Mom and Dad are worried about you too.”
Wren couldn’t contain her scoff, “Mom and Dad should have been worried six years ago. They should have demanded answers six years ago so that I didn’t have to, but guess what? They didn’t. They didn’t ask questions. They didn’t demand answers. They just…”
“Grieved.” Raven cut in over her. “They grieved, Wren. They were grieving parents. You can’t blame them for how they chose to handle their grief.”
Wren thought she damn well could, but she bit her tongue to keep the venom from shooting out all over her well-intentioned little sister.
It wasn’t Raven’s fault that she didn’t know the whole truth about that night. Wren had never told her. She’d never told anyone the truth about that night which she realized now, meant she had something in common with the Kemp family after all.
She had argued with Lark over sneaking out that night. It had been happening more and more often and Wren had been worried about what her sister was up to. They’d argued and Lark had left in a huff, sliding out the window like she always did and telling Wren not to worry so much. But instead of going back to bed and trying not to think about Lark and Logan being together like she usually did, Wren had marched straight to her parents’ room.
She’d woken them up. She’d told them that Lark had snuck out. She’d told them about how she’d been acting strange and coming and going at all hours. She’d told them she was worried and she had expected them to be worried as well, but they hadn’t been.
They’d smiled at one another as if they were part of some inside joke. They’d told her that her older sister was almost eighteen, and therefore an adult, and when she’d argued that almost wasn’t the same thing as being grown, they’d told her to go back to bed and stop worrying. They’d said they trusted Logan, trusted the Kemp family and their Pack Alpha. They’d been certain Lark would be fine and that in just a few weeks when she turned eighteen she would bond with the Kemp heir and as the next Queen of the Shadow Pines pack, cement their standing forever.
They’d dismissed her and her fears and it had haunted Wren, and undoubtedly her parents, ever since. But they didn’t talk about it and Raven didn’t know that their parents could have put a stop to it all, could have saved Lark that night if they’d been more worried about their eldest daughter’s safety and virtue than their future standing as the parents to the Queen of the pack.
So yes, Wren did partly blame them for what had happened to Lark, but they’d punished themselves abundantly for their mistake and she didn’t think telling Raven would do anyone any good at this point so she kept her mouth shut.
Her sister pinched the bridge of her nose as if she was just staving off a headache, “You have nothing to say to me then?”
Wren offered an apologetic shrug, “I’m going to be late for work.”
Raven growled, “I don’t know why I even try talking any sense into you. You’re as stubborn as a mule and twice as dense.”