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The truths were monstrous, cruel, evil.

“He would let the girl grow, of course,” said Gammal. “Wait for craft to take hold in her blood. Then, he would strike.”

Roark’s heavy palm covered mine and squeezed three times.

“So my father, Horace of House Bien, knew I was not his daughter?”

“Oh yes. The same as your mother, Gertrude of House Bien, knew she was not your blood mother.”

I coughed. “What?”

Gammal stoked the embers in the inglenook before she spoke again. “Your mother was of Myrda, from what we’ve learned. A young woman who likely thought the formidable melder might love her and their child. When he never returned, we know she went to live in her brother’s household. There, unfortunately, the birth sent her to Salur.” Gammal’s eyes glistened. “House Bien, as I understand it, was kin to your uncle’s wife. The mother and father you knew had no young ones and offered to help raise you.”

Tears burned. My bond to Roark restored memories, and I could recall it all. Laughter and teasing as my mother chased me to the loft before sleep. My father teaching me to chop kindling and how to fight back against stupid boys who pulled my braids.

And Fadey took House Bien. He took all of them from me.

If Gammal knew about Fadey’s plans, why did she not tell my mother and father when she delivered the prophecy? Roark gestured to me.

Gammal held his stare after I relayed the question. “To my shame, we did not realize his darker desires at the time. I went to the soul crafters with the prophecy because they despised the Jorvan’s corrupt use of melders. I wish I had known Fadey’s intentions, for I might’ve warned them of traitors at their tables. I thought Fadey would help protect the girl. Alas, the Norns are often finicky when it comes to the fate they reveal.”

“What happened after the peace meet?” I asked.

“Fadey grew more determined to find the girl before the Draven clan could hide her behind their walls. He cut ties with the Unfettered, and I believe he began plotting with blood crafters to hunt the girl’s blood.” Gammal did not look at me; she did not speak to any royal; she looked at Emi. “But there was more I did not foresee. More traitors, more hatred that unraveled so much pain to lead us here.”

Emi shifted where she sat. “What are you talking about?”

“It was my understanding that tensions rose among the soul crafters on how to handle the melder daughter should she ever be found. There was a disagreement between brothers. A king desired to conceal the girl behind their walls, shadowing her craft. But his brother wanted her blood to spill. It began to crack brotherly bonds.”

Emi’s face pinched. “You speak of my father?”

“Yes. But only one other ever discovered how deep your father’s disdain for his brother’s word had grown. A wife who could read the true desire of a soul. A wife whose craft learned the traitorous schemes of her husband.”

“Shit.” Gunter paused in lifting a second horn to his mouth and gaped at Emi.

“No.” Emi’s voice was strained. “That was my mother’s craft. What did she learn?”

Gammal paused, her voice gentle. “Dark plans to take a throne for himself, sweet one.”

Emi clapped her palms over her mouth. Yrsa shifted around Gunter and sat beside her, her hand on Emi’s knee.

Gammal hesitated. “So he banished his sjeleven.”

Why did my aunt not speak the truth? Roark spoke with fiery gestures, a flush to his face.

“Ah, I am told mothers will often agree to the direst of terms when true threats are leveled against their young ones,” said Gammal. “Did you know it was an Unfettered spear warrior who found her in the moments before she went to Salur?”

Gammal gestured to Keela.

The woman ran a hand through her dark hair. “I found the soul crafter woman likely a day or two after she’d slipped and fallen down a steep cliff near the ledges. She was fading but pleaded for me to hear her, to vow something with her. She told me of a daughter who lived with her traitorous husband. She told me of the soul vow which bound her to silence regarding his desires. In exchange, he could never kill their girl. I wouldn’t make promises to her I could not keep. I could not promise to protect her girl, for I hardly knew the land, hardly knew much about your realms.” Keela hesitated. “But I am glad to offer aid to her girl now.”

Emi’s shoulders shook with silent tears. Roark’s jaw was clenched so tightly, I thought he might crack a tooth. I pressed a hand to his shoulder, trying to soothe the vicious soul beneath his skin, and gave a somber look at Emi.

To know her mother might’ve been tossed out without a word, all to save Emi from Virki’s madness, was a horror no daughter should need to shoulder. Virki had harmed Emi, brutalized her, but he’d never killed her. He couldn’t kill her.

How I wanted to kill him.

“After her banishment, it is clear he turned his actions against his brother like a viper waiting to strike,” Gammal said.