As Aubrey had already anticipated, Hemera's stories about their mother were neither friendly, nor heart warming.
She wasn't really expecting to hear anything good about her mother, but she was surprised that things had basically been bad with these two from the very beginning.
And unlike Nyx, who didn't remember much due to the shame, Hemera remembered everything. It broke her in a way that she still couldn't properly convey.
Aubrey wasn't prepared to feel this conflicted about her mother's behavior. How could she treat a child like that? How could she say such unspeakably cruel things to her?
"I am surprised at you." Hemera wiped her eye with her back turned to Aubrey.
"Why?"
"I thought you might try to tell me that my experience was just a one-off and that she isn't really like that. Make her seem better than she is."
Aubrey ran her hands over her stomach as she kept her gaze locked on her bare toes.