The Ugly Duckling Of The Tiger Tribe-Chapter 121: Why would he exile her?

"Why bring her up now, Arinya?" he finally asked, his voice low and raspy. "You haven’t asked about her in years. You... you stopped asking a long time ago, so why—?"

"Because Father mentioned her," I said, my voice steady, my eyes never leaving him. "He said she wanted to see me, but that I couldn’t. He looked... broken," I briefly darted my eyes away and then brought them back to him. "Kaelor, I need to know why. What is going on?"

Kaelor’s chest hitched. He lowered his gaze and didn’t look up for a while. He just stood there, his shoulders hunched as if he were trying to make himself smaller.

And then he began to whisper to himself,

"Father shouldn’t have said anything. He promised..."

"Promised what?" I pressed, stepping closer. I could feel Damar’s protective heat behind me, but I kept my focus on my brother. "Kaelor, look at me and tell me what it is. Please."

It took a long time, but finally, he lifted his head. His eyes were bloodshot, scared. There was a hollow, haunting look in them that made my pulse spike.

My heart raced with unease as I anticipated the words he was going to say.

"Father... exiled her."

My eyes widened in shock.

"What?" What did he mean by he exiled her? Could a mate really be capable of doing something like that?

And why would he even go that far?

Even I, who had been branded a criminal multiple times, wasn’t exiled, no matter the vile accusations that were placed on my head.

"Mother is in the South," he said. The words didn’t come out with force; they drifted out, light as he wished they could go unheard. "In the Deadwood. Past the marshes where the wind doesn’t blow."

"The South?" My voice drifted from the wall, sharp with confusion.

I’ve heard about the South from Taruna.

She said that they called it the Cursed Land, or rather, Deadwood, because nothing grows there. The ground doesn’t grow crops and the feeling of the soil against your skin is just so harsh and uncomfortable that it was regarded as a barren land, so no one lives there.

Then, why would my father exile his mate to such a place?

"Father put her there a long time ago. He built the hut himself and carries the food every week, though I don’t know what’s become of her now since it had been a while." He explained.

I felt a chill that had nothing to do with the night air.

"Why would he exile her? What did she do?"

"She did nothing!" Kaelor suddenly snapped, a flash of the old, aggressive brother returning, but it vanished as quickly as it came, replaced by a devastating slump of his shoulders. "She did nothing but get sick, Arinya. It started a few months after you and Veyra were born. Her hands... they turned cold. Then they turned hard. Like the stones in the river."

He held up his own hands, staring at them as if he expected them to change. They trembled.

"The tribe started whispering. They said she was cursed. They said the ’Stone-Skin’ would spread to the cubs—to you, to me, to everyone. Kill the ’blighted’ mate to save the bloodline, or cast her out, the elders said. But father... He could not do it."

My heart thundered. A choice. Rakan had been forced to choose between the woman he loved and the safety of his children and tribe.

I didn’t... I didn’t know such a thing happened.

Was this why I could not remember her face—Why it was hard to remember her no matter how many times I tried to recall a memory of her?

Was this why my father was so obsessed with trying to make me be like my mother, who was rumored to be graceful, and beautiful?

He wanted to see more of her in me than of himself, whom he blamed for not being able to cure her.

I covered my mouth and staggered back, my eyes wide in disbelief at this sudden knowledge.

Damar held me from behind, making sure I did not lose my footing.

"Are you okay?" He asked but I couldn’t respond.

To think Arinya lived all her life thinking her mother had abandoned her.

But how was it that there were never talks of her?

How was it that they were able to keep the rumors so far away that there was no single mention of her illness?

It must be the same reason why Taruna asked of my mother, as if news had not spread to that part of the tribe yet.

It had been so many years, I doubt they wouldn’t have heard anything, if it had spread even a little bit.

"Father chose to send her to the South," I whispered, the pieces clicking together. The secrecy, the melancholy, the way Father looked at me with such pain. "The only people who knew of mother’s illness were the elders, and to make sure the tribe folks don’t panic, it was kept hidden and it still is."

So, that’s it.

The reason why no one knows.

"She’s still there, I think," Kaelor said, his voice cracking. "She doesn’t speak. She can’t move her legs or her arms anymore. She just... sits there, staring at the door, waiting."

The air felt like lead in my lungs. My mother wasn’t a woman who abandoned me. She was a woman buried alive in a tomb of her own skin.

My eyes grew teary as my heart began to thump even more painfully.

"I want to see her," I suddenly said and he flinched.

"What?"

"Take me to her."

"No," Kaelor breathed, his eyes wide with terror. "If the tribe finds out about mother—if Veyra finds out you went there—they’ll say you’re tainted. They’ll find a way to try to burn you, along with your mother. You can’t go, not when there are eyes on you."

I gritted my teeth.

So should I just leave and pretend I didn’t hear anything?

Should I let her suffer in the shell she was trapped in?

I... I can’t.

I just can’t see myself ignoring her, after coming to know this truth.

I need to make my way there, without being seen.

But with Veyra lurking around, waiting for me to make a mistake, and looking for the perfect opportunity to get back at me, I can’t be too risky with this.

If I slip up even a little bit, she will bare her fangs and have the perfect excuse to persecute me.

This is dangerous...

Fenric placed a hand on my shoulder and I snapped out of my thoughts, lifting my head.

"Tomorrow," he said, "Let’s do it tomorrow."

"What?!" Kaelor exclaimed. "Did you not hear what I just said? It’s dangerous for her to go there."

"Well, what’s the matter when she’s not going alone?" He asked, grinning. "If they find out about it and want to make a fuss, they’ll have to do it after getting past me. And there’s that snake over there ready to rip beasts to shreds too," he pointed behind, laughing casually but then his eyes grew heavy with a dangerous glare. "If they think they can get past us and bully Arinya, then they’re gravely mistaken." He growled. "No one messes with my wife,"