“So which was it?” Sean asked. “Accident, violence, or suicide?”
Kywyn’s mouth tightened. “Lhynion Sidera was my grandfather. He was murdered by his brother more than a thousand years ago.”
Murdered.
Murdered?
Grandfather?
A thousand years?
An absurd laugh burst from Sean, frenzied and high pitched. The others watched as he pushed from the table and left the room, pacing the sitting area they’d used last night.
His mother had kidnapped him from his home. His aunt-but-not-really was in on it. He was illogically obsessed with a girl who wore a mysterious vial around her neck. He was part immortal. Meant to be some long-awaited leader. Descended from a nobleman with a tragic history. His great-grandfather.
They wanted him to save this realm from starvation.
You wanted answers, he reminded himself. But now he wanted to give those answers back. He wanted to return to his small life in his tiny town and be no one.
He wanted to resurrect his mother and askwhy. Why had she condemned him to ignorance?
If he’d just come home sooner that day, she wouldn’t be dead. He’d be there now, with her.
And still in the dark, whispered a voice in the back of his mind.
Sean paused to grip the back of the sofa, his fingers digging into the fabric, knuckles blanching. It did nothing to relieve the tension tightening his ribs. He couldn’t take a proper breath.
“It’s normal to feel overwhelmed,” said a voice behind him.
Sean startled, unaware Autumn had crept up. She touched his hand, and warm happiness forked up his arm.
He held his attention on where she touched him. “Why does it feel like that?”
She let loose a small laugh. “It runs in the family. You got exceptional combat skills from Lhynion. I got Rhiannon’s happiness charm.”
Happiness charm?
“That’s what I call it. My touch alters your emotions. Injects a bit of cheer.”
Sean lifted his gaze to hers. She’d answered his thought again. “You hear my mind, don’t you?”
Her expression froze, mouth parted, still with its omnipresent smile. “That’s another thing I got from Rhiannon.”
His jaw spasmed. “Neat.”
“I really try not to pry, but sometimes I answer thoughts without realizing.” Autumn grabbed his shoulders and turned him to face her. “Listen. It’s normal to think what you’re thinking, Sean. Anyone would feel the same. In a single day, your entire life has changed. Everything you thought was true, isn’t. But you can do this.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do. Look.” She snatched his elbow and dragged him deeperinto the suite until they stood in another sitting room. One wall was composed entirely of a giant, aged portrait. Two men, two women.
Autumn pointed at the raven-haired man. “Thatis Lhynion Sidera. Your great-grandfather.”
With a sinking weight in his gut, Sean stared at his own face on this stranger’s body. The man wore a navy tunic with a low-slung belt, a scabbard dangling at his hip.
“That’s my face,” he said, because what else was there to say?
Autumn laughed. “Well, yourancestor’sface.”
