Why?
“Kestrel and I believed the less people who knew, the safer you were.”
“Yes, but you kept the secret fromme! I’m perfectly capable of keeping secrets, and I deserved to know.”
Seraphine glanced at Juniper, who silently excused herself from the room.
“You have every right to be angry,” said Seraphine, sitting down on the bed. Her movements reminded Rune of a dove settling down in its nest: gentle, graceful.
She held out her hand for Rune to take.
Rune ignored it, crossing her arms, wincing as the raw skin of her shoulder pulled. “I have a right to know the truth.”
“Yes. You do.” Seraphine dropped her hand. “You’re the daughter of Queen Winoa and her second consort. On the night you were born, the midwife had difficulty turning you around, so she called for me. I managed to turn you, and less than an hour later, there you were, in my hands. But the moment we touched, something… woke up inside me.” Her gaze dropped to the bed. “I cast an illusion, making the midwives believe youwere stillborn. I lied to the queen, saying you were dead. And then I delivered you to Kestrel Winters to raise.”
“What do you mean, somethingwoke upinside you?”
“The Roseblood family was dysfunctional and depraved,” said Seraphine, but she didn’t meet Rune’s eyes as she said it. “I couldn’t let an innocent child grow up in that environment.”
Presumably, Cressida and her sisters had been innocent once, too. So why didn’t Seraphine takethemaway?
“I don’t believe you,” said Rune.
She wasn’t being told the whole story. She could sense it. And there was still the matter of Seraphine’s age…
“Nan told me the two of you grew up together. She used to wear a locket around her neck, and inside were two images: one of her at eighteen, and one of you, not much older.”
Seraphine nodded. “I remember it.”
“You look the same now as you did in that portrait painted forty years ago. How is that possible, unless you’re under some kind of spell? Are you cursed?”
Seraphine drew in a deep breath. It shook as she let it out.
“It’slikea curse, I suppose. Certainly, it feels like one.” Seraphine stared toward the porthole, which showed a patch of blue sky. “I have a task to complete, and until it’s done, I can’t… move on.”
Rune frowned harder.Move on?
Was she some kind of spirit? Trapped here after her death due to unfinished business?
There were stories of such things, but Rune had never believed them. And the woman on the bed was clearly made of flesh and bone. As solid as Rune herself.
Seraphine patted the mattress beside her, inviting Rune to join her.
Reluctantly, she sat.
“It feels like yesterday you were this tiny creature swaddled against my breast as I rode for Wintersea House. And here you are, all grown up.” Seraphine’s expression softened as she studied Rune. “I keep looking for her in you—which is absurd, I know. You share no blood. And yet, I glimpse her sometimes. As if you carry her with you.”
Seraphine touched the bird-shaped scar on her neck.
“The night I brought you to Kestrel, she was so angry with me. She’d never wanted children, and at first refused to take you. She said if I were going to steal a royal baby, the least I could do was raise it myself.
“But I couldn’t keep you in the capital to be raised under Winoa’s nose. It was too dangerous. The queen was already suspicious of me by then. I was the only witch on her council who didn’t hide my disgust for her cruelty. I didn’t loathe her in private and flatter her in public, like the others. She knew exactly what I thought: that she was a plague on Cascadia.
“Three days after I brought you to Wintersea, as if sensing my deception—Winoa exiled me. She wouldn’t tolerate me undermining her authority anymore. If I didn’t leave, she warned, I’d be dead by morning. I rode straight to Wintersea, where I convinced Kestrel to keep you until it was safe for me to return. I didn’t trust the queen not to send her spies after me.
“Years later, after Winoa’s death, I came back to get you. But by then, Kestrel was in love. You were the best thing to ever happen to her.” Seraphine smiled, remembering. “She told me if I tried to take you, she’d skewer me with a letter opener.”
Tears clogged Rune’s throat. She swallowed them down.
