71. A Mother's Despair

[ELARA]

As I quietly make my way to the guest quarters, every step fills me with dread, slowing my pace. My arms shiver, and it is not just from the cold of the place being built underneath carved ground.

How do I break it to a mother that her only daughter has turned into a rogue? The worst fate that can be cast upon a werewolf? And that I feel partially responsible for it?

I had some hope in me this morning when my eyes opened beside the sleeping figure of Magnus. We visited Alina in her locked cell, passing through the concealed entrance, and found her transitioned. I knew it was coming, and I refused to believe it until I saw those bloodshot eyes and rabid fangs.

She growled furiously the moment we approached, rattling the silver bars, without a care that they were searing the skin of her hands. Magnus had to drag me out of the dungeons because I couldn’t move or speak.

It was terrifying, somehow even more than when I saw Alec. I loved him, and I falsely believed a part of him was