Selene's POV
The room remained so quiet that even the soft crackling of the fire sounded painfully loud, and for a moment I could hear nothing but the rapid beating of my own heart as everyone waited for me to begin my story. My mother sat directly across from me with tear stained cheeks and trembling hands, and her expression carried a mixture of fear, longing, regret and fragile hope, a sight so heavy that I felt something shift inside my chest. I inhaled slowly, releasing a breath I did not realize I had been holding, and then I began.
"After you left me where I was hidden," I said, my voice steady even as my memories clawed their way to the surface, "I heard someone speaking outside, and they said, go after Caroline because she is the power source of the coven, and once she is dead everyone will die."
My mother's eyes widened with horror, and her lips parted in disbelief, but I continued.
