Last Female Sypher and Her Brother's Friends novel Chapter 132

Chapter 132

Aria

My mother is alive.

The single thought keeps slamming through me like a physical blow. Over and over again, it beats at my ribs, cracking and splintering my heart.

I’m seeing her, standing in front of me. Her bright blue eyes are dull, and the clothes around her shoulders are baggy and falling off her slim frame. There is no fire, none of the life I’ve associated with her throughout all the years of my adolescence.

All of it is missing.

Yet she’s here. Alive.

I stare at her while my entire body shakes against the ropes binding my arms. There are bruises on her wrists. Old and new. Faded scars and marks that look eerily like fingerprints.

My shoulders shake and ache, but I ignore them.

Aldren has to be playing some type of game.

“Hello, my little storm cloud,” she says tentatively.

That voice…

This isn’t a dream or a trick. My heart thuds wildly in my chest. It’s her.

“Mom,” I croak.

She takes another step forward, her eyes taking in my bound state before pain and shame pass through her

eyes.

“Is this really necessary?” She asks Aldren in a tone that is much too soft.

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Chapter 132

–“Only for the moment. We’re hoping you can change that,” Aldren replies in a flat voice.

Her nod is almost imperceptible, then she tenses as he places his hand on her shoulder.

“Get your decrepit hands off her,” I hiss.

“I’m fine, Aria,” my mother says quickly, trying to soothe me.

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It is the same tone I used to hear every night as a child. Soft and warm, while she brushed my hair from my

forehead and reminded me she had chased the monsters away.

Now her voice sounds hollow.

Like something inside her has been carved out and left bleeding. Like Aldren had taken something from her.

Because this is not my mother. Not truly. Something inside of her is missing.

A ripple of emotion shudders through me, and I know it’s my wolf somewhere deep inside me.

I look at my mother closely, trying to integrate what I’m seeing with what I know and what I have learned. All the information from the past month swirls around me.

Mom moves toward me slowly, cautiously, like she’s afraid of how I’ll react to her coming too close.

That’s when I finally really see her. Not the human lens I viewed her in, but the shifter she is on the inside. The flash of wolf behind her eyes. The blue sparks that rise against the gold.

Water, something in me whispers.

Only a sypher’s magic can fuel the Veil.

Something ugly twists inside my chest. All this time, Aldren and Kane kept her here, used her. That’s how

they knew about me, why they tried to take me even when they thought I was human.

“They’ve been using your magic,” I say deftly.

Pain flashes across her face. She doesn’t deny it. “Aria-”

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Chapter 132

“The truth, Mom. I want the fucking truth and not whatever Aldren has told you to tell me.”

Silence.

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Kane smiles faintly from near the doorway like he’s enjoying every second of this. I want to burn him alive.

“I believe mother and daughter deserve a moment alone.”

My lip curls. “I would appreciate it if, while you were out, you choked.”

His expression doesn’t change. “I do enjoy that mouth.”

“Kane,” Aldren scolds.

Kane gives my mother and me one long, meaningful look before both men leave the room.

The heavy metal door seals behind them.

For several silent seconds, neither of us speaks. We just stare at each other. My mother reaches for me, her

trembling fingers cupping my face gently.

The second she touches me, I break. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I sob. “All of these years, and then when

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