Chapter 416: Secrets & Discretion
“First Mother…?” Plum called out hesitantly.
The drow’s voice pulled Aurelia back from her memories of that fateful night 20 years ago. Aurelia breathed in shakily and tried her best to keep her voice from breaking. “...A child born under a new moon is considered an ill omen. I felt as if Lunae herself was rejecting me after I had broken my vows. I was scared. I was angry. I had lost everything, my station, my honor, my dreams… and I blamed a baby, my child.”
“I hated him for the simple crime of being born,” Aurelia laughed bitterly. “What Second Mother told you is true, she and Jahn fought off the hunters and Mothers while I escaped with Stryg into the forest. I didn’t know where I was going, I was in pain and delirious from the loss of blood. I was weak… and so lost. But when I looked into his little wailing face all I saw were my failures… I wanted it all to end.”
Aurelia closed her eyes tightly, “I gave him up. It was only for a moment, but I gave him up just the same. And that choice… I didn’t know it at the time but it would change everything.”
“What do you mean…?” Plum whispered anxiously.
“I may have given birth to Stryg but I lost the right to call him ‘son’ the night I gave him up. That role was taken upon by another.”
Plum frowned. “I don’t understand. You’re the First Mother, you raised Stryg yourself. Who else would dare call herself his mother?”
“You wanted me to give you a good reason as to why you should lie to Stryg about his parentage? I swore an oath that I would never reveal to Stryg that I was his mother.”
Plum shook her head in confusion, “You swore an oath? To whom?”