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What has she done?
Gwen isn’t sure if she would rather vomit or sob as she soars through the sky, rushing back to Bonesborough in search of her daughters. In the end, she does neither, flying faster and clinging to the sack of riches slung over her shoulder.
She ruined everything. Edalyn and Lilith transformed because she stole the elixirs. She didn’t even know Lilith was cursed because she never paid enough attention to her eldest daughter. She fell for a scam that put Edalyn in danger, almost bankrupting her family in her attempt to find a cure. Not to mention that she ignored Edalyn’s wishes. Edalyn never wanted Gwen to cure her. She just wanted Gwen to accept her the way she was.
But Gwen never did that. From the moment she learned about Edalyn’s curse, Gwen became obsessed with finding a cure, getting increasingly desperate as the Healing Coven failed to help. And she refused the help of the Potions Coven because she… she didn’t want Edalyn dependent on a potion to survive. She wanted her daughter to be normal. And that stupid thought clouded her judgment for thirty years.
But she understands now. Edalyn doesn’t want to be normal. She never has. All her daughter wants is to function day-to-day, and the elixir she takes allows that. The curse will never go away, and it is a part of her. And if she loves her daughter (which she does, so, so much), then she should love her daughter’s curse too. Why did it take falling for a scam and both her girls transforming into beasts for her to finally realize how badly she failed them?
She feels like such a fool. But she doesn’t have time to wallow in self-pity.
Right now, her girls need their mother.