That wasn’t an answer, but it also was. “You always said he could charm anyone into anything.” Lyra wanted to stop there, but she didn’t. “Did he charm you into being my mom?”
“He didn’t have to, baby girl. I fell in love with you all on my own.”
“Did he lie and tell you I was his?” Lyra asked. “Because I wasn’t. I was his sister’s baby. He was my uncle. Did you really think he was my father, or was that a lie, too?”
There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line and then: “Tomás never said a word about a sister. And I never wanted to lie to you, Lyra. About anything.”
“Then why did you?”
“I couldn’t risk anyone taking you away. One day, Tomás was there, and the next he was gone, and this time, he didn’t come back. More and more time passed, and he didn’t come back, and then I opened the mail one day, and there was a birth certificate, listing me as your mother. And by that point—I was, Lyra. I was your mom. You were tiny when I met him—not even three weeks old. His wife had just died—or that was what he said. I wasn’t lying when I told you he left and came back, left and came back. He needed me. You needed me, and I fell in love, completely head over heels in love. A little with him—but mostly withyou. And by the time he disappeared for good, by the time he sent me that birth certificate and I realized he really and truly wasn’t coming back… I was so afraid of losing you, so afraid of tellinganyone.”
“Even me,” Lyra said quietly.
“Even you.”
Without another word, Lyra hung up the phone. “Don’t be afraid, Lyra Catalina,” she whispered, her eyes finding their way to Alisa’s. “Shewill come for you.Edgar Aquila Reyes was sure that his sister would come for me, because she was my…”
Lyra couldn’t say the word. She thought about that note Katalin had sent her.
“I made my choice. It wasn’t you.”Lyra swallowed. “She wasn’t just talking about her choice of Candidate for the Crucible. Nineteen years ago, Hannah refused to leaveherdaughter. She turned down the Gilded Blade. Butmy… Katalin… She said yes.”
I made my choice. It wasn’t you.
Lyra thought suddenly aboutTomtelling her that his sister had killed a frat boy who deserved it, less than a year before she died. And when Lyra had askedwhythe guy had deserved it, she’d been told that she didn’t want to know.
Because he was my father? Because he—
The Gilded Blade existed to keep a certain kind of man in check. Would-be kings. Men who abused their power.And men who abuse women.And Katalin Aquila Reyes, she was a true believer—inaction.
“This doesn’t change anything about the calculus of our current situation,” Alisa told Lyra. “But I wasn’t about to lie to you.”
Katalin Aquila Reyes is my mother.
The Omega is my biological mother.
And she might be killing Grayson as we speak.
“Screw the calculus,” Lyra told Alisa. “And get me a plane.”
Chapter 89
JAMESON
Jameson had watched Emily Laughlin die. There was a time when that had been the core truth of his existence. Before Avery, the fact that he’d stood over Emily, sure she was faking, as she’ddiedhad formed the basis of how he’d seen himself. Grayson had brought Emily cliff-jumping, but Jameson was the one who’d watched her gasp for air. The one who’d just stood there while shedied.
Except she hadn’t.
Emily’s death had torn Jameson’s and Grayson’s world apart. It haddestroyedthem. And now, Emily wasright there, alive. She’d been there for over an hour, calling JamesonJamie, touching him, looking deep into his eyes.
And for over an hour, Jameson had given Emilynothing.
He knew her well enough to know that if there was one thing Emily could not tolerate, it was being ignored. So that was exactly what Jameson did. Shewanteda reaction. He refused to give her one.
“You watched me die like I was nothing.” Emily wasn’t giving up. “But I wasn’tnothingto you, Jamie. And I certainly wasn’t nothing to your brother.”
Grayson was still unconscious. Jameson refused to even look toward his brother. Let Emily think he couldn’t even hear her.
“It was never you for me, Jamie. I think you know that.” Emily walked up to Grayson’s unconscious form. “It was always him.”
