Free Web NovelChapter 183: Chapter 182: Margaret Died
"In time for what?" Eve asked, moving immediately to the bedside and taking Margaret’s hand with infinite gentleness. "You’re okay. You’re going to be okay."
Margaret smiled...a knowing, tender smile that held no illusions. "Oh, sweetheart. We both know that’s not true."
Eve felt tears prick at her eyes. "The healing worked. You’ve been better. Stronger."
"I was," Margaret agreed. "Your uncle gave me a gift....weeks of clarity, of real time with you rather than pain-hazed confusion. I’m grateful for every moment of it." She squeezed Eve’s hand with what strength she had. "But the gift is ending, honey. We both know it."
From near the door, Maya stood frozen, clearly uncertain whether she should stay or give them privacy. Margaret’s gaze found her.
"Maya," Margaret said warmly. "Come in properly, dear. Don’t hover in the doorway."
Maya moved closer, her own eyes bright with tears. "Hi, aunt. It’s good to see you." freewёbnoνel.com
"And you." Margaret looked between the two young women and something like satisfaction crossed her face. "My girls. Both here. That’s...that’s good."
She closed her eyes for a moment, gathering strength, then opened them again with clear focus. "There are things I need to say. While I still can. While my mind is clear."
"Mom, please..." Eve started.
"Let me say them," Margaret interrupted gently but firmly. "I need to say them, and you need to hear them. Okay?"
Eve nodded, unable to speak past the lump in her throat.
Margaret looked at Maya first. "You’ve been a true friend to Eve. Through everything at that awful club, through the uncertainty of the past few months. Real friendship....the kind that shows up without being asked, that stays when things get complicated...that’s rare. Thank you for being that for her."
Maya was crying openly now. "She’s family, Margaret. Of course I stayed."
"Family," Margaret repeated, with a warmth that encompassed both young women. "Yes. That’s exactly what you are to each other." She paused, her breathing labored. "Take care of each other. Even when....especially when....life gets strange and complicated. Promise me."
"We promise," Eve and Maya said simultaneously.
Margaret turned her full attention to Eve then, and the love in her eyes was so profound it hurt to witness.
"My beautiful girl," Margaret said softly. "I have watched you grow from a terrified baby into an extraordinary woman. Every day with you has been a gift I never expected and never took for granted."
"Mom, don’t...." Eve was fully crying now, tears streaming down her face.
"Shh. Let me finish." Margaret’s thumb moved in small circles on Eve’s hand. "You were given to me in the most unusual circumstances. A baby left on my doorstep with nothing but a pendant and a note saying you needed protection. I should have been afraid. Should have questioned it. Should have done a dozen rational things."
She smiled. "Instead, I looked at you...at your amber eyes and your beautiful face, and I loved you. Instantly. Completely. You became mine in that moment, and nothing that’s happened since has changed that."
"You saved me," Eve whispered. "You gave me everything."
"You gave me purpose," Margaret corrected. "You gave me a reason to be brave when I wanted to give up. You gave me twenty-three years of joy and pride and love that I would never have experienced otherwise."
Her breathing was becoming more labored, the nurses glancing at the monitors with concerned expressions. But Margaret pushed through, determined to finish.
"The men you’ve chosen...those impossible, overwhelming men, they love you well. I can see it. Feel it. They’ll protect you in ways I couldn’t. Let them." She paused. "But don’t lose yourself in being protected. You’re not just something precious to guard....you’re powerful in your own right. Don’t forget that."
"I won’t," Eve managed.
"And this Court situation...this heritage you’re reclaiming..." Margaret’s expression became more serious. "....it’s going to be dangerous. People will try to hurt you, manipulate you, use you. Be smart. Be strategic. But don’t let the politics make you cruel. Power is only worth having if you use it with compassion."
"I’ll try," Eve said.
"You’ll succeed," Margaret said with absolute certainty. "Because you’re my daughter. Because you carry the best of your birth parents and the best of what I tried to teach you. Because you’re Eve, and Eve doesn’t give up."
The monitors were beeping more insistently now. One of the nurses moved closer, checking readings, her expression professionally neutral but her eyes sympathetic.
Margaret’s gaze shifted to something past Eve’s shoulder...past Maya, past the nurses, past the physical room entirely. Her expression softened with something that looked like recognition and relief.
"Oh," she said softly. "There you are. I was wondering when you’d come."
Eve felt ice run down her spine. "Mom? Who are you talking to?"
But Margaret’s eyes had already started to close, her breathing becoming shallow and irregular, her hand going slack in Eve’s grip.
"No," Eve said, her voice breaking. "No, Mom, please. Not yet. I’m not ready. Please...."
The machines’ beeping changed quality, became more urgent. The nurses moved with practiced efficiency, one of them gently trying to guide Eve back from the bedside.
"You need to step back, Ms. Seraphim," the nurse said, not unkindly. "Let us work."
"No!" Eve pulled away. "I can....I can help her, I can...."
Her succubus nature was rising instinctively, desperately seeking any way to help, to heal, to stop what was happening. Power gathered under her skin, green light beginning to glow from her hands.
Maya’s eyes went wide....the first time she’d seen Eve’s power manifesting visibly, the first undeniable proof that something genuinely supernatural was happening.
"Eve," Maya said, her voice shaking. "Your hands...you’re glowing...."
But Eve barely heard her. She was reaching for Margaret, trying to channel healing energy the way Raphael had, trying to pour life force into her mother’s failing body....
Raphael’s voice cut through her panic.
"Evangeline. Stop!"
