Rune Mage [Fantasy/Adventure | Book 1 +2 | Complete]

Chapter 95: Mother

But he had held audience. He'd spoken to mages, issued orders, moved about. He couldn't have been killed that long ago, then.

"Seiren."

One word. One voice. It brought back a whole host of memories and a flood of feelings.

Seiren turned around, tears prickling at the corners of her eyes. The scent of Pollin's corpse disappeared with a wave of the hand by the figure standing in the shadows. The figure stepped forward. The dwindling sunlight fell on the side of her face, throwing her profile into sharp relief. Dark blonde hair lay neatly in a plait to her side, dark brown eyes with a stern look, straight eyebrows that were permanently knitted together in a frown, and a small smile on her dimple-cheeked face. She was clad in a basic black cloak, her boots barely visible at the hems.

"Mother." The word pierced through Seiren's heart. Acid swirled in her stomach, relief squeezing her heart. Tears pooled at her lower eyelids and threatened to fall. Her lips trembled.

"Seiren." Her voice was so sweet. It was the same voice that told her off for fighting with Madeleine, that praised her for attempting to study so hard despite Madeleine faring better, that lectured her to eat her greens.

Seiren's feet began to run of their own accord. She reached her mother and threw her arms around her. Solid. She was solid. She was here.

"Mother."

The tears poured. Her heart ached to the point it felt like it might explode. She breathed in. Freesias. Her mother always smelt of freesias, her favourite flowers. She wore them in her hair and sprayed the essence to her throat and wrists. Seiren was lankier, bonier, but her mother was softer, curvier, and so warm in the embrace. Her mother patted her shoulders, humming the same nonsensical tune she'd always used whenever Seiren had a hard time at school. Tears, snot, and saliva all mixed into one. But Mum didn't care, keeping Seiren close. Seiren's mind was a crazy whirlwind, full of picture-perfect recollections: her mother telling her off at the dinner table with her father laughing; her mother dressing Seiren's wounds after a scuffle at school; her mother receiving her after she and Madeleine had stayed the night at Kasia and Tala Febland's. Her mother's neck was warm, the skin silky-smooth, a small moon-shaped scar just at the joint between her neck and the shoulder. The continuous hum soothed Seiren's woes. The freesias smell cocooned her in a nest of safety. It was all right. Mother was here. It would all be fine.

Wiping her eyes, Seiren drew back, sniffling. Her mother cupped her chin, tilting her head to the side with a gentle smile.

"Oh dear, you still cry with snot and all everywhere, sweetheart."

Seiren shook her head, mopping her face with her dirty, half-burned cloak.

"You're here... you're here. I thought you were d-d-"

"Dead?" Her mother sighed, a wan look on her face. "I'm so sorry, my love. I've put you through so many things. You've grown so much. I'm as proud as can be. Look at you, so tall, so strong. You look just like your father when we first met."

"Really?" Her heart lifted.

"You took after my stubbornness and hot temper, though. Maddy was always the calmer and more reasonable one. She took after Connor."

Hearing her father's name made Seiren's chest tighten again.

"Dad, is he really... really...?"

Her mother nodded her head, her smile disappearing. "I'm sorry, honey. Your father really is dead. He shouldn't have been caught up in my affairs. It's my fault." She sighed. "He was innocent. He wasn't magical. But he wanted the best for us all... it was just tragic he couldn't have helped me in what I needed to do."

"And what is that?" Seiren took a step back.

Her mother shook her head this time and the wan look returned.

"They were innocent, but humanity's propensity for war is unforgiving. It's innocent souls like them who will always get caught up and harmed. They wouldn't play dirty and wanted to see the best in everyone. And they will be the ones that get betrayed. I would have given my life to protect them."

"But instead, you let Jarsdel kill them."

"It's not that simple." Her mother closed her eyes and wiped them with one finger. "It wasn't just my family who would suffer. Everyone's family would have suffered. It was a sacrifice I had to make, regardless of what I believed in. I regret it every day, believe me."

"You left me all by myself. I had nobody." It was unbelievable she stood there, clear as day, still alive despite what Seiren had believed. "Six years, I was all alone. You didn't even contact. I thought I killed you."

Her mother's shoulders sagged and she looked as if she might cry. "I was afraid the indigo rune I placed on you would create a guilting memory like that. I had no time to control it; it was all I could do to wipe that night's events from your memory--"

"You couldn't. I remember it. The altered version, before Jarsdel's soundwave attack brought it all back. Thank you for the nostalgic trip down memory lane."

"You have to understand -- timing was of the essence that night. I had to disappear."

"What was so important that you would let another mage kill your own husband and daughter and leave your sole remaining child with the memory of her being the killer of her entire family?" Seiren's fists clenched and trembled.

"Zor had killed Pollin."

The words took her by surprise, dashing the simmering resentment that had began to grow.

"What?"

"Zor. He came to me that night and I hadn't returned from my mage duties. He had stayed late in Benover to persuade Pollin to rethink waiting out the long winter of Hanna. There was only another month left when we could have utilised their frozen lands to our advantage, but he wouldn't yield. I think Zor overpowered his magic and killed Pollin. But if word got out, we king's mages would lose the power over the people. The country would descend into chaos. I had to see to the body quickly before the residual magic drained out of Pollin."

"What did Father and Madeleine have to do with it?" Seiren said, her voice dry.

"They hadn't." Her mother's eyes were downcast. "We had agreed anybody who weren't part of the circle who became aware of our plan would need to be killed. If anyone outside hear of our plan, there would never be a second chance. Connor overheard our conversation so he could never live. Madeleine just got caught in the middle."

"But you... you're the one who powered the rune that tethered Madeleine to the necklace."

"I couldn't..." Kristen's voice became choked. "I couldn't leave you by yourself. Your eyes... I knew I had destroyed everything dear to you that night. That rune was drawn to perfection. It was just because your body was still so young you couldn't channel the magic needed. I just gave you the power you lacked to hold onto Madeleine's soul before it left with the magic to the great beyond. It was all your doing, really."

Seiren fell silent.

"I've been watching you, Seiren. I couldn't let you know I was alive. That would jeopardise the plans. But I have been watching you. I saw you soar through every exam at King's and graduate at the top. I saw you leaving the ceremony. I saw how far you progressed with the healing runes -- that breakthrough with the self-healing runes exceeded anything I could have done. You should be proud."

"Those self-healing runes turned the subjects into monsters."

"That means it just needs more refining. But it's such an enormous step forward. Imagine if our soldiers were unafraid of weapons, bombs, injuries. Imagine if our own people were unaffected by natural disasters. Children wouldn't have to die young of disease. They wouldn't have to lose their parents due to accidents. Think of the possibilities."

"But... why are you doing this?"  

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