“I suppose you would have to rediscover who you are,” Kiara suggested.
That sounded scary. My identity had been ripped from me since Dolinska had fallen. But as my friends had said earlier, I needed to get myself back. Maybe all of me hadn’t been erased entirely by trauma and mistakes.
“We agreed long ago that we’d find our true names together, and we never did,” Arthur said solemnly. “I think that would be a good place to start.”
I nodded. “Okay. So what do we need to do?”
“There’s a ceremony, but we need someone to guide us,” Arthur said. “Someone with experience and wisdom.”
“We should ask our dad.” I was getting excited. “Do you think he’s available?”
“Last thing I saw, he wasn’t doing anything but wooing our mother,” Arthur said a bit sourly, thumbing at the house.
“I suppose we can always ask.” I stood from the table, thrilled to get started on something again, and placed Kalina into Kiara’s outstretched arms. “Thanks for the brunch, Ozzie. It was delicious.”
“Anytime,” Ozzie peeped. “Someone has to get fat off my cooking other than me.”
“We’ll stay here and finish up,” Odette offered. “These pastries are going to take the rest of the morning to get through.”
“And perhaps some of the afternoon,” Amantha agreed.
Arthur and I headed to Lucien’s office. Tygrys followed, although his orange fur had been turned white from all the powdered sugar. When we got there, Mom was sitting on Lucien’s lap, and completely fawning over him.
“Well, hello,” Lucien said brightly. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Mom frowned. I took a breath and hurried to say, “We wanted to find our true names. We thought that maybe you could guide us in the ceremony.”
Lucien opened his mouth to speak, but Mom said, “Today? Seems rather spontaneous. Something like this should be planned.”
“We don’t really have a lot of time, Mom,” I responded shortly. “Kiara thought that I could be the missing connection to finding the lost city. Maybe there’s something hidden within myself that’ll give us a clue on where to start looking.”
Mom gave a skepticalpsh, while Lucien rubbed his chin. “Thoughtful. I could certainly—”
“You promised that today was only forus,” Mom protested. “We were supposed to go out tonight. Are you going back on your word?”
Lucien hesitated. “I did promise…”
“This is important,” Arthur pleaded. “We don’t mean to interrupt your time together, but—”
Mom sent Arthur a glare and curled her lip. It halted my brother’s sentence in its tracks.
What the hell. Was Momjealousof us? We were her kids, for the gods’ sakes. We deserved to have some time with Lucien, too.
“Never mind,” I said. “I’m sure Babcia and Bapa can lend a hand.”
“I—” Lucien faltered.
“It’s fine. Really. Have a nice day,” I insisted.
We left before he could argue further. I could tell by the way Arthur’s fingers clenched around his book that he waspissed.
“Gods, she’s acting like a teenager,” Arthur growled.
“She’s become a different person since Lucien came around,” I mumbled.
“I thought mates were supposed to make you better,” Arthur commented.
I gave a noncommittal shrug. I had realized over the past few months that the person my mother had turned into was actually the woman she’d been all along. That kind, caring mother figure that had been there all my life was a persona she’d created out of necessity. It was a way to forget the girl she’d once been. Of course, she still loved me, and she loved Arthur. But she was very much of the opinion that both of us were grown now, and therefore, her primary focus should be herself and what she wanted.
