"If that is the case, then you should take responsibility for your own actions."
The Matriarch's cold, calculated smile remained fixed as she watched her daughter, waiting for a reaction. Irina knew that this was a test, a challenge that her mother had set before her to see just how far she was willing to go, how much she was willing to defy expectations.
The mention of "that boy" had been deliberate, a reminder of the warnings she had received.
But Irina was not the same girl who once cowered under her mother's shadow, who let others dictate her choices.
The visions she had seen, the future she knew could come to pass, had strengthened her resolve. Astron was no mere orphan, no insignificant boy. He was something much more, and she would not allow her mother or anyone else to convince her otherwise.
