Katherine knelt at the top of the stone stairway in front of her mothers' looming figure. She fixed her eyes on her mothers' polished black stilettos, not daring to look up into her eyes. The pain on her face was nothing compared to the heartache and shame she carried inside of her from always being the family problem.
"I blame your father, that wretched man!" Sophia fumed, pacing back and forth in front of Katherine, "I could have married anyone else, but no! Your grandmother said 'this one, despite being born to humans he is strong. He will give you powerful daughters'. LIAR!"
Katherine tuned her mother out, in times like these her mother always blamed her father for how weak she thought they were. Although Katherine didn't blame him, she couldn't defend him either, he was always off in the human realm with his team doing some excavation for the humans. He rarely bothered to visit them, and when he did there was always a big fight over trivial matters between her parents.
"Katherine did you hear what I said?" Sophia asked with her arms crossed. Katherine's ears perked up when she heard her name but she hadn't been paying attention to her mothers' words.
"Oh, um…" Katherine knitted her brows as she tried to respond but her mind drew a blank.
"I didn't think so. When are you going to get your head out of the clouds and become a productive member of this family" Sophie scolded and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Don't you ever get tired of being the weakest link in the coven?"
Katherine's heart squeezed at her mothers' words. It had been a while since she had been chastised, her skin wasn't as thick as it once was when she lived in this house of horrors. Katherine's faced grew hot and tears stung her eyes as they rolled down her face in silence and dripped off the tip of her nose. She didn't ask to be born this way, with hardly any magic and no real talent for it. Dante had been the only saving grace she had growing up. He had never looked down on her or criticized her when she couldn't perform a spell, he was so patient when he helped her learn a new spell. Being back in The Valley without him was almost too much to bear, there was no one she could turn to here for comfort. She was all alone.
Katherine's eyes were still fixed to the ground when a pair of glossy black Mary-janes came to stand next her mother. Katherine looked up at Adelaide who had a cup of coffee in one hand and a cellphone in the other.
"David is on line one asking your opinion on silverware for the benefit," Adelaide continued, "Also, Mr. Sanders called, the package you ordered is ready to be picked up."
Sophia snatched the phone and cup of coffee from Adelaide, taking one last glance at Katherine before shaking her head.
"I want her dressed in something presentable and do something about her face, the last thing I need is a puffy daughter presented to the council," Sophia declared to Adelaide with raised brows, who nodded her head in understanding. With that Sophia made her way in to the manor without taking another look at Adelaide or Katherine.
"C'mon Kat, lets get you cleaned up," Adelaide murmured softly, taking Katherine's hand and gently tugging her to her feet.
Katherine twisted her lips in distaste and yanked her arm away from Adelaide. She knew everyone in the manor heard her getting berated yet no one came to her defense. Adelaide and Mabel had let Marianne send her away from Dorian when she was trying to protect him, she didn't want to have anything to do with them. She just wanted to get this trial over with so she could return to the human realm and go back to only seeing her sisters twice a year. Katherine could feel the pity radiating from them with each passing interaction.
"I hate you," Katherine whispered, but she didn't mean it. In fact it was just the opposite, she loved her sisters and that was the problem. They proved time and time again her whole life that their niceties come with fine print, and she was tired of loving them. In that moment Katherine decided she would take a page from their book and be a rotten, selfish Deighton.
Adelaide went to reach back out to Katherine again but stopped half way and dropped her hand back to her side. Katherine shoved past Adelaide making her way to the manor entrance.
"Be ready in an hour, Mother moved up the trial," She heard Adelaide call out with a sniffle. Katherine ignored her sisters words and made her way though the stone and marble threshold.
Katherine walked through the long manor halls for what felt like an eternity, passing portraits of her ancestors and various statues her father used to bring back from his trips to the human realm. Her black hiking boots squeaked with every step on the marble floors, Katherine stopped in front of one of the portraits hung on the wall. It was the only portrait left of her grandparents, mother, and three aunts all together. It was laughable to Katherine how nothing really changes from generation to generation.
When Katherine finally reacher her room she immediately jumped on to the sheer black canopy covered four poster bed face down with a groan. Her room was located all the way in the back of the manor in the south wing, she didn't mind it as she had a view of the back gardens and surrounding forest from her balcony. Katherine put her hands under her chin, she wished she had time to take a nap before the trial but her stroll through the manor ate through the little time she had.
Katherine let herself slide off the bed and made her way to the dresser, opening the drawers and tossing various clothing items on to the bed. She needed an outfit that said 'I'm not a murderer'. Katherine settled on a grey turtleneck with a pair of slacks and her black peacoat and black heeled boots. She ruffled through her desk drawer looking for any rogue hairpins and quickly twirled her long hair into a tight low bun. When Katherine passed by her full length mirror she couldn't decide if she looked more like Marianne or Adelaide dressed the way she was. One thing was for sure, she didn't look or feel like herself.
There was a quick loud pounding on Katherine's door and it didn't stop until she flung her door open. Mabel was leaned against the door frame in her crisp black suit, face red and out of breath.
"Mom.. is.. in .. the car.." She gasped between huffs doubled over, her shoulder length hair sticking to her face, "We.. need.. to.. hurry.."
Katherines eyes widened on the sight of her sister and realized what Mabel was talking about, if they didn't hurry there would be hell to pay. She was not in the mood to be chastised again right before her murder trial.
"Just teleport us to the car," Katherine suggested the obvious solution with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Are you kidding me? I had to teleport both Adelaide and myself all the way from the human realm," Mabel retorted, "I am out of commission for the day in the magic department. I literally ran here from my room."
Shit, Katherine thought and in the next second she took off sprinting down the hallway, her heeled boots slapped against the marble floor. She could her the clicking of stilettos running behind her as Mabel fought to catch up to her. Both girls were running side by side sliding around each corner of the hallways. Katherine side eyed her sister who returned the look, Mabel pumped her arms harder to get ahead of Katherine but Katherine willed her legs to move faster.
They could see the main entrance where the car was waiting outside and both girls jumped through the door. Mabel stepped down on the ground first and threw her hands in the air, her chest heaved and she gasped to catch her breath.
"I.. won..," Mabel managed to say, and Katherine threw her a sour face.
"I wasn't racing," Katherine corrected, and Mabel patted her on the back.
"You always were a sore loser after a close race," Mabel let out a soft chuckle with a slight smile, but as fast as the smile came, it was gone in an instant and Mabel headed for the black car that waited for them without another word.
Katherine knitted her brows together as she put her hands on her hips to catch her breath. She couldn't remember a time when her and Mabel had raced against each other, but she couldn't shake this feeling of warmth that flickered inside of her. Katherine tried to push her feelings deep down, and climbed into the long shiny black car where the rest of her family waited for her.
Neither Katherine's sisters nor her mother said a word to her, they were each lost in their own little worlds. Katherine took a deep breath to steel the nerves that crept over her like climbing vines. This was her first time being accused of a crime and she hoped it would all be over quickly. She took another deep inhale and then another, sniffing the inside of the car that held a distinct smell. She tilted her head and put her finger to her chin trying to remember what the smell was and then it hit her. She looked around the car at each of her sisters and then her mother. One of them smelled like honeysuckle and vanilla, the same scent she smelled in the graveyard when she met death.