Shoulder the Skye (Skye Druids #2)(59)
Author: Donna Grant

 

“I’m verra sorry you went through that with your mum. Alone, at that.”

 

Bronwyn shrugged. “It wasn’t something we broadcasted. Dad was devastated and blamed himself. But we both knew it was my fault.”

 

“Nay, lass. Your mum was hurting. She wanted it to end, and she found a way. It had nothing to do with you.”

 

Their steps slowed, putting more distance between them and the others. “She would still be alive if I’d helped her.”

 

“You doona know that. She thought by going somewhere else the pain would cease. The truth is, there were two ways she could’ve helped herself. By taking the meds and by taking her life. She chose the latter.”

 

“I hated her for so long for leaving us and leaving Dad in such a state.”

 

“You lost two parents in one day.”

 

She turned her head to Elias. “So did you.”

 

His bright blue eyes briefly met hers. He turned away, shoving his hand through his dark blond locks that had fallen across his forehead. “It’s difficult to bear.”

 

“You handled it better than I did.”

 

He snorted as they began descending the stairs. “That’s up for debate.”

 

“You made something of your life. I’ve done nothing but make one horrible decision after another. So, yeah, you did better than me.”

 

He grasped her arm and drew her to a halt as they reached the landing before the final flight. “You were right earlier. About what you said regarding my father and me.”

 

“I had no right to speak like that.”

 

“But it was true,” he insisted. His hand slowly slid down her arm until their fingers entwined. “I needed to hear that.”

 

She pressed her lips together, feeling that same pull from the night before. Like an electrical current that moved between them, tugging them together as if they were magnets.

 

“Mum didna kill my dad,” Elias suddenly said.

 

Bronwyn blinked, unsure if she’d heard correctly. “What?”

 

“Dad physically and verbally abused Mum for their entire marriage. He had begun to beat me, trying to teach me what a real man was supposed to be.”

 

Bronwyn clung to his hand, feeling anger rolling off him with every word. She couldn’t imagine what Elias and his mother had endured at the hands of his father.

 

“As far as I know, he didna hurt Edie or Elodie. Mum didna know about him hitting me until shortly before his death. I tried to keep it from her because I knew she already had enough to deal with. But she came home and found us one day. That was when she decided to leave him.” Elias swallowed, pain flashing across his face. “She told him that morning. He became enraged and wouldna accept her decision. Edie was outside. Elodie and I heard the crashes in our parents’ room. I told her no’ to go in, but she didna listen. That was the morning she saw our father for the monster he truly was.”

 

Bronwyn fought against the surge of tears, overwhelmed by emotions for Elias and his family.

 

He paused and took a deep breath. “Elodie saw him trying to strangle Mum. Elodie went after him, and he hit her. I can still hear it. The violence in his hand as he backhanded my baby sister. Then he turned on me. No’ with his fists but with his mockery. I stood there, trying to figure out how to get all three of us out of the house and away from him, then he began hitting me. I tried to block the strikes, but he was so big.

 

“I heard Mum crying, screaming at my dad to leave me alone. I knew Elodie was hurt and watching everything. And I…I lost it. I doona remember calling to my magic, but suddenly it was there. I used it to throw him away from me. He hated that we had magic and he didna, and it felt good to hurt him as he had us.” Elias shook his head. “And that scared me as nothing else could. But I liked how it felt to hit him.”

 

A tear fell from Bronwyn’s eyes. She tried to hold them back, but she couldn’t. She was in that room with Elias, witness to the horror, the absolute carnage that had befallen them. She felt his anguish, his suffering.

 

And his fury.

 

But Elias wasn’t finished. “If he had been livid before, he got enraged then. I doona know where the knife came from, but suddenly it was in his hand. Elodie rushed to me. We both thought Dad was coming to take my life. Instead, he went to Mum. Before I even knew what was happening, Elodie’s magic erupted from her hands. It grabbed him and lifted him into the air as he pleaded with her to stop. Then his body turned in on itself until he was just…gone.”

 

Bronwyn could only stare at him, surprise, sorrow, and rage warring within her for what had happened. She wanted to say something, but everything that came to mind didn’t hold the amount of empathy or compassion she felt.

 

“Elodie went into meltdown after that. She was so afraid of the power of her magic that she wouldna stop screaming or crying,” Elias said as his gaze briefly skated away. “Mum jumped into action. She wanted to save Edie from the truth, while helping us at the same time. She offered to take Elodie’s magic, and her memories of what’d happened with it. Elodie agreed.”

 

“Oh, my God,” Bronwyn whispered.

 

He nodded slowly. “Once Mum bound Elodie’s magic, and her memories were gone, she finally stopped screaming. Even to this day, I often wake to the sound of those screams. It fell to me then to keep my sisters safe and ensure Elodie never learned what she had done.”

 

“And your mum confessed to the murder.”

 

“Aye. I left Skye soon after because I’d have ended up saying or doing something that would have brought Elodie’s memories back, and that was a truth she couldna handle.”

 

Bronwyn swallowed, putting her hand on his chest. She needed to touch him, to offer whatever comfort he’d take. And to try to take away some of his pain. “I’m so sorry.”

 

A muscle jumped in his jaw, his eyes filled with anguish and torment that ran deep. Bronwyn wrapped her arms around him. The way he held her tightly as if she were the only thing keeping him going caused another tear to fall down her cheek.

 

They stayed wrapped together for a long time. She had known by his earlier comments that he didn’t care for his father, but she’d never imagined anything so horrid. No one had, apparently, because there had never been any gossip. And if someone had seen something, it would’ve made the rounds on Skye.

 

“No one should suffer like that,” Bronwyn said. “You lost everything. Your childhood, your family, and your home.”