Rune Mage [Fantasy/Adventure | Book 1 +2 | Complete]

Chapter 74: The Past She Never Knew

Seiren couldn't believe Bellamy Southwark, who had appeared so collected and regal, doubted her.

"You admitted you yourself created the things that rampaged through Acrise and have escaped south. Is it just coincidental you aren't caught up in the slaughter? One would even think you released them of your own will and escaped to safety."

"How dare you!" Seiren shouted, leaping to her feet, fire raging through her body. Ashworth and Relish both stiffened. She wanted to slap Southwark's calm face. His eyes bore into her own. Spit flew from her mouth and her voice rose several octaves. "I helped those Acrisians for days to get them through the winter freeze and tried to get them out of Acrise when bloody Butterworth made that order. Do you know how hard it is to lie to his face when he knows I smuggled the lot of them out? He would have murdered them all if I hadn't gotten them away. How dare you suggest it was my plan to release those abominations?"

A warm hand gripped her wrist. She made to yank it away and bent her knee to jam her foot in the belly of whoever was idiotic enough to touch her when she was so mad. She halted and lowered her leg. Rowan's mouth was turned down at the corners in a deep frown. He shook his head, once.

"Ha... ha..."

Disbelief replacing her fury, Seiren looked up to Southwark, who held a hand to his face, chuckles vibrating off his shoulders.

He's... laughing? Even Madeleine sounded flummoxed.

"I'm glad this amuses you so much," Seiren said, frosty.

"For a moment, I saw Kristen Harred."

Seiren froze.

He knew Mother?

"Kristen was a terrible liar as well, and she had quite a temper during her time at King's."

Seiren had never heard of anyone speaking of her mother when she was younger. After she died, people would avoid the topic out of either courtesy or awkwardness -- not that many even spoke to her at King's anyway. And whenever her name had come up, it was always reverence for her talents and personable affect. It somehow made Seiren's memories of her more human, knowing she, too, had her flaws.

You can't be naive enough to think Mother was perfect, can you? Madeleine sounded amused.

No, but it's been so long since I've seen her or heard her voice, all I remember are the good parts.

Well, here's a less good part: remember when she'd taken off to Benover for mage duties that one week when Father was away to retrieve that old book from Cliffe? And he'd told her weeks before he would be away that week. She forgot about us. They had a huge argument when he came back and he realised we'd spent that week at the Feblands' because we had no food.

"You knew my mother?"

"We were in the same year at King's. She was quite a stellar student, popular, a strong sense of justice. We were neck and neck on all the subjects: runes, scribing, accuracy, sportsmanship, history, theory... you name it. She was just a tad more talented than me at burst magic and could progress to flash by the time we graduated." He shook his head. "You are just like her. She was also incapable of lies and believed wholeheartedly in any cause she invested in. If she believed in you, she would take a rune to the chest for you."

Seiren couldn't help but smile, feeling warm to her core. Her smile dropped when she knew what would be next: no doubt Southwark, like everyone she'd met so far, would then express his condolences about her death and lament a waste of a good life. After realising how easily he could read through her lies, she wasn't sure if she could keep the suspicion her mother was alive to herself if Southwark started to probe her for it.