Chapter 5: Shattering the Heirloom

"Wretch, what are you saying?"

The jade cup in my mother's hand hurtled toward me.

I only glanced lightly; in an instant, the jade cup turned to dust—the air around my hand shimmering with heat, a faint crackle snapping like static.

It was a family heirloom, one of those trinkets with more sentimental value than actual worth. I didn’t flinch as it shattered, the fragments scattering like old grudges.

"You've always especially pitied Aubrey. Because Aubrey's mother eloped, you were able to marry Dad and become the Phoenix clan's matriarch. You feel it was you who snatched what her mother should have had, and that I also took Aubrey's place. So you always drag me to compensate that mother and daughter. It was her own mother being stupid that she'd be coaxed by a raven shifter. It wasn't you who ordered it, nor I, not yet born, who ordered it; I don't owe them. What is mine ought to be mine; I will not hand it over again." Mom’s hand tightened on her sleeve at that—one sharp flinch she couldn’t hide.

I turned on my heel, skirt swishing, letting her abuse fall behind me.

"She wants my face? Don't even think about it."

I let my words echo, sharp as broken glass. The family drama could swirl around me, but I wasn’t giving up my place again. Not this time.