Chapter 119 Shedding Light
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Kayn appeared behind them and leaned in between them to place a plate with pizza in front of my human mom.
"Thank you, you really didn't have to." Regardless, she reached for a piece and took a bite, and sighed. "Don't think I've had pizza this good in a while."
Kayn smiled happily to himself, rounding the table, and sunk into a seat beside me. His hand immediately reached for mine and held it in place. "So," he whispered to me. "This is not what I expected."
I shook my head in response. "Me neither."
Mom's eyes found me and she paused, placing down the remainder of her pizza. "We need to talk."
"Clearly," I said. "From the beginning, preferably. Besides how you found me." I nodded toward the queen. "She already told me that part. But what I want to know is why you came here to find her? If you knew I was going to turn when I'm eighteen, why did you risk it?"
I turned my attention to my mermaid mom. "And you. Why did you give me up if I was going to turn anyway later on?" I held up my hand up when she opened her mouth to respond. "No, let me finish. Okay, I get you had to do it to protect me, but then I turned and I was in the human world. What then? What if I never crossed paths with others like me? What if I wasn't as lucky as I am now when I found Ember and Kayn?"
The queen gulped, peering hesitantly at my human mom, then her gaze narrowed onto the pizza in front of her on the table. "I'll admit I didn't think that far ahead. All I wanted was to get you out of immediate danger and then figure it out from there."
"How were you going to figure it out from there when you didn't even know where I was?" I peered knowingly at her.
She sighed. "All right. You've made your point. I've messed up there. I won't deny it."
"Were you planning to even try to find me after you gave me up?"
The queen nodded. "Yes. And your care—" She cleared her throat. "I mean, your human mother was aware of it."
"That's true," human mom inclined her head. "That was the plan, but then we lost track of the queen and couldn't find her. I dedicated my life to track her down. A year ago I discovered clear leads pointing to Scotland, and that's when your dad and I agreed to move here. We knew we were now hot on her trail."
I glanced at the queen. "Then how did you find me?"
"Martha's memories," she answered. "I found her in town and we started talking. She told me tales of her husband, and of merfolk. It was clear her memories were tampered with, so I took a peek in them and they all directed me to you."
"How did you know I was the one you were looking for?" I asked. "I mean, in her memories. How did you know it was me?"
"It's complicated," she said. "But what I can tell you is, that we all have certain prints on our soul. Yours always stand out to me because your my daughter. It's how I identify people. Not by their faces."
"Okay," I nodded slowly. "How did you track me at the restaurant?"
"I didn't," she said. "I decided to stay in town and look for you everyday since. I was fortunate enough not to have to wait long, because there I was, sitting out in the sun and you walked right past me."
"So," Hector spoke up. "This is how Martha's memory came back all of the sudden."
"Yes." The queen nodded his way. "I wouldn't have, but based of what I learned, she didn't want her memory removed in the first place."
I didn't miss the flicker of resentment on Martha's expression as she peered at Hector, before turning her attention on to the queen, and smiled. "It doesn't matter. All that matters is, that I'm here, where I want to be."
However, the look on Hector's face seemed ridden with doubt. I knew what he did mustn't have been easy, but I also knew that he had done it to protect her and his family.
I admired him for that.
It was clear he was already considering doing it again, but Martha turned to him even before I could guess what he'd do next.
"And don't you dare even think about it," she warned. "No more keeping me out of this. I'm every part of this mess our family is in, just like you."
"Mess?" Kayn's brows shot up.
"Yes," Martha glanced at him. "One of my granddaughters is missing. We are hiding the queen with us, and not to mention the mess you and Carly find yourself in too."
Both my moms peered curiously at us. Human mom was the one to ask, "Why do I have a feeling there's more we don't know about yet."
Kayn nudged me with his elbow and I shook my head, definitely not about to announce this crazy bond thing to everyone at the table.
Well, most already knew, but it was not a subject I'd like to discuss right now. "The whole AOUB thing."
Kayn suddenly nodded. "We are being followed."
"Yes. I forgot to mention that." Ember's eyes widened and she peered at Adriane. "We were followed again today."
Adriane sighed dismissively, picking up her slice of pizza. "We need to get a plan together."
