Chapter 441: A Weak Mother

Electra's POV

Out of all the questions that were running through my head, all the things that didn't make sense and all the things I could have asked, there was only one name that kept coming back to me over and over again like it refused to be ignored. It had been stuck in my mind since I left the palace, since I saw my father the way I did, since I heard him speak with that strange mix of regret and guilt that I still couldn't fully understand.

Even now, standing in front of this creature, with so many possible answers within reach, that was the only thing that felt important enough to ask first.

I tilted my head slightly as I looked at it, my arms still loosely crossed as I spoke, my voice calm but direct. "Who is Solara?" I asked, not bothering to dress the question up in any way. "That name… my father said it before he died. He said it like it meant something, like it was important. So who is she?"

For the first time since we started talking, the creature's expression shifted into something that looked almost… fond. It was subtle, but I noticed it immediately, and that alone made me more alert than before. A small smile formed on its face, not the strange, unsettling one from before, but something softer, something that didn't quite match how it looked.

"Solara," it repeated, like it was tasting the name itself, and then it looked directly at me. "That is the name of your mother."

For a moment, I just stared at it.

My mother. That was the name of my mother. The same mother I knew almost nothing about, the same mother whose existence had only ever been explained to me in the most basic and easily dismissed way. A phoenix who broke the rules, a woman who chose a human, and a mistake that led to me.

I didn't say anything right away. Instead, I let the words settle in my mind, turning them over slowly as I tried to connect them with everything I already knew, or thought I knew. Solara. My mother had a name, and somehow, hearing it out loud made her feel more real than she had ever felt before, even though I still couldn't picture her, couldn't remember her, and couldn't feel anything that actually belonged to her.

The creature kept watching me, like it was waiting for my reaction, and after a few seconds, I finally let out a small breath and looked back at it, my expression returning to something more controlled.

"You're saying she was my mother," I said slowly, my voice steady even though my thoughts were still shifting. "And you know her well enough to say that like it's nothing." I narrowed my eyes slightly, my gaze sharpening as I studied it again. "So what was she like?"

The creature's smile didn't fade this time. If anything, it grew just a little, like it was pleased that I asked. "She was the kindest person I have ever known," it said, and there was no hesitation in its voice, no doubt, nothing that made it sound like it was exaggerating. "Kind, patient, gentle… everything that the world rarely rewards but desperately needs."

I let out a small scoff at that, turning my head slightly as I processed its words, and honestly, the first thing that came to my mind wasn't admiration. It was confusion.

Kind.

That was the word it chose.

I shook my head slightly before looking back at it, my expression clearly unimpressed. "Kind?" I repeated, raising a brow. "That's the best you've got?" I let out a small breath, my lips pressing together briefly before I continued. "From what I've been told, she was a phoenix who broke rules that clearly existed for a reason, got involved with a human, and ended up having a child that shouldn't even exist. That doesn't sound kind, that sounds reckless. Stupid, even."

The creature didn't react the way I expected. It didn't argue, didn't raise its voice, didn't even look offended. It just watched me quietly, that same calm expression still on its face, and somehow, that was more annoying than if it had tried to defend her.

I continued anyway, my tone sharper now. "I don't understand it," I admitted, not because I wanted to, but because it was the truth. "What exactly is so great about a human that she thought it was worth breaking whatever rules she had to follow? Because from where I'm standing, it doesn't make any sense. It just sounds like she made a terrible decision and paid for it."

There was a brief pause after that, and then the creature spoke again, its voice quieter this time, but still steady. "She made a choice," it said simply. "One that she believed in, regardless of what it cost her."

I rolled my eyes slightly at that, clearly not impressed. "And look where that got her," I said flatly. "Dead."

The creature's expression changed just slightly at that, not enough to be dramatic, but enough for me to notice. "You are nothing like her," it said after a moment, and this time, there was something in its voice that felt more pointed than before. "Sometimes, I wonder how two people who share the same blood can be so different. Aside from your appearance, there is very little in you that reminds me of her."

I let out a small laugh at that, though there was no humor in it, just a sharp edge that I didn't bother to hide. "And that's exactly why I'm still here," I replied without hesitation, my gaze hardening slightly as I met its eyes. "If I were anything like her, I'd probably be dead too. So if you're trying to insult me, you're going to have to do better than that."

For a second, neither of us spoke. The air between us felt heavier now, not tense exactly, but different, like something had shifted without either of us fully acknowledging it.

Then I exhaled slowly, my expression settling again as I pushed past that moment. There was still something I needed to know, something that mattered more than whatever this strange comparison was supposed to mean.

"How did she die?" I asked, my voice quieter now but no less direct. "If she was really a phoenix, then how did she die?" I tilted my head slightly, my eyes narrowing just a bit. "Aren't we supposed to be… I don't know, harder to kill? Stronger? So how did she end up dying like some stupid human?"