To ruin an Omega

Chapter 152: The Confession

FIA

He stepped aside slowly. Reluctantly. But he didn’t go far.

Mother stood three feet away. Her makeup was still perfect despite everything that had just happened. Not a hair out of place. She looked like she’d just stepped out of a portrait instead of a bathroom where her daughter had tried to kill me.

“It must feel good.” Her voice was soft. Almost conversational. “To do that to your father. Hurt his pride. Make him kneel before his peers. Make our pack seem even smaller and insignificant than it already is.”

The words hit me wrong and twisted in my gut. But I had no empathy left. I was on a different kind of high.

“Did it feel good when you did it to me?” My voice came out steadier than I expected.

Her expression didn’t change.

“And I didn’t do such a thing to Father.” I pressed my hand harder against the bandage at my throat. “He had the option to let Hazel pay for her crimes. Like he did with the crimes you and your daughter thrust upon me. I paid for them.”

Something flickered across her face. Too quick to catch. Too quick to name.

“I wish I hadn’t given in to her.” The words came out measured. Controlled. “You should have stayed ordinary and small. The way life was intended for you. You never were meant to be Luna. But less Luna of Skollrend. How you survived him and he started to cherish you is beyond me. Must be inherited. Your mother has the same sinister charm.”

Heat flooded through me. Sharp and bitter.

“The goddess blessed my union.” I took a step forward. “Seethe all you want.”

Her lips pressed into a thin line. “Me? Seethe?”

“Yes. And I hope your illusion of a white picket house can stand now that the cat is out of the bag.” My voice gained strength with each word. “But I imagine Hazel will wiggle her way back to the good graces of our father. He’s already sacrificing everything for her. His pride even. So if you have beef, take it up with your daughter who started this sick demented competition in the first place.”

My stepmother laughed.

She was trying to at least. But the sound was hollow, twisted and wrong.

“You think the goddess is on your side? How naive.”

Then she moved. Fast. Her hand shot out and grabbed my wrist, yanking me toward her. The sudden motion sent a shock of pain through my throat. I gasped.

She pulled me close. Too close. I could see every line around her eyes. Every careful stroke of her makeup.

“Your mother is dead dead dead.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “But if she was here, I’d ask you to ask her. A fated mate bond is not enough. You know very well what she had to endure. You were there.”

My heart hammered against my ribs.

“I hear this man who has been letting you grow wings met an old flame today.” Her smile was sharp. Cutting. “So I would give you advice. Mother to child. Fight with everything you have if you want to keep this wings of yours.”

The smile widened. No. It stretched. Something sick and twisted crept into it.

“Kill, if you must. I know I did.”

Everything went still.

The hallway. The air. My blood in my veins.

I stared at her square in the face. “What does that mean?”

“I am never one to toot my horn.” Her voice stayed light. Conversational. Like we were discussing mundane topics. “But I cannot for the life of me imagine why Hazel thinks I didn’t do something about my competition.”

My throat closed up. Not from the wound. From something else.

“Sure, I bided my time. I let it go. And when I was going to do something, the gods seemingly heard my prayer and struck her down with the rot.”

No.

“But imagine my surprise when I was outside in the night for a drink on what was supposed to be the last embers of her pathetic small life and I see her disease lifting.”

No no no.

“A miracle? I think not.” Her eyes locked on mine. Cold. Dead. “I smothered her with her pillow.”

The world tilted.

Red flooded my vision. Hot. Burning. My blood turned to fire in my veins.

My fist flew before I could think. Before I could breathe. Before I could do anything but react to the poison she’d just spilled into my ears.

She caught it. Her fingers wrapped around my knuckles and stopped me cold.

“The deed is done.” Her voice stayed calm. Steady. “It doesn’t bring her back. Punches cannot be taken back once drawn. So take this as a warning. The next time you pack a punch. Think. If they survive my blow. What the fuck will they do? How will they retaliate?”

I didn’t think. I didn’t plan.

I drove my forehead forward. Hard.

I heard the crunch of cartilage. I saw the spray of blood. Isobel stumbled back, hands flying to her nose.

“You murderer!” The scream tore out of my throat. Pain exploded where the wound opened up again. I felt the warmth of blood seeping fresh through the bandage.

I lunged forward. My hands reached for her. For her throat. For anything I could grab.

Arms wrapped around me from behind. Strong, familiar and immovable.

Cian.

“Let me go!” I thrashed against his hold. “Let me go!”

Isobel took another step back. Blood poured from her nose, running over her lips and chin. Ruining that perfect makeup. But she was smiling. Actually smiling. Blood in her teeth and everything.

She looked at Cian. “Hold the rabid girl. Before another scandal finds us.”

Then she turned and walked away. Casual. Like nothing had happened. Like she hadn’t just confessed to murder.

“Let me go, Cian!” I fought against his arms. Goddess knows I struggled. The heavens had to know how much I twisted to get out of his grip.

“You’re bleeding.” His voice came from right behind my ear.

“I don’t care!” I turned in his grip to face him. To make him understand. “She killed her! She killed my mother!”

His expression changed. Shifted from restraint to shock. “What?”

“She just confessed now and I never knew.” My voice broke. Cracked down the middle. “Cian, I never knew.”

The moment those words were said… the hallway spun and tilted sideways. The floor rushed up to meet me except it didn’t because Cian’s arms were there. Solid and real.

“I never knew,” I whispered again.

The light dimmed at the edges. Faded to gray. Then black.

The last thing I felt was Cian’s chest against my cheek. The last thing I heard was his voice calling my name.

Then nothing.