Half Bad // Harry Styles

Chapter 25

♡ chapter 25 - Rose ♡

            No," was the only word that fled my lips. I couldn't think properly, I could function. My emotions were too conflicted, too overbearing and I desperately needed to sit down before I dived over the balcony railing.

            So I sank to the slab of concrete holding me high above the rest of the city. A hand pressed to my forehead as I tried to process the information she had just given me. She could very possibly be lying, yet the look in her eyes didn't give the impression that she was so.

            If this was a joke, it was a cruel one.

            "You're lying," I finally managed to say, daring to glance up at her.

            Her eyes hooded, she clasped her hands together. "I'm so sorry, Rose. I know it doesn't seem true, but I would never lie to my only daughter."

            I didn't have time to mouth back a sassy comment, my brain on the verge of exploding and my heart on the verge of shattering.

            "Tell me," I demanded. "I want you to tell me every single detail."

            And so she did.

            But first she sucked in a sharp breath, then averted eye contact. "Marcus was with Viola—Harry's mother—at the time we met. He knew of my powers and he knew he wanted them. But he had swooned me, blinded me from his true intentions and I was almost positive he had loved me." She sighed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and I realized where my bad habit had come from.

            "Viola was pregnant with Harry two months before I had found out I was pregnant with you. Hence why you are so close in age. I didn't know what I was doing, but I panicked. So I found a new husband to see if my life would settle back into normalcy. It did, for the most part, until Marcus had come back to me.

            "He wanted me for my gift, and that's when I first decided to tell him about you. And well, he wasn't exactly thrilled to find out he would have a third child—a daughter. Marcus was always the worst when it came to finding woman weak, and that's why he didn't trust me to ever be on my own. So he took me, and that's why your father—"

            "Imposter," I cut in, but my voice was timid.

            "—had told you I ran away," she finished without acknowledging me. "You see, Rose. I loved you with everything in me, but I couldn't stay without risking you to be in danger. And that is why Marcus so badly wants you now. He finally knows what you're capable of."

            I rubbed my temples, a headache beginning to form. "I guess it makes sense, but... but..."

            I was at a loss of words. We both know I was only fighting against the truth, a giant explanation I didn't want to believe in. How could Harry be my brother? Perhaps a half sibling, but we were part blood related nonetheless. And I kissed him.

            And I kissed Jessie, by force, but still.

            Cringing, I felt the sudden urge to puke. Incest was horrible. Granted you needed to have sexual interaction for that to happen, but even the thought is mortifying. Not only do baby have deformations due to some cultures believing in incest, but it dumbs them. It disabled their intellectual abilities and makes them mentally retarded. It's an awful thing, and it's sad that some cultures have grown to find this normal.