I'm the Mother of the Heroine? (Book 1)

Chapter 46

Leo:

Henry Caddigan. A name I loathed. Sure he was my uncle but that didn't mean I had to like the bastard. When dad died, leaving mom alone to support me, she'd gone to my uncle for help. Of course the greedy asshole wouldn't give a helping hand; at least not for free.

I'd known that something seriously disgusting was happening beneath the false smiles my mother had started giving around me. She'd come home with bruises and the appearance of someone who'd begun to slowly lose the will to live. Her eyes had began to deaden each day.

She no longer gave me false smiles because she couldn't even muster that much up. Everyone knew Henry Caddigan though. He was, as well as my deceased father, a member of the 11 Star Caddigan family. Many warriors have come out of our family.

Unfortunately, my uncle was the heir to Caddigan. As such he inherited everything when my grandfather died. It wasn't that bad though because my father made a decent living guarding the border during the summer and having winters off. He'd been killed by a magical beast wave that he was caught by surprise in.

It had been so sudden that he'd not gotten around to write a will for his wife and child. All money he'd been guaranteed as recompense went to the Caddigan family; Uncle Henry.

I wasn't stupid. I knew exactly what my uncle was doing to my mother but my magic hadn't broken free yet. So, when I noticed the dark aura coming off the boy with grey hair braided at his neck, I knew I needed to be his friend.

I just hadn't expected the woman he was staying with to be so beautiful, nor for her to know who my uncle was. No matter, I'd take her mind off my family name.

Lily:

"What's a lovely lady such as yourself doing surrounded by so many flies?"

I looked at the boy in front of me and didn't know how to respond to that. I've had my fair share of compliments but this was a 12 year old boy.

Vincent looked over and seemed fascinated by the blonde boy.

"Uh," was my response as a blush formed on my cheeks. I tried to steer the conversation somewhere else. "Nathaniel, how was your result."

I sounded desperate even to my own ears. Nathaniel looked slightly amused as he crossed his arms and regarded me.

"The tester seemed shocked by all my magic but otherwise fine. I expected as much since Damon has been helping me."

That sounded about right. Damon was definitely a good teacher.

"Vincent when is your birthday?" I seemed to be grasping at straws here but I figured the question was relatively reasonable. Leo seemed to find it all amusing, from his smirk. 

Vincent looked up at me and seemed to think about it. "Is a birthday the day you are birthed?"

I nodded at him. "Then I think it is sometime in July."

"How old are you anyways?"

"I will be 11 this year, I believe."

Which gave us another year until his Markings would be unlocked. I wonder what magic he had.

"Ma'am, would it be alright if I came over? By the looks of this kid," he pointed a thumb at Nathaniel, "He's got an awesome teacher. I was wondering if I could ask this Damon guy for some pointers."

A Caddigan was asking for a tutor? I wanted to ask but bit my lip.

"As long as it's alright with your mother, sure."

At the mention of his mother I watched as Leo closed down again before becoming cheerful. "Oh, my mother's busy with work but she doesn't mind as long as it will help me improve."

That seemed like the Caddigan way. Most would focus solely on their strength. Which wasn't a bad trait but sometimes they push their children forcefully down that path. Hopefully Leo wasn't one of the children.

"Alright. Since we're done here you can come back with us. Hopefully Damon is home today. Sometimes he disappears. If that's the case I'm sure Nathaniel wouldn't mind helping you."

The boy in question gave a mild grunt. As we made our way back home I began to worry about whether Helena would be there. She and I had been having a difficult time of communicating lately and I highly doubted she'd be okay with another boy being brought into the house.

Well, it wasn't her decision anyways about who was brought over. I really needed to stop worrying about how she will react. She's probably off at Connie's anyways. Which brought up another problem all together. When she gets back I'll need to have a talk with her about her ordering the maids to take her. 

In fact, I'll need to have a group talk with all the workers inside the residence about it. I felt like a headache was approaching so I used a bit of my magic to rub circles into my temples. It had the desired effect and the migraine melted out of my head. 

"I'll go look to see if Damon is home. You boys can go off and do whatever you wish for the time being. I'm sure Celia will be setting up the dining room soon. I'll be sure to let them know that we have a guest over."

I shooed them away and watched as Nathaniel looked unsure about bringing the new boy to his room or to the practice room he had. 

Off I went to search for my brother. 

A/N: I know this is a bit short but I'm having trouble keeping my chapters on the present instead of skipping all over the place to be honest. I'm getting super damn antsy.