Page 57 of Anomalies

Esme was the last in that bloodline unless you count its founder, but Etis Van Reenan was cursed and locked away too long ago to be my…mother.

I stumble backwards a step. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

And I think the Captain might be, too. Callan turns to the forest, raking an unsteady hand through his hair and down his face, collecting himself for a moment before he locks eyes with me. “Let’s go.” He grabs my arm and tugs me off the rock we stand on. I force my legs to shift, trying my hardest to navigate the uneven creek bed, but the speed he is walking is making it difficult for me to keep up.

“Where are you taking me?” I ask, my boot slipping between two moss-covered rocks.

Callan’s grip on my bicep tightens as he yanks me back into place. “To the Dame.”

Delia sits on a brown leather couch near a roaring fireplace, thin black glasses resting on the tip of her sharp nose as she reads through a thick stack of papers. I thought for sure she’d be asleep, but Callan insisted otherwise. I was hoping he was wrong. Only, so I’d have more time to prepare myself for this. More time to sit with this information and… process it—if that can even be done.

Van Reenan.

It has to be a mistake.

When the Dame looks up from her papers, she snatches the glasses off her face, navy eyes narrowing on me. “You can’t just barge into my chambers unannounced, Captain, you know this⁠—"

Callan ushers me forward, and I take a weak step towards her. “Show her,” he says to me, and Delia straightens slowly in her chair.

I sink into as much calm as I can muster, then I let magic sully my blood, just enough for the mark beneath my skin to flare. I watch the warmth in her face pale, as it twists up and over my body, then I lock it away as soon as I’m certain she’s seen it.

Logs snap in the fire, the crackling of embers filling the sudden silence that’s settled over the room.

The Dame sets her papers to the side and locks eyes with the Captain. “I’d like a moment alone with Lucina.”

Fear trickles into my gut when Callan nods and slips out into the hall, and the door clicking shut turns that trickle of fear into a full-blown storm.

“Have a seat, Lucina.”

I hesitate for a moment, then I make my way over to the leather couch, the fabric hot from the fire as I sink into it.

“I’m afraid I haven’t been honest with you,” the Dame starts, forcing down a deep breath. “I recognized you the second you walked through that door three weeks ago—you are a spitting image of your mother.”

“My—” Anger flares, and I cling to it, letting it drown out all the other things I can’t feel right now. But anger…anger is easy. “You knew this whole time who my mother was and didn’t tell me?”

“I was hoping I was wrong.”

Her words trigger a ringing in my ears, setting off a thunderous pounding of my heart.

Delia stands, making her way to a wooden bookshelf in the corner of the room. She plucks a thin book with a black cover off the shelf and sits back down in her chair, flipping through the pages until a faded picture slips out from between them. She views it for a second, then hands it to me.

My heart is ripped from my chest and thrown into the fire.

It’s the woman from my dream…or my Velkan’s memory. She’s looks about my age, with long dark hair that curls and waves down her shoulders. Her eyes are honey brown, nearly identical to mine, and she has freckles. Lots of them.

I reach up to trace my own–

“Esme was beautiful,” Delia says softly, and my eyes begin to burn. “The kind of beauty that turned heads in every room she ever walked into, but her beauty was the least interesting thing about her.”

Traitor—the word rattles in my brain, unable to be silenced.

“You knew her?” I choke out, and the Dame rolls her lips together, navy-blue eyes welling with…tears. “I grew up with her. I knew her better than most. When the time came for her to become High Priestess, I was to be her second.” Delia casts her gaze to the fire and says, “I looked everywhere for her. I stayed in the palace that night longer than I should have, but I ran out of time.”

She wipes a tear quickly, then turns to face me.

“Esme was fearless. She was brilliant and kind and had the world at her fingertips. I’d never met anyone like her. She would have known how to handle the manner of magic you possess, but I…don’t. I’ve been trying to teach you, Lucina. Really, I have. But what you’ve inherited is just…different⁠—”

“So that’s why you’ve ordered the Captain and his coven to keep an eye on me?” Frustration leaks into my voice, sharpening my tone. “You knew this whole time that I was the daughter of a traitor⁠—”