“Runs in the family,” Father muttered under his breath.
“—not a romantic,” she went on, as if she hadn’t heard him. Her jaw was tight, though, and her shoulders had tensed. “She may have slept with Iliana’s father, but she never married him.”
“But it’s true. She’s your sister.”
As Mother nodded, Kalie slouched in her chair, rubbing her forehead.
“What else did she say?” Mother asked.
Breathing in the smoke from burning candles, Kalie told them everything. Theron and Father wore expressions of stone, but Selene looked vaguely curious. By the time she got to the end of Iliana’s tale, Mother’s face was pale and taut.
“Is any of it true?”
“Some.”
Kalie’s hands trembled as she seized her gold chalice. The uncle she loved never would’ve let his innocent niece rot in prison. Mother had to be lying, but why? She gained nothing from acknowledging Iliana’s story was real.
If Uncle Jerran could do that, what else was he capable of? He never would’ve hurt Aunt Calida, but Grandmother Madeleine…
“Did Uncle Jerran kill your mother?”
“I don’t believe it, no.” Mother plucked at her napkin. “I think my mother took the coward’s way out and killed herself.”
Zane flinched.
“There were rumors surrounding her death.” Though Mother’s voice remained clinical, a tremor ran underneath. “Iliana’s not the first to tell this story, nor will she be the last. I can’t tell you either way. All I know is her death ended the war.”
“She wasn’t murdered?”
“I don’t know,” Mother snapped. “I told you what I think. She was a weak-willed fool who killed herself. The people who claim otherwise are just trying to stir up trouble.”
Kalie drew her lip between her teeth. Iliana had accused her of killing Aunt Calida, which was ridiculous. She’d captured Uncle Jerran and stolen the crown. She was the enemy. Nothing she said could be trusted.
“And Iliana is hardly an innocent victim.”
She narrowed her eyes. Deflection usually meant guilt, and judging by Mother’s shifting gaze, she was hiding something.
“What do you mean?” Theron asked.
“That trap Jerran pulled on her? She got the story backwards. She played that trap on us. Iliana contacted Calida towards the end of the war. She said she wanted to help Lida’s cause and arranged a meeting.” Mother shuffled her untouched food around her plate. “We didn’t know our mother had made her a deal: if she captured Lida, she would name Iliana her heir. So, like fools, we went to meet with her. Myself, Lida, and Jerran.”
Aunt Calida had never mentioned that meeting.
Aunt Calida had never told her about Iliana, either.
“When we got there, my half-sister greeted us. She led us inside. And there was my mother’s lover Kain, waiting with his troops.”
“Your mother was pregnant with you at the time,” Father said, scowling, “but she hadn’t seen the need to inform me.”
Like you would’ve cared if she’d died.
The thought caught Kalie off guard, but it was followed by another, one that plunged a pit into her stomach. If that trap had killed Mother, she never would’ve been born.
Mother stared into the distance. “Jerran was still able to fight. Hetold us to run. We barely escaped. Kain shot me, and I… I nearly died.”
Some of the candles had burned down to the last of their wicks, and as the hum of the air conditioner fired up, a gust of air swept the flames out. Those still burning cast an orange glow over her siblings and their mostly untouched plates, no longer steaming. Shadows lurked by the walls, shrouding the edges of the burgundy room in darkness.
“After that, we attacked Ashton. And from there… You know what my mother did. We caught Iliana on her way to Shobe, where she was planning to raise a revolt against Lida.” Mother turned her nose up. “She couldn’t be trusted, so we sent her to Titan. I won’t apologize for it.”
