She burst out with, “Why didn’t anyone know how powerful you were until today?”
I giggled.
“Because you’re all selfish, narcissistic wankers who are so obsessed with being at the top of the food chain, you can’t even see who’s around you,” I said with absolute glee.
Charity scowled at me and I scowled back.
“And if you hadn’t been so blinded by your pure blood bullshit, you would have realized that the mixing of Fae blood and Witch blood is a brilliant combination,” I continued.
“Heresy!”
“Abomination.”
The insults went on and I rolled my eyes. Even with the proof before them, they still couldn’t see the wood for the trees. It was almost comical if it wasn’t so pathetic and sad.
Tavlor touched the pages of the journal with one hand, waved the other hand, and two identical copies appeared on top of the first.
I smiled up at him. “Thanks.”
I held tight to the original and let Tavlor take one copy and hand another to my father.
“Okay,” I said, stepping forward and turning my attention back to the Council. “I’m going to read directly from her journal. Taylor and my father will follow along. Hell, I’m sure one of them might even hold up the page so you can read along yourself, in case you don’t believe me.”
I looked over at the two men and told them the page number before opening to the page I knew almost by heart. I sucked in a breath. My heart started hammering against my chest. I didn’t know why I was nervous, not when this was the right thing to do. I shook my head, trying to calm myself down. The Council and my father needed to hear this to see just how ridiculous they were being. I cleared my throat and started reading.
July 20th 1996.
Oh, my goodness, holy shit... I’m pregnant!
I stopped reading for a moment, smiling at my mother’s words. She sounded like... me. My prim and proper mother saying swear words, writing them down. I unconsciously reached for my locket but found it wasn’t hanging around my neck. I suddenly wished I had brought her with me.
No, no, no. This was not supposed to happen. What is Matlock going to say when I tell him?
He’s meant to get married to that crazy-ass bitch in the fall.
What am I going to do?
Do I tell him at all? Maybe it’s best if I just keep this to myself. I don’t want to put myself or my child at risk. Who knows what’ll happen if anyone finds out?
I lifted my gaze and stared directly at Charity.
She lifted her nose and looked away. I was glad she couldn’t look at me, because I was disgusted by her too.
August 1st 1996.
I saw Matlock again tonight and he told me we needed to stop seeing each other. That it was getting too hard for him to continue, so close to the wedding.
I was hoping we’d get another few weeks... but then again, he might start noticing how sick I am all the time.
I haven’t told him yet. I still don’t know if I’m going to.
I know that makes me a bad person, but I don’t care. I need to figure this out, and soon.
I inhaled sharply, my heart aching with the empathy I still hadn’t worked out how to stop.
How scared must she have been?
August 10th 1996.