Chapter 193
Casper's POV
I straightened, preparing for whatever bomb my mate was about to drop. Through our twin bond, I felt Cassian doing the same, both of us ready to catch her if she fell, ready to defend her against whatever reaction was coming.
"You know she's not my birth mother," Elowen continued, her voice steady despite the tears I could see threatening at the corners of her eyes. "You know she's not my real family. So tell me—why did you let her raise me? Why did you let her..." Her voice broke. "Why did you let her treat me the way she did?"
"We're sorry, El," Ella whispered.
"Sorry?" Elowen's laugh was hollow. "You're sorry? You knew how she treated me. You knew she... You left me to be 'looked after' by the school kids?"
My mind flashed back to childhood memories—kids picking on Elowen, calling her names, shoving her around. Cassian and I had intervened when we could, but we'd been kids ourselves. We hadn't known the full extent of it.
We should have known.
"Those people bullied you," Cassian said quietly, his voice thick with regret. "We're sorry for that, baby."
"But we never knew what Jessica did," I added, my voice rough. "If we had known..." I let the sentence hang, but the implication was clear. If we'd known, Jessica would have paid.
Austin tried one more time. "Elowen, siblings fight. It's normal, it's part of—"
"Part of what?" Elowen's voice rose, finally cracking with emotion. "We're not siblings, Austin! I could have had real family taking care of me! I could have had people who actually loved me! Instead, I grew up in this... this house of lies!"
"We didn't know if you were Jessica's daughter or not," Ella tried to explain. "We thought—"
"So you just let me suffer in uncertainty?" Elowen cut her off. "You let me grow up thinking I was worthless? That I deserved the way she treated me?"
The pain in her voice was like a knife to my gut. Through our bond, I felt Cassian's matching agony, both of us wanting desperately to take her pain away but knowing we couldn't. This was something she had to confront, had to release.
All we could do was stand beside her.
We're here, little freckle, I sent through our bond. We're not going anywhere.
I felt her gratitude, her love, wash through the connection. It steadied her, gave her the strength to continue.
"You want to know what's ironic?" Elowen turned her gaze to Ronan, who was still watching from the doorway with those sharp green eyes. "Ronan learned about my existence yesterday. Yesterday. And he hasn't left my side. He went with me into the darkest places, faced the most terrible truths."
She turned back to Austin and Ella, and her voice went cold. "But you? You raised me for over twenty years, and you never really cared about me at all."
We care, I sent through our bond, Cassian's presence wrapping around the thought. We'll always be here, baby.
Whatever happens, Cassian added. We're not leaving.
Through our connection, I felt Elowen's emotional walls crack just slightly, letting our love seep through. It wasn't enough to heal the wounds my parents had inflicted, but it was something. It was real.
"There's something else," Elowen said, and her voice had gone quiet again. Dangerous. "Something you need to answer."
I tensed. Whatever this was, it was big.
"Your deal with the demon," Elowen continued. "Will it affect my children? The babies I'm carrying inside me right now?"
The question hit me like a punch to the gut. Through our twin bond, I felt Cassian's matching fear, both of us suddenly terrified of the answer. Would my parents' mistakes, their deals with darkness, corrupt our children before they were even born?
Would they see me—us—as tainted? Broken?
Austin and Ella looked at each other, and I saw my father's face go pale.
"We don't know," Austin finally said. "Elowen, we honestly don't know."
The admission hung in the air like poison.
"Then I definitely can't stay here," Elowen said, her voice final.
She stood up, and Cassian and I rose with her, flanking her like guards. Like the protectors we should have been all along.
"Wait," Elowen said, pausing at the door. She turned back to face my parents, and the expression on her face made my blood run cold. "There's one more thing you should know."
Here it comes. I could feel it through our bond—the final bomb, the last revelation.
"Jessica plotted to murder Ella, Ronan, and you, Austin," Elowen said, her voice flat.
The room exploded into chaos. Ronan's face went iron-hard, his eyes flashing with rage. Ella gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. Austin just sat there, frozen in shock.
"That's..." Austin started, but Elowen was already turning away.
"I'm leaving now," she said simply.
"We're not finished!" Austin roared, his Alpha command trying to force her to stop.
But my mate—my beautiful, strong, fierce mate—just kept walking.
Like a fucking queen, Leo purred in approval.
"Actually, we are," I said, my voice cold as I followed her to the door. "We're completely finished."
I felt Cassian move to flank Elowen's other side, both of us creating a protective barrier between her and our parents. Ronan fell into step behind us, forming a guard position.
"Casper!" My father's voice cracked with desperation. "We need to talk about this!"
I paused at the door, my hand on the frame. Part of me—the part that had been raised to respect my father, to honor my Alpha—wanted to turn back. Wanted to fix this somehow.
But the larger part, the part that belonged to Elowen, that was bound to her by fate and choice and love, knew better.
I turned back one last time, meeting my father's eyes. "There's nothing left to say," I said quietly. "You made your choices. You hid the truth. You let her suffer when you could have helped. You dealt with demons and didn't think about the consequences."
My mother was crying now, silent tears streaming down her face. Once, that would have broken me. Now, all I felt was a distant pity.
"You reap what you sow," I finished. Then I looked at them both—really looked at them, memorizing this moment. "Goodbye."