Chapter 45: Twin Shadows

Chapter 45: Twin Shadows
Ronan POV

I left Sasha at her cabin because she asked me to. I knew she needed time to process everything we had uncovered. I didn’t blame her, even my head was blown. Although, I had to force myself to leave. I didn’t want to leave her alone. I wanted her to use me as a sounding board. But I wasn’t about to push her. So, instead, I started to short walk back to Thelma’s cabin. I was still angry at her for betraying us, but I had nowhere else to go. The village was quiet, and when I stepped inside, I wasn’t even surprised to see that she was waiting for me.

“You want answers,” she said as I closed the door behind me.

“I want the truth,” I corrected. Thelma watched me closely for the longest time, but she didn’t say a word. I sighed loudly. “Come on…tell me what you know and be done with it,”

“It’s…” she shook her head, and I frowned. I don’t know why, but I had this sudden feeling of dread that washed over me. I somehow just knew that whatever she was going to tell me, it wasn’t going to be good.

“Erika had two children,” she said. “Not one. Twins,”

“Wait, what?” I asked, surprised. Thelma nodded slowly.

“She had a set of twin girls. She left one with us…Sasha…and she took the other one with her,”

“Why?” I asked curiously. “Why only leave one?”

“Fear,” Thelma said. “She was being watched. She thought if she split the blood, one might live,” I sat because my legs didn’t trust me.

“No one said there were two,”

“Because by first snow there was only one,” she said. “A border rider found Erika near the old road by the ash grove. Fever or a wound took her. The message came late. No infant listed with the body,”

“Taken,” I said.

“Or lost to the cold. We never learned. We assumed the worst because it was easier than hoping for a door that never opened,”

“You should have told Sasha,” I argued. “This is big,”

“I couldn’t carry another crack through her,” Thelma said. “Tonight has already cut deep. I didn’t want to add to it. And what would it matter? Her twin is gone. Dead,”

“Still, Sasha should know about this. As hard as it is, she has a right to know the truth,” I argued.

“Yes, but what if it breaks her?” Thelma asked.

“It will break her,” I murmured. “Do you know who the father was?” I couldn’t help but ask, but Thelma shook her head.

“No. She never spoke of him. When she first came to the pack, she was already pregnant,” I shook my head. This was a lot.

“Do you know anything about her twin? Other than that, she died?” I asked.

“No. Erika didn’t even name them. We named Sasha,”

“Well, I think she has a right to know,”

“Ronan,” Thelma warned, and I frowned as I met her gaze. “Give her tonight. You can tell her in the morning,”

“The morning won’t make it any smaller,” I said as I got to my feet. “She deserves to know…and I refuse to hide anything from her…even for a minute,”

“You are making a mistake,” Thelma said, and I paused. “Sasha has never asked questions, and this could be a bit much,” I ignored her warning and hurriedly left her cabin. The walk back to Sasha’s made me wonder if my Aunt was right. But it was too late.

“Ronan…I didn’t expect you to come back so soon,” Sasha said as she looked at me when I walked in. She sat on the couch with a cup of tea and her mother’s spellbook. But then she frowned. “What? What is it?”

“Sasha…your mother…Erika…she didn’t just give birth to one girl. She gave birth to two,” I blurted out awkwardly. Sasha stared at me without blinking.

“Say what now?”

“Your mother had twins. Girls. She left one with the pack and fled with the other. She died, but no one actually knows what happened to the baby. To your sister. To your twin sister,”

“Is she…is she dead too?” Sasha asked.

“No one knows,” I said.

“All my life I told myself not to think about my parents,” she said. “I thought that made me strong. Now I can’t stop thinking about a person I never met…and now I find out I had a twin sister…”

“I know this is a lot,” I whispered. I couldn’t imagine what she must be going through. I wasn’t directly involved, but even I felt overwhelmed. I sat down on the couch and glanced over at her. “I’m sorry,”

“No…I’m thankful you told me,” she said with a soft smile. “It…I can’t help but wonder…what if she survived? What if she is out there somewhere? And what if she is like me?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I just…when Thelma told me, I knew I had to tell you. I’m sorry, maybe I should have waited till morning,” I made a move to stand up, but Sasha reached out and stopped me.

“No. Stay,” she said. “It was wrong of me to ask you to go,”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I’m glad you came back…even if you did deliver some pretty upsetting news,” I said. But the truth was that I wasn’t sure what else I could say to her. We sat in silence for a long time. So long, in fact, that I dozed off. I startled when I felt something wrap around me.

“Sorry,” Sasha whispered. “You fell asleep and I didn’t want you to get cold,” she explained. I glanced down to see that she had draped a blanket over my shoulders. I shot her a tired smile and got comfortable. I watched her with sleepy eyes while she paged through her mother's spellbook.

“How come the photo only shows one baby?” I asked curiously. “You assumed it was you, what if it wasn’t? What if that is your sister?”

“I thought about that,” she said. “But I can’t really think about it too much, Ronan. It…it upset me. They are gone, and I’m only now finding out about them. What sort of daughter does that make me? And now, I’m a sister? I just…I let them down,”

“How?” I asked, confused.

“But not showing an interest before now,” she said, and I shook my head.

“You had a good childhood, Sasha. Why would you question it?” she didn’t say anything, and I closed my eyes. I listened to her breathing and eventually, I gave in to the tiredness and fell asleep.