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.”“So they got the babies away from my mother somehow.”Mel nodded, looking unsettled.“Or lured her out and stole them while she was gone.”I looked at Jack.We had seen the birders.We let them go past us.We could have stopped them, stopped everything.He moved his head slightly, telling me there was no reason to explain that, that it didn’t change the outcome.I bit back the confession, but it boiled and churned inside my stomach, mixed with the rest of the guilt stewing there.“When I came around the corner, my mother was in the stairwell.The birders warned her to stay put, but she didn’t.”Mel smiled.“She was a warrior.”“And a mother.” I’d seen Mel when she thought someone had killed her son.I’d thought the crazed emotion that had overtaken her was a Mel thing, but now I realized my mother had felt it too.It made me uncomfortable, wondering if I’d misjudged her all along.I’d never had to balance being on the high council with raising a future queen.Maybe she’d cared for me more than I knew.Or maybe I just wanted to believe that now that she was gone.“What happened then? Did you see where the birders went? If there was anyone else with them?” Mel asked.I shook my head.The dirt had provided a perfect cover for their getaway.“This was not all some strange coincidence.We have to assume they wanted the babies.That this was all planned.”My lips thinned as I pondered my next move.I wanted to revenge my mother’s death, but every moment the high council’s rule to kill infant sons stood, a baby might die.Which would my mother think was more important?I forced my mind to focus, to push emotion aside.The answer was obvious; my mother had died trying to save two infants.If I let even one die now, it would be an insult to everything she’d been trying to accomplish.Somehow I had to do what my mother had failed to do.I had to change the high council’s rule.And then I’d kill the bitches who took her life.Chapter 16As soon as the decision firmed in my head, I began moving forward.Mel grabbed me.“You can’t leave.”“My mother is dead.There’s no reason for me to stay here.”“What about your brother?” she asked.I blinked, confused for a moment.Then realization hit me.the baby.My mother had been caring for him.Would that responsibility fall to me now? I stiffened.A child wasn’t in my plans, never had been.“His father will take him.” Jack watched us, his eyes moving back and forth in his face.His father.I looked at Jack.“The man helping.with the concrete.” Jack had told me the bird was the baby’s father, but somehow once I’d put my mother into the picture, I’d forgotten him.He nodded.“He met Scy a few years ago.She didn’t know he was a son at first.”“But she did before she got pregnant.” No one had said it, but I knew it was true.My mother had wanted her children to be strong.the strongest.She had wanted it for me and she would want it for this child too.What better way than to give him a son as a father?Jack’s gaze dropped for a second, but then rose.“I don’t know when she found out.Mateo hasn’t told me.”Mateo.He didn’t like me; it was obvious from how he looked at me.It made me wonder what my mother had told him about me.Then I remembered he knew me not as my mother’s daughter but as the queen who had hunted and, he thought, tried to kill his child.I stared at Jack, unsure how I felt about turning the baby my mother had been so determined to save over to a son who hated me.I shouldn’t care.If asked, it’s what I would have said was the best solution.give our male children to the sons who wanted them.but now faced with it.it felt wrong.I pressed the pads of my fingers into the heels of my hands.I couldn’t afford to quibble about it now.Even if I knew word one about caring for an infant, I couldn’t do what I had to do with a baby strapped to my back.Maybe my mother could have, but I wasn’t her.I accepted Jack’s proposal with silence and looked back at Mel.“My mother’s position on the high council is open.She couldn’t convince them that things need to change, but maybe someone else can.”“You would try to get on the council?” There was reservation in Mel’s voice.I knew what she was thinking—the council was the enemy—but according to what my mother had told me, they weren’t.But I wasn’t a queen.I wasn’t sure where I stood with the Amazons right now.To think of joining the council was ludicrous.That didn’t mean, however, that I couldn’t try to open their eyes to the fact that the sons weren’t their only enemy.It might be enough to convince them killing infants wouldn’t keep them safe from attack.I returned my focus to Jack.“Will you help me find the birders?”Confusion flitted across Mel’s face.“I thought—”But Jack held my gaze.“I will.”He knew what I was asking.I didn’t know how he knew when Mel didn’t, but that didn’t matter right now, what did is that he’d agreed to be my ally.He’d agreed to fight my enemy.The Amazons, some at least, would respect that.Another plus in my case to not demonize the sons.I shifted my attention back to Mel.“I need Bubbe to tell me where the council meets.” Years ago, years before Mel had left the tribe, Bubbe had been on the high council, and even if they didn’t meet in the same place, I’d never met a priestess more powerful than my friend’s grandmother.She could find the council; if she had to ask Artemis herself, she could find them.Mel’s face was grim.It was obvious she didn’t agree with what I planned to do.I wasn’t sure why—if it was her general hatred of the council or her lack of faith in me.It didn’t matter.I had already made my decision.“You won’t get ten feet from where you stand.You move out of this circle and Bubbe’s ward will be broken.It’s anchored to you, but it won’t move with you.The police will remember who you are and why they wanted to talk to you, and they won’t look kindly on you leaving without doing it.”Behind Jack, two men lifted my mother’s body and placed it in a dark zippered bag.My throat tightened.“Get Bubbe.She can hurry them on their way.”Mel’s lips were pressed into such a flat line now that I could barely see them [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]