The elder lady stood then, towering over Amber at a height so massive that would have sent her gasping in another situation. She was the tallest in the room, almost the same height as Casper if she didn't have a slight slouch to her back from age. And when the shadows cut across her face, chiselling already gaunt flesh she seemed more horrifying than ever.
"The other girl in this room," she smiled sweetly, but only appeared even more frightening. "She came home three years ago, begging the family to snuff out news on ripped soul flowers from a concert." Amber's breath caught in her throat, blood draining from her face as her heart pounded. Claudia didn't seem to understand her words, and she was thankful now that they spoke in dialect. "We thought you would die. But you didn't."
"I couldn't," Amber whispered.
"Because you had seven. One of which, conveniently has the direct blood of my child," she smiled, tapping her nails on her arm, red, sharp and manicured. "I don't tell my children this, they've already disappointed me more than once, but Casper reminds me too much of my soulmate. It's a shame that I wasted away in the pain of my loss instead of cultivating him to become the true heir of the company."
"He would have never agreed."
"Perhaps. He is just as passionate as my love," she glanced wistfully at the portrait and then back at Amber. "Just as smart, and as stubborn."
"If you liked him so much you could have done something when he struggled."
"I don't handhold," the older lady scoffed and Amber saw then how terrifying the woman could be as she stalked to the window, hands clasped to her back. "Children grow stronger from pain. They need to."
"And they grow further."
"Bah," she waved her hand dismissively, "we have different educational methods. You grew stronger after all that pain." She pointed harshly at Amber. "I've seen videos of your old presentations in school when you were just a young, weak little thing. You cowered and wept. Now, you stand tall in a room of strangers talking back to your soulmates' mother. You stood firm in that live stream. "
"What do you want from me," Amber asked softly, instinct telling her that this wasn't just meaningless talk of her accomplishments.
"A child," she glanced back at Amber. "Get pregnant and give me your child. Then, I will help you get what you want, in exchange for what I want." Amber stood, stunned into shocked silence at her words, and the cogs in her brain twisted and turned. What the fuck?
"You don't care about the gender? The lineage? If it's Casper's?" She found herself asking the questions before she could stop them. Her heart pounding in her ears at those words.
"Oh, Ambrosia, a tightly woven soul bonded unit produce children that take on the good traits of all their parents. It is why they are smarter, more successful and much more special." Grandmother laughed, clucking her tongue. "Gender? My husband was the one that died early from prostate cancer while I sit on his throne. I don't care if it's a girl or a boy. Surname, I can change, but weakness? I can't."
"Y-you, you want to—"
"'You can have more sweet, soft little children. Twins are common for people like you, you are healthy and fertile, plenty of chances to have children. But I will raise your firstborn. I will be its mother, it will be mine," she smirked. " We will play the story of Rumplestiltskin and I will be your imp. In exchange, I will give you your revenge and your soulmates' success forever."
Fuck.