Page 214 of Fractured Fate

“Yeah, that will never happen,” her ma said.

Riley’s phone clattered to the floor when Molly jumped into her lap, knocking the phone from her hand, demanding her attention. “Okay, then. I guess Seth can wait.”

Aiden chuckled. “He can talk to you when we get back.”

Her mom placed her other hand over Charlotte’s, sandwiching her hand. “Liz is right. You’re our daughter, and you were always meant to be our daughter.”

Knowing the things she did, Charlotte wondered if there was a deeper meaning to those words than a mother’s love.

“As I said, your father is American. His name is James Robertson, and he has lived in Florida from the time he left after your mother passed away.” Her mom tightened her grip. “He…” She sighed. “Your father is not a good man.”

Her ma and Riley snorted at the same time.

“Understatement of the century,” her ma said. When her mom leveled her ma a withering look, she held up her hands. “What? I know we shouldn’t badmouth her biological parent, but what decent person abandons their baby? I’m sorry, Sara, but I don’t care how old she gets, I’m going to always hate that man.”

Her mom huffed. “I’m sorry if it upset you to hear that. Liz gets heated about your father, and I don’t blame her.”

“I’m fine. I don’t have good feelings about him either.”

Riley stroked her hand over Molly’s back as the cat loafed in her lap, purring like a motorboat.

“Is there anything else?”

Her mothers shared a look again, and she suspected they knew a lot more about him than they let on, but was it something that revealed more than they were supposed to know? If so, Charlotte wouldn’t force them. Instead of risking it, she changed direction.

“Actually, no. It’s not worth dwelling on.”

Aiden ran his thumb over the top of her hand in soothing circles.

Taking the out offered to them, her ma asked, “So are you ready for classes? It starts this week, right?”

“Next.”

She’d told them about her plans to take Business Administration, and they were both ecstatic about the opportunity to find her own path. After training with them in their business, she could open her own doing something she loved instead of sticking with fashion or animal care. Once she found out what she wanted.

“Does this mean you’re going to stop taking your medication?”

She looked at her mom. “Maybe eventually. I need to talk to my doctor. Even if things are better for me, that doesn’t mean I won’t have depression. I mean, if it’s clinical. I need to talk to them and find out what they think.”

Starting and stopping her medication whenever her moods wavered from one extreme to the other didn’t sound like the best idea. One of the biggest reasons she became depressed was a loss of stability. She didn’t want to trigger the dark feelings anytime something shifted in her life—especially now that she was part of a world full of unpredictability. At least the medication gave her a fighting chance. Love did great things, but it wasn’t a magical cure-all if something was wrong on a chemical level and not environmental. Time and meeting with her doctor regularly instead of once a year would provide the answers she needed.

“That’s smart of you,” her ma said. “Whatever you need, no matter what the doc says, we’ll support you.”

Aiden squeezed her hand.

She wondered if when her magic surfaced after Blaire became a Vasirian she wouldn’t need medicine anymore. She didn’t think transitioning would cure her of her depression—it wasn’t like cancer or a virus, but she did wonder if the combination of becoming Vasirian and having living magic in her blood would alter the chemical state of her brain. The possibility was yet another reason she looked forward to transitioning.

She hated that she couldn’t do it now, but the Oracle said without her own magic, she wouldn’t survive. She didn’t have Blaire’s magic—or any for that matter. The magic that sparked her bond with Aiden lived inside him and was only enough for that purpose. She couldn’t wait to have her own magic.

“Life at Blackthorn is going to keep you busy,” her mom said, shifting the subject, keeping her eyes on Aiden. “I expect to see you, but if we have to wait a while before that can happen, we both understand. Given the path you’ve chosen, there may be a time when coming home won’t be an option for a while. Just know we’ll be here when you’re balanced and ready to come home.”

Riley’s forehead lined as she stared at Charlotte’s mom. The way she’d worded that must have sounded strange to Riley, too.

Charlotte had told her what the Oracle said about her mothers. They’d talked with the others in their small circle, but they all knew to keep the information close to the chest or they risked her mothers’ minds.

She looked at Aiden, and his grip tightened. “I’ll always come back,” she whispered.

“Good!” Her mom gave her hand one last squeeze before standing. “Who wants tilapia for dinner?”