WolfeBlade: de Wolfe Pack Generations by Kathryn Veque (reading an ebook txt) 📕

lying,” Aurelia spat. She jabbed a finger at her. “Look at her! She has stolen Camilla’s dress. Camilla didn’t know anything about it at all. She’s a thief and a liar, Mama. There is no telling what she did with that… that man.”

Drucilla just stood there and shook her head at the behavior of her niece, wagging it back and forth. “Is this true, Gavriella?” she asked. “I did not want to believe what was in your father’s missive, but how can I not believe it when I see the evidence right before my eyes?”

Gavriella was still eyeing Aurelia dangerously. “What evidence, Auntie?” she asked. “What do you mean?”

Drucilla uncrossed her arms and went to sit at the feasting table. She sat at the end, so heavily that the chair creaked, and immediately poured herself some wine.

“Sneaking out to meet a man,” she said. “Your father told me what happened to you. He told me that you fornicated with a man and bore a child as a result. He told me that you needed my guidance to mend your ways but, already, you are doing here what you did at your father’s home. You are off meeting strange men and doing God only knows what with them. Well, Child? What do you have to say to all of this? I cannot have your terrible influence around my daughters, Gavriella.”

Gavriella was pale with shock that her aunt should speak so freely of that horrible event that had ruined her life. She said it in front of Aurelia, no less, who was staring at Gavriella in shock before assuming a gloating expression.

That threw Gavriella over the edge.

“Did my father tell you that I was abducted and beaten and raped?” she asked, her voice beginning to tremble. “I had no control over the men who abducted me from the village and assaulted me. I did not willingly fornicate with anyone, I assure you, Auntie. My father is embarrassed and frightened by what happened, so he sent me here so that he would not have to look at me. I was not a willing partner in anything, Aunt Drucilla, certainly nothing like your daughters are when they sneak out of your home in the middle of the night to attend a guild called Gomorrah where they kiss and dance with men they do not know, and I am sure they have done much more than that.”

Drucilla’s expression went from one of severity to one of shock. “They what?”

Gavriella was going for the proverbial throat. “Did you even know Aurelia leaves your house nightly to go to this place?” she said “You should ask the guards on night watch. Or mayhap you should watch for yourself. If anything, I do not need the horrible and scandalous influence of your daughters, who are shaming the House of de Kennet every single night.”

She was nearly shouting by the time she was finished, pointing fingers at Aurelia, who let out a scream of shock and fear and anger. Drucilla was on her feet, looking between Gavriella and her daughter in horror.

“Silence!” Drucilla bellowed, holding out a hand to stop Gavriella’s rant. “This is not about my daughters! How dare you say such… such terrible things about them!”

Gavriella wasn’t going to back down. “Ask them,” she said through clenched teeth. “Ask Camilla. Ask the guards who watch the postern gate at night because they let us pass most easily, which tells me that Aurelia is either paying them to look the other way or she is fucking them to keep them quiet. I am not the sinner here, Aunt Drucilla. Tend to the whores in your own house before you accuse my house of being dirty!”

Aurelia screamed and ran at her, hands like claws. Gavriella saw her coming and, after having beaten an armed knight in the head only hours earlier, she was ready for her petty, weak cousin. As Aurelia drew close, she lashed out an open palm, catching the woman in the face and sending her tumbling. Aurelia crashed into the chairs and ended up on the floor as Gavriella pounced, grabbing her by the hair.

“Tell her what you do every night!” Gavriella cried. “Tell her how you sneak out and let men kiss your mouth and fondle your breasts! Tell her what a whore you are!”

Aurelia was screaming. “Let me go!” she said. “You have ruined everything, you stupid chit!”

Drucilla was on top of them, trying to separate them, but she didn’t have the strength and Gavriella was surprisingly strong. She called out to the guard near the hearth and he stepped in, grabbing Gavriella around the waist and yanking her off her cousin. But not before Gavriella came away with a handful of red hair.

Aurelia was hysterical and, by now, the entire house had been alerted. Camilla had come down the stairs, now standing in the doorway and weeping fearfully at the sight of Gavriella and Aurelia fighting.

Gavriella caught sight of Camilla as the guard dragged her away.

“Tell your mother what you do every night, Camilla!” she screamed. “Tell her that you sneak out to that terrible place where men and women fornicate for all to see! Tell her how you let strangers kiss you!”

Camilla let out a cry, her hands to her mouth as she looked at her mother and sister. “She knows?” she wept in a question mostly directed at her sister. “She told Mother everything?”

Aurelia was being helped into a chair by her mother, her hand on her head where Gavriella had yanked the hair out by the roots.

“Tell Mama it is a lie,” Aurelia insisted frantically. “Tell her that Gavriella is lying!”

Camilla had no idea what was going on. She was sweet, and weak-willed, and not particularly bright. “About what?” she said. “About Gomorrah? How does Mama know about it?”

Aurelia could see that her denials were crumbling. Her sister was too stupid to reinforce her claims. Therefore, she did the only thing she could do – she burst into tears.

“It was Gavriella