Amidst Crimson Kisses

Chapter Thirty Three: The Brink Of Merging

Margo's POV

A tear races down my cheek in solitude as I admire the benevolence reigning in the crisp atmosphere of my mind. Then Primus silently whispers amongst the leaves, sweeping over the countryside in a wave of autumn. I stand at the peak of the mountaintop, beholding the entirety of the farmland beneath my feet. I glance at the clouds sailing across the horizon as my fingertips reach for a grey cloud. The fog surrounds my parents house in a thick mist.

Primus closes a colossal gate to her mind, forcing me out of a garden frozen in time. It's apparent what Primus is after, even despite her love for our parents I can't seem to unlock an ounce of remorse. I know it's burrowed somewhere in my heart, but I can't find it on the surface. It's almost like this part of myself has chosen to forget all about my mother's embrace of steel and my father's warm smile. Instead, I want to embrace the anger pulsing through my veins as I think of my mother and her soft cries invading my eardrums with misery.

"Wow, the time has passed, and I still remember every inch of your framework," Gwendolyn muses, kicking through loose garbage. "and I have to say, welcome back to Rosewood Academy, Margo Kennedy. Gabriella, I would vocalize my gratitude if I wasn't knee-deep in your personal affairs, so either clean up this mess or take better care of your son. Then maybe Andre will finally call you his mother."

"I've tolerated your cruelty enough, and sweetheart you have no right to judge me for what kind of mother I am. Not after everything I've done for your family with Asher's case slipping through your fingers, and let's not even mention trying to finalize your divorce from David. It's been a long time coming, but I've always wondered who Gwendolyn would be the day no one compares her to gold. Then here you are planning a way to infiltrate your illegal narcotics into hospitals around the world? It's like your on a warpath to destroy everything because your daughter is gone." Gabriella says, fire consuming her as patience disappears from her posture.

Gwendolyn glances at her with a glimmer of excitement. "Oh, Gabriella, you haven't begun to withstand the pain of my remarks, but one of us has to be the civil one. After all, I know how Elijah used his fist rather than his words, so I choose to be different. I won't hit you, but think how easy it would be to tell Elijah his wife's back in town. How beautiful would that be a man uniting with his long lost wife after all these years? I think you're long overdue for more lessons in respect, but before you try to question my worth think about what Ralph Waldo Emerson said about treasure. The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit. Remember the liberty I gave you as a Donovan, and how I can easily take it away."

Gabriella withers into herself, snapping out of her trance as she blinks away a trail of tears. Gwendolyn steps around a stunned Gabriella, grabbing my face in her hands until she's glaring deep into my soul. I blink hard as Primus stares back at Gwendolyn with admiration sparkling in my irises. I close my eyes, trying to conceal the monster locked away in my heart, but she wars against me with every ounce of strength, forcing me to release her. Gwendolyn raises an eyebrow when I peek at her with contemplation flooding my face while pondering the mirage I saw carrying Asher into my room.

"If it wasn't for Andre last night," Gwendolyn says. "they couldn't know Asher was there, not when everything's so close to unraveling. I need you two to stay as far away from Goulding Manor as possible. The Founders are still there, and you kids are the last people they want to see. Their mercy is equivalent to their hypocrisy, and right now, they'll kill to have their hands on Juliet's boyfriend. The one that can recover everything they buried, and then there's you. Margo, you knew so much about Juliet they had to trap you inside your own mind."

"They gave me a dose of Mortem to scramble my memories because what I knew? I lost everything, and you're telling me they took away my life because I knew too much. They managed to destroy my mind all because they never wanted me to expose their lies. You know what, why not just kill me? Why not just let me die." I probe, focusing on Gwendolyn.