𝙍𝙀𝘽𝙊𝙍𝙉, the legendborn cycle (1)

chapter forty one

The two in front of her wait. They stare and look at her with so much carefulness. She can see that Sels eyes are filled with sympathy, he slowly moves to reach his hand out but stops when he sees the look of rage in her face.

AZ clenches her teeth still looking at the paper. Her eyes are narrowed with fury.

"What do they mean by simple murder case?" She grits out, eyes wide. "I know what the fuck I saw that night what do you-." She lets go of the paper and moves her palms on his rug, as if to steady herself.

"AZ..." Bree says softly. She's in pain as well from the strain in her voice. All three of them had discovered the unimaginable when hearing about the heartbreaking news regarding their parents.

"Like I said earlier I signed up for this...and for what cost." AZ mumbles her voice was hoarse but she was trying to keep it together.

She flips the page and very much it was that Sheriff lady who had spoken to her. From the long tied blond hair, her pale skin and hazel eyes. Her demeanor in the picture was much different from how she presented herself in front of her that night. This picture felt cold and distant in contrast.

"That's it."  Bree says wearily, A humorless laugh leaves her in a low huff. "Now we know." AZ straightens the papers and places them in front of the circle they created. She doesn't look when Bree stands up to the door.

"Wait, Briana." He stands and moves to walk towards her but stops when he notices AZ is still. "You guys can sense aether, see it and you can feel it. But you both also resist illusion. If mesmer doesn't work for you both then for your mothers it probably didn't work for them either."

"Yeah." Bree tightens her throat. "I already thought about that."

"And?"

"And?" Bree whips around, fighting back tears. "Don't you get it? She did the smart thing. The thing I should have done in the first place. She hid. She hid every time one of those Scions or Squires pretended to be her friend and 'tested' her. She hid what she knew from everyone for twenty-five years, so this medieval boys' club, this feudalist fever dream, this whole... fucked-up world of yours could never find her!" Bree gestures to AZ whos still not saying anything.

"And my aunt was the same way. You heard the report she and my uncle did everything in their power to protect AZ. She didn't want to put her in the same predicament which is why they ended up moving farther away. So she could provide a life AZ would be proud of. But it didn't work like that. Never free and end up being murdered for it...and for the Order to just..." Bree shakes her head.

"She hid it from me. Or she tried to. But it didn't work, because I'm a selfish daughter and I had to come here and dig." With that statement AZ gets up and it gathers their attention.

"Bree I..." She starts. "I don't regret it."

"AZ... but." Bree pauses.

"I know Aunt Faye hid this from us and for good reason. But we got the answers we needed-"

"Is that really what you care about? AZ! We just found out about what happened to our parents and what really happened and the Order screwed them over. Even with how much information we found out. They're never coming back!" Bree cries and AZ winces. Her cousin was right.

"But you're not selfish Bree. Aunt Faye wasn't right to keep secrets from us."

"But she did it for good reason! If your mother was still alive and acting like my Mom did, how would you feel?" Bree asks and AZ takes a minute to think. What would be the difference? Would she still snoop like she was now?

The answer would be no.

"She didn't want us to find the Order"—Bree turned, snarling at Sel—"Because she didn't want us to become your target, but we did anyway." Bree tug her shirt down to the still-healing purple bruise on her collarbone from tonight's trial. "Didn't want me to get hurt, but I did anyway. I had to barge in with the barest shadow of a plan and no clue what I was doing." She turned back to AZ.