Inescapable (Eternelles: The Beginning, Book 1) by Zee Monodee, Natalie G. Owens

hips. “Do I really need to spell it out?”
    The chastising seemed to hit the young woman stronger than the slap. She flinched as shadows flitted through her eyes. “It’s because of the visions.”
    She nodded. “Were you ever planning to tell me?”
    Sera lowered her head and laid a supporting hand on the easel frame, as if too weak to stand on her own. Adri fought with herself to stand her ground and not rush to her aid.
    “Or would I have discovered about them once I figured out why the vampyres attempted to kidnap you last night?”
    The head with the flame-red hair shot up. “You think they know?”
    “ Putain de merde, Séraphine! Of course, they know. Why else would they come get you? No one in the world at large knows where Second Sight possessors thrive, and you know why?” She paused to glare at her wayward child.
    Sera shuffled from one foot to the other, removing her hand from her source of support, and hugged herself, as if that would keep the reality at bay. “Because they’ve been shepherded away?”
    As simple as that? No way. “Because we here at Fleur de Lys know who they are, and have taken every pain to protect them from prying sup megalomaniacs.”
    She shook her head and turned to face a window. The sight of all that red on the canvas made her sick. They had more pressing matters to attend to now; the “vision” and whatever it conveyed would have to wait. Like the hundred other things happening right now and which no one understood, least of all, her. The not-knowing drove her crazy, put her on edge. An uneasy prickle had started to dance down her spine the minute she’d left the castle to come see Sera. Could that have been because her daughter was in the throes of a Sight occurrence back then?
    The fight suddenly died out of her as she faced the mire they were getting sucked in. “You should’ve told me.”
    Sera snapped from her subdued state and went into attack mode. “So now it’s all my fault, right? How like you to sling the blame onto everyone but yourself.”
    Bon sang , not another argument. She was tired of them. There were more important concerns vying for her attention right now. The first of them being to get Sera to safety.
    She nodded at the door. “Back to the castle. Now.”
    Sera crossed her arms again in front of her chest and lifted her chin. Color was returning to her face. “And if I refuse?”
    Adri narrowed her gaze. She didn’t have the patience for that. “Then I’ll break your kneecaps myself and drag you back if I have to.”
    Her daughter glared in mulish rebellion. She held the furious gaze. “Don’t push me, Sera. Not now. You know this place is not safe. Until we’ve worked in all the protection possible, you are not to set foot here again, you hear me?”
    “Of course, it’s always your word and what you want. Can’t you think of others for a change?”
    Sometimes, she wondered why she’d ever loved motherhood. Days like this were just not worth the pain.
    “Like you’ve been thinking of only yourself so far?”
    Blue-grey eyes flared with fire. “Fine,” Sera bit out.
    The girl brushed past her and grabbed her coat on the way to the door. With her a few steps ahead, Adri stepped out of the cottage and closed the door on the image of that unsettling painting. Will trotted between them, soft whines coming from deep within his throat as he repeatedly bumped his nose against Sera’s thigh.
    Will. She’d forgotten about him. Catching sight of Old Jim, the stooped, centuries-old fae who brought gardens to life like no magical creature ever could, she called out to him.
    “Can you take the dog for a few days—”
    “You’re even taking Will from me? How could you?”
    “The familiars are acting up at the castle. He wouldn’t be safe there.”
    “It’s all your fault,” Sera screamed as she threw herself onto the dog and buried her face in his neck.
    Adri sighed. “Yes, it’s always my fault, isn’t it?” she said on a