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Chapter 3

Penulis: Oldcat
"Get away from me!" My fading voice seemed to light a fire in her.

She shoved my father, sending him stumbling, then ran barefoot toward the basket. She hadn't even stopped to put on her leather sandals.

Blood ran down her legs, leaving a horrifying red trail across the stone floor.

"Give me the basket!"

My father's face darkened with rage. A vicious gleam flashed in his eyes.

"She's lost her mind! Hold her down!"

The birthing room erupted into chaos.

Chione lunged forward first to block her path, but my mother shoved her aside.

Daphne backed away with the basket, but my mother lunged after her. She grabbed it and fought to wrench it free. Her pearl armlet was pulled off and her hairnet fell in the struggle, but she wouldn't let go.

My whole world lurched and spun.

A pair of large, rough hands reached in and grabbed me. Then I was stuffed into something soft and scratchy.

Darkness swallowed me.

The jostling left me dizzy, and I couldn't draw a breath.

Mom!

I'm here!

My mother reached the wicker basket and tore off the lid.

Then...

She went still.

There was no baby inside.

My mother was stunned!

So was I. I'd been in that basket just a moment ago.

My father straightened his rumpled robe and gave her a disappointed look, as if his favorite vase had just shattered.

"Thea, do you see now?

"What do you see besides blood and afterbirth?

"You've just given birth. Making a scene like this will only hurt you. And it's breaking my heart!"

He was a master at making everything sound like her fault.

My mother stared blankly at the blood in the basket. Tears spilled down her face.

I could feel her starting to wonder if she'd imagined my voice.

No. She couldn't think that!

I used the last of my strength to send her a faint cry for help.

Mom, you're not imagining me.

I'm still in the room...

It's so stuffy... I can't breathe...

My mother looked up sharply, as though she'd received a revelation from the gods.

"Search!" she ordered. "Search this room!"

But the servants only looked at one another. No one dared move. They were waiting for my father's orders.

My mother raised her voice. "Search every corner! Search everyone! My baby has to be here!"

My father gave Daphne a cold look. She shrank back.

"Nobody move!

"My wife has just given birth. She's delirious.

"Bring her medicine to calm her down. Help her drink it."

He wanted to shut her up!

I struggled frantically in the dark, but I could barely make a sound. I couldn't stop the servants from approaching her.

"My lady..." Two older slave women brought a black pottery bowl filled with dark medicine. "Forgive us."

My mother kept backing away.

She grabbed whatever was within reach and hurled it at them. Water jugs, wine pitchers, and glass cups shattered across the floor.

"How dare you? I'm the archon's daughter!" Her voice was hoarse, but it still carried the authority of her rank.

The two women were too intimidated to come any closer.

I thought my mother might be safe. Then my father stepped in and grabbed her jaw.

"You need to rest."

He was just about to pour the dark medicine into her mouth when it happened.

Crash!

Someone slammed into the birthing-room door from outside, forcing it open.

"Just try laying a hand on my sister!"
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  • Dad Tried to Kill Me, but Mom Heard My Thoughts   Chapter 9

    It was Myra.She wore a striking saffron chiton. Her face was powdered with white lead, and her lips were thickly coated with vermilion.This time, her beauty earned her no mercy.They threw her hard to the floor. She screamed at the sight of the roomful of guards with swords and my father's deathly pale face.My father's eyes suddenly lit up. He pointed at Myra. "It was her. She wanted everyone to think her son was legitimate so he could inherit. That's why she bribed the midwife to switch the babies."He shuffled forward two paces on his knees and clutched my mother's robe. "Thea, I only wanted someone to carry on the temple rites. A daughter can't inherit the family estate... I just wanted an heir."Myra froze. Her eyes reddened, and she shook her head over and over."No, no! Cassian was the one who thought Thea couldn't give him a child."He said that if I had a son, we could take her dowry. Switching the babies was his idea too!"A long silence settled over the room.Lying in my m

  • Dad Tried to Kill Me, but Mom Heard My Thoughts   Chapter 8

    "Cassian!" Once my mother was seated, Damon seized my father's collar. "Only priests are allowed to obtain rue. Anyone else who wants it refined has to find a witch. A single pouch costs a fortune."Where would a slave like Chione get the money? Where would she find someone to sell it to her?"Are you still going to say you had nothing to do with this?"My father was white with fear. Still, he gripped Damon's fist and shook his head, trying to stay calm. "Damon, I knew nothing about it. This has nothing to do with me."He was making one last attempt to pin it all on Chione.He won't admit it until he's staring Hades in the face.Mom, his secret accounts are on a scroll in the study. It's hidden in a two-handled jar on the bottom shelf of the scroll rack.It lists every payment he made for rue!I shouted the truth in my head, trying to pull my mother out of her grief.My mother jerked her head up and fixed my father with a hard stare."Damon, send someone to search his study!"His accou

  • Dad Tried to Kill Me, but Mom Heard My Thoughts   Chapter 7

    My father bit his lip hard, unable to speak.Seeing him like that was so satisfying.He's still shifting the blame!Mom, question Chione first. She must be working with my father.There's still rue in her hiding place under a floor tile in her room!Chione lay limp with terror on the cold stone floor and refused to get up."Spare me, my lady. I don't know anything."My mother kept her gaze locked on Chione, but for a long time she said nothing.At last, she crouched and grabbed Chione's left hand. She pushed Chione's loose tunic sleeve up to her shoulder, exposing her whole forearm.The red mole stood out starkly in the lamplight."You don't know?" My mother's voice trembled slightly. "I wish that were true. We've been together for ten years. But during all five pregnancies I lost, you prepared every dose of medicine I took and every scented oil I used, didn't you?"Chione's pupils narrowed sharply, but she kept shaking her head. "I've never betrayed you. Please believe me, my lady."M

  • Dad Tried to Kill Me, but Mom Heard My Thoughts   Chapter 6

    My uncle wasted no time. He laid out each item in front of the threshold.Holding me in one arm, my mother took the torch in her free hand. Standing at the familiar doorway, she closed her eyes and recited the ancient prayer, speaking each word carefully. "Key-Bearer, threefold goddess, guardian of crossroads, mistress of thresholds. Through your power, I heard my daughter's cries. Please lend me your strength once more."The flame flared, then abruptly went still, as though an invisible hand were holding the wick steady.Hecate appeared before me in a white robe, a torch in one hand and a mottled snake coiled around the other. A black hound lay curled at her feet.But no one else in the room seemed able to see her.Hecate circled my mother with light, graceful steps, then surveyed the birthing room.I grew anxious and let out a small whimper.Goddess, please help my mom.When she heard me, my mother instinctively held me tighter. "If you are here, please make the flame flicker three t

  • Dad Tried to Kill Me, but Mom Heard My Thoughts   Chapter 5

    "My baby! My baby!"My mother tore free of my father's arms and stumbled toward me.She picked me up with shaking hands. Warmth wrapped around me. For a moment, it felt as though I were back inside her womb."I knew I wasn't imagining it!"She kissed me all over. The olive oil used during the delivery still clung to my skin, its scent mingling with the smells of blood and burning mugwort in the air.So this was what my mother smelled like. This was how warm and safe it felt to be with her."Waaah!" At last, I let out my first weak cry.At the sound, my mother could finally breathe again. She held me, laughing and crying, whispering, "My baby, my baby..."Mom, I made it...My uncle finally understood what had happened. He held his bronze short sword to my father's throat and demanded an explanation.My father went white but struggled to stay calm. "Damon, there has to be some misunderstanding."After a moment's thought, he pointed at Daphne. "She hid the baby. I knew nothing about it."

  • Dad Tried to Kill Me, but Mom Heard My Thoughts   Chapter 4

    My eldest uncle, Damon Theron, strode in from the cold night. His gaze swept over the wrecked room and stopped at my mother's reddened wrist.His face darkened at once."Cassian, is this how you take care of my sister?"He fixed my father with a hard stare.My father hid the malice in his eyes and slipped back into the calm, gentle manner of a priest of Hestia."You've got this all wrong." He even gave my uncle a small nod. "Thea's just given birth. She's confused. I just asked them to calm her down.""I'm not confused!" My mother struggled upright. "Damon, that baby isn't mine. They've switched my baby with someone else's."She clung to his arm. "She's still in this room. She's calling for me to save her."Her words made me want to cry.I knew how desperately she wanted to find me.When I was in her womb, she'd told me Aesop's fables every night. She told me about the gods and their tangled lives, about cities rising and falling. She'd whispered that when I was born, she would gather

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