Sienna

The question hung in the air like smoke.

I wanted to answer immediately, loudly, without hesitation. But the pause —the small, awful pause my tired, bleeding body allowed—was enough for Amelia’s face to harden again.

“Can someone please tell me what’s happening?” Celeste’s voice cut through the room. She looked at May with the confused, wounded eyes of someone whose entire life had just been restructured without their permission. “Mother?”

May’s expression didn’t just change; it wiped itself clean of anything human.

“I’m not your mother,” May snapped, hitting her across the face. “I’m no mother to a stupid girl like you.”

Celeste went very still.

“What are you...