“I will be as soon as I get away from here,” he grumbled.
“I didn’t mean your pride. I meant your head. You’re bleeding.”
“I’m fine,” he snapped, not bothering to wipe the blood that was starting to run down his temple.
“Great. So, how do we open it?” Sav asked, rocking back on her heels, and gesturing toward the stone that was now covered in his blood.
Kallon was a few feet away, working on creating a portal to take us home.
I stepped up to my mother’s tomb and placed a hand over the stone. As soon as I did, I felt the surge of her magic infused in it. She used a variation of a blood seal on it, and the second I touched it, more words materialized under her name.
“Whoa,” Savannah noted as she came up next to me. “Ew, why does everything have to be written in blood?”
A lover. A sister. A brother.
“I don’t understand,” Dovelyn whispered. “I’m assuming it’s a clue. That you need all three to unlock the tomb, but what does theNmean? Our last name begins with an X.”
MaryLynn N.
“I have no idea,” I admitted. I hadn’t noticed it before.
“What about her middle name?” Scottie asked.
I shook my head. “Her middle name was Lira.”
“Her maiden name?”
“Wayrin,” Dovelyn answered. “Her maiden name was Wayrin.”
“Um guys, forget theN, the word brother is turning from red to black,” Savannah gasped.
I looked at the stone and watched as the word changed colors, then engraved into the stone itself.
“Is it because Arcane isn’t here?” Kallon suggested taking a break from creating the portal to stare at the grave. “You have Dove here as your sister, Scottie here as your lover. Maybe it won’t open unless Arcane is nearby.”
Everyone ignored Sie’s rage over Kallon’s choice of words. I stole a glance at Scottie to see what she made of it, but she didn’t seem phased. She was entranced by the tomb as she leaned forward, brushing her hand over the now engraved brother.
“Goddess above,” Kallon breathed as she stared at the stone. I followed her gaze and watched as the word lover darkened before engraving itself along with the word brother. The only word left in blood was sister.
Scottie jolted back as she realized what she’d done. She gripped her wrist, covering her zero, and stared at her palm. I looked between Scottie’s hand and the slab of stone. A drop of blood had embedded into the crevice where she brushed her hand over it.
Everyone’s gaze landed on her. She was frozen, still staring at her palm like it burned her. The chapped air must have caused the scab to dry and crack open again. I felt it against my own palm when she grabbed my hand on the rocks. I swore it was what caused our connection.
“Sie, your last name is Noren,” Dovelyn said, her silver eyes never leaving the stone.
It wasn’t meant to be a question, but Sie answered anyway, “Yeah. Why does that matter?”
“MaryLynn Noren. That’s what the N stands for.”
“What are you talking about?” Sie snapped.
“Tezya is my half brother. My mother… she had an affair with someone from Tennebris. That’s how Tezya possesses abilities from both kingdoms. Her lover had compulsion. Is that not the power that runs in your family line?” Dovelyn asked.
Sie paled. “That’s not possible.”
But Dovelyn cut him off. “My mother’s affair was over a century before you were even born. She loved him. The man used to be on the Dark’s High Council. I still remember him to this day. He visited us often, staying in Lux on a work visa. I wasyoung when it happened, but I swore I would never forget his eyes. The way they always found my mother’s. It was the first time I saw her truly happy. But then he had to return home and shortly after, Tezya was born.” I swallowed as she continued, “The man my mother loved was named Maverich. I never learned his last name, but his first name was Maverich.”
Scottie faltered as she looked between Sie and me.
