Chapter 432 The crescent mark

“I don’t know. She looks confident, certain her monster won’t betray or hurt her for freeing me, and she’s as bitter as ever about Aunt Madeline. She still thinks she deserved to die at the hands of the werewolves. She’s not even willing to listen to me at all, and worst of all, she’s carrying his child.”

Ivy gasped. “Did she tell you that?”

Yasmin rolled her eyes. “She didn’t have to tell me for me to know. She kept holding her stomach through everything she was doing, as if she were trying to protect it, and when I accused her of carrying a monster, she became so angry. She’s carrying his child. I know that.” She said it with certainty, even though her cousin hadn’t confirmed it, and the realization only made Yasmin even angrier and more frustrated with Serena.

“She doesn’t know anything about what she’s getting herself into with those creatures or the fate she’s bringing another half-breed into their world. The werewolves are meant to suffer for everything they’ve done to our kind since the very beginning of time, starting with when our ancestor, Azmira, was killed by her so-called beloved werewolf. It keeps happening, over and over again. It was the same story with Aunt Madeline, your mother, but I don’t think your sister wants to listen to our side of the story,” Yasmin said, frustration bleeding through her voice as she swam back and forth.

Ivy was well aware of how the mermaids viewed the werewolves, ever since she’d come to join them. It had been taught to her, part of their history, how all of it had started when their ancestor first made the mistake of going to land for a werewolf, only for him to kill her brutally afterward and hang her body to lure other mermaids into their captivity.

That story had stood as a warning to anyone who dared imagine they could fall in love with one of those creatures. But apparently, their own mother had walked the same path and met the same fate of death.

Ivy didn’t have the heart to resent them or carry a grudge the way the others did, as she’d also lived with the werewolves for most of her life. She forgave easily. However, this time was different, especially after she’d learned about the sacrifices their mother had made for them, sacrifices that had ultimately led to her death.

Ivy didn’t think she could bring herself to forgive her mother’s actual killer, not in this lifetime, but she couldn’t bring herself to hate the entire werewolf clan for what one of them had done.

“Serena won’t believe you, and honestly, I think that’s for the best, Yasmin. She’s found a werewolf who’s accepted her exactly as she is, and I believe she can live a different—”

“Oh please, Ivy, don’t be naive. Vaelor knew Azmira was a mermaid, knew she’d given up her tail for his sake, and in the end he still killed her when he became greedy for powers, then let his entire world discover exactly what use a mermaid’s heart could serve them. Those creatures can’t be trusted. Especially not the Silvers.” Yasmin said, standing firm in her own beliefs, in everything they’d been taught since childhood, in the lesson their ancestor’s tragedy was meant to teach everyone.

Ivy decided to let the topic drop, knowing nothing she said would convince her cousin that her sister had already chosen her side, and that there was nothing left to do about it now. Rather than keep arguing, she said,

“I think I will go and check on Aunt Natasha. She has gone looking for you, and—” Her words were cut off as Yasmin’s mother swam in as though summoned by her words, immediately wrapping her daughter in a fierce embrace. The glimmer along her tail brightened, just as mermaids’ scales did whenever they were happy.

“I’m so glad you’re back safely, my little one. I thought I might lose you too.” Said Natasha, twin sister of the half-breed girls’ mother.

“I’m not that easily defeated, Mama, though I did get some help from Serena this time around.” She said, but noticed her mother still looked troubled even after confirming she was alive and whole, and asked, “What is it?”

Natasha swam toward her son-in-law and announced, “Something is wrong. I heard from the jellyfish that the sea witch left the sea today. I can’t help but worry. Finn,” she turned to her son-in-law, “can you help us track her whereabouts? The last time she left the sea, it was when she brought Ivy back to us, and I don’t like the idea of who she might be going after this time.”

“Serena,” Ivy said, worry creeping into her voice. “Do you think she’s found where to look for her?” She asked her aunt anxiously.

“Let’s hope that isn’t the case, or your sister is finished. The sea witch has been hunting down every twin born bearing the mark of the crescent, killing them one by one.”

“Serena doesn’t have that mark. I’ve told you that so many times already, Aunt Natasha. Whoever she’s hunting, whatever reason she has for going after everyone born with that mark, she’s going after the wrong person this time, and I really think we need to let her know that,” Ivy said, worry evident in her voice.

When she’d started digging into why the Sea Witch was so determined to find her sister, she’d learned from several mermaids, including her aunt, that for many years, the Sea Witch, who lived in the deepest part of the waters, had been hunting and killing twins born with the crescent-moon mark on their bodies.

What Ivy couldn’t understand was why the Sea Witch would go after her sister when Serena didn’t have the mark.

It made no sense. Ivy had seen her sister without clothes, and there had been nothing resembling such a mark anywhere on her skin.

Ivy thought about it worriedly, too consumed by her confusion to notice the guilt and unease flickering behind her aunt’s eyes. Natasha forced herself not to remember a past that would prove Ivy’s words wrong, a past in which she had been the one to deal with something on the twins.

“I’ll go take a look, see where she’s headed, Ma.” Finn said, already swimming off, away from the royal cave.