Breakwater by Shannon Mayer Read Free Book Online Page A

mother.
    Cassava picked her up by a handful of hair. “How dare you even breathe a word to that whore? She is nothing compared to me. NOTHING!”
    Ulani. That must have been it. Her father had a new mistress who was beautiful and kind. She’d given Belladonna a baked pastry she’d made herself. Had brushed her hair and held her against her chest while Belladonna cried softly. How did her mother know, though?
    “Tell me what you said to her.” Cassava bit out the words and with each one she slapped Belladonna again.
    “I said nothing, nothing! She gave me a pastry. I didn’t even like it.” That wasn’t the truth, though; it had tasted of strawberries, Belladonna’s favorite. And Ulani had made it for her, made it special for her.
    “Who braided your hair then?” The words were deadly soft and Belladonna knew what was coming, knew she’d been caught in a lie. She tried to back away. Her six years on the planet had taught her the mood swings of her mother, and that lying was her only hope of avoiding a beating. Even if she got caught, it could be the only chance she had of surviving. “Not Ulani, she didn’t do it.”
    “You little liar.”
    The blows went on and on, raining down like a thunderstorm that seemed to never end. The pain lanced through her, and at one point she wondered if this time she wouldn’t wake up. That would be good. To just go to sleep and not hurt anymore. The mother goddess would be kind. At least, she hoped she would be. Maybe the mother goddess looked like Ulani. Yes, she could imagine that easily.
    As suddenly as it started, the beating was over and Belladonna lay on the floor, shivering and aching. Hurting in both body and heart. Alone. Scared. Night fell and she crawled into a corner, taking the tiny blanket she loved so much with her. Blue and green, stitched with her namesake, she lay down on it.
    “Mama,” she whispered. “Mama, why don’t you love me?”
     
    I jerked hard out of the memory unable to stomach yet another truth of our family. I fell away from Belladonna and vomited all over the ground. Burying my fingers into the hot sand, I struggled to breath around the sobs that built in my chest. Sorrow and pity flooded me. Just a little girl, she’d been so tiny, so afraid. The sorrow and pity were gone in a flash, wiped away in a flush of anger so intense I couldn’t see straight.
    This had been going on for so many years and the mother goddess had done nothing. Nothing but let the smallest of her children suffer. I drove my power deep into the earth, the fury I felt akin to when I’d lost Bramley. “You let them be hurt. You LET THEM!” I screamed the words, didn’t even think about the pain that would hit me when I grabbed for my power. The ground shook with a violence that bucked the whole island, sending the ocean away from the shore in a rush that left fish flopping on the wet sand.
    “ANSWER ME! WHY?” I couldn’t contain it, the rage, the pain, the loss. Belladonna was a creature of her mother’s creation. But she’d been a child once. A child who’d needed and deserved love and protection. Yet she’d been left to her mother’s mercy which was anything but.
    “Lark, have you lost your mind?” Belladonna screamed at me, grabbing my arms, dragging me up the beach. “The water is coming back.”
    I let go of the earth’s power and spun around. The ocean was rushing toward us. I’d inadvertently caused a tsunami. We ran, Belladonna tripping and falling over her dress. I scooped her up over my shoulder and bolted for high ground. She bounced and screamed from her perch. “Hurry!”
    All my training came together in a split second. I knew I could outrun the water on my own, but not carrying Belladonna and her dress. She was going to have to help. “Pull the ground up, block the water!”
    “I can’t, I can’t feel the earth!”
    What the hell was going on? There was no way I could carry her and try to reach the earth’s power. I dropped my