My time was limited.
For a moment I swore I felt my mother’s presence still.
Her golden eyes looked back at me in the mirror. My cheeks reddened as tears fell from my eyes. Our people were starving. Marriage to Thalen was the only solution.
I would have to endure him for them even if I broke.
The book had to be wrong about where I was meant to be.
Footsteps echoed from the chambers beneath the tower floor. I tore through each crate. The contents scattered across the floor. Each was stuffed to the brim with gowns. He kept them all, but we weren’t allowed to speak of her. He forbade us from entering this space.
I tugged at a lid. A stray splinter pricked my finger as I ripped it free. Inside lay her books. A heavy book bound in green leather caught my eye, it bulged at the binding. I traced the pages, pressing through to where it bulged and a single piece of parchment fell free.
The lines were deeply set in the folded parchment with ink smudged in a round ring—like water droplets.
Selene, my love,
It’s growing harder to keep my distance from you both, but nowthe divide separates us, I fear we will not be together again. My thoughts are with you both always as I grieve the life we will never live.
My dreams are full of visions of our daughter with my dark locks and your golden eyes. From the moment I held her, I knew she would always be the best of both of us.
Conceal and protect her for as long as you are able. The stars have determined her fate—she will mend what’s broken.
Grant her strength to stand. They will only wish her to fall.
This gemstone will awaken it all. You will know when she is ready.
Until we meet again in the next life.
I will love you always,
Z
A single tear struck the letter, smearing the ink further.
A letter to my mother, about her child with dark locks and golden eyes.
Agan and Ashlyn looked just like my mother and father—blonde and golden.
I didn’t. I was the only one that fit that description.
The letter was here just as the book said, written by a man who wasn’t my father—claiming to be. Someone who lived on the other side of the divide—a fae. All this time, my father looked at me as if I disappointed him, as if he hated me.
He knew.
I needed answers. I needed more than this.
Sunlight crept through the window, reflecting off the mirror. It illuminated the stone. Heat spreading through me from it. Each rage-filled breath left me quivering. King Ardyn would trade his problem to give the people of Bailoc a future.
The problem was me.
The book didn’t trust Reina, because she wasn’t fae. Yet it spoke to me—trusted me, because I was.
I pried the window latch free, letting the wind gush into the tower.
Even if it were only for a moment, I could breathe again.
Chapter 5
