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Her mouth opened and closed. Something wasn’t right, so Leaf guided her backward to the vine curtain by the stairs where they had privacy.
“This dance…” Nova said quietly. “Is it the personal history of your Prime?”
“The owl shifters value wisdom and memory. I believe that’s what tonight is about—an artistic ode to the beauty and suffering of one’s life. So we can all experience her memories…”
A way to experience Jackson Crimson’s memories.
The Prime had always told Leaf that to find the last part of the prophecy, he would experience Crimson’s memories. She never said how he would witness them. Right now, he was experiencing Aleksandra’s memories through the dance.Fuck. This made Leaf’s stubborn journey to find the journals seem so stupid.
“I think this is their life before the Fallout,” he explained.
“IknewI recognized her.” Sharp, bitter distrust seethed through their bond. “I didn’t see it at first because she’s changed, and she insisted she didn’t recognize me. But, considering mine are fresher, I’m more inclined to trust my memories than hers.”
“Are you saying you knew the Prime?”
“When Niles left my house that final day, I was so angry I chased him outside to… I don’t know, shout some more stupid things at him. But when I got to the door, I watched a young girl run out of the car to meet him. I remember this so vividly because I couldn’t exactly yell horrible things about him in front of his daughter. Two women were in the car. Your Prime was one of them, I’m sure of it.”
“Could you see the face of the other woman?”
“No, but she had a similar complexion. I saw her hand.”
“It might have been Maebh.” Leaf’s mind reeled with the implications. If Maebh and Aleksandra had known Niles all this time, they perhaps shared a child with him. Crimson wrote about those females’ great loss and how it drove a divide between them, how it felt worse than his loss sometimes. Everyone felt pain in their own way, but Leaf could see how the loss of a child would feel so much worse.
When Willow was kidnapped, the Prime approved Order resources for a rescue mission. She rarely operated like this, and it was Clarke who nixed the rescue mission based on intel she’d received from the Six’s Seer.
“We should say something,” Nova said, eyes darting back to the dance.
“Wait.” He stopped her from walking across the floor. “I want to see how this dance plays out. In Crimson’s journals, he said they suffered from a great loss. What if it was a child?”
Nova’s hand fluttered to her throat. “You think Niles would kill his own child?”
“He killed his parents. I wouldn’t put it past him. But it’s also possible he brought this child here to this time.”
Leaf’s gut said the Prime had no idea their child was another game piece for Nero… just as Nova was manipulated into believing her parents’ deaths were natural.
Snow blasted into the room in gusts. The baby used in the dance was now a pre-teen and was being ripped from the arms of both mothers. The teen tossed herself from the bough where snow and darkness swallowed her whole.
The act ended with thunderous applause. As the music and lights lifted, Leaf glanced at Aleksandra. She stared impassively into the night, but a glimmering tear ran down her cheek.
“She didn’t know,” he whispered. “She believes her daughter is dead.”
Maybe she was. But there was only one way to find out. He took Nova’s hand and strode through the crowd blocking the dance floor. He shoved past grumbling shifters, pushing their impossible wings from his way. He lost his temper and started shoving hard, trying to carve a path through when the flute music stopped and shouts of offense rose.
The hairs on the back of Leaf’s neck lifted. Turning around, he glimpsed a bruised Storm approaching him from between the gaps of wings. Upon seeing the mating marks glowing along Leaf and Nova’s arms, the guard hesitated. Leaf continued toward the Prime, shoving the last few spectators out of the way, and stumbled onto the open dance floor.
The Prime wasn’t in her seat but looking outside from the edge of the bough. Her robes and wings billowed from the icy wind, but the snow had stopped. The night was clear. Dancers with wild eyes whispered amongst each other with alarm, darting looks of confusion to the Prime. This mustn’t be part of the next act.
“Aleksandra,” Leaf called.
She faced him with resignation in her eyes.
“Don’t come closer.” She held out her hand. “We always knew it would end like this.”
An ache tightened his chest. End like what? Theweshe referred to must be Crimson.
A fond smile tipped her ageless lips, and she gestured at his mating marks, silent tears now running down her face. Her voice was thick. “It wasn’t too late after all. I’m so glad you chose the right path.”
Warning bells rang in his mind. Anticipation. Soon. Whatever was supposed to happen, it was almost time.
