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Flora’s mind locked on the first revelation so she didn’t react to the second. “Four? I thought my grandmother had three daughters. And each gave birth to a daughter: Raina, Aspen, and me.”
“The fourth daughter died suddenly. It was a senseless accident, easily prevented. She was only five or six at the time. Everyone was shocked and horrified.”
Flora’s chest tightened and her heart ached. No parent should outlive their child. The resulting loss must have been deep and consuming. “I had no idea. This is the first I’ve heard of it.”
“Needless to say, it affected both Iris and Autumn deeply. Iris became combative and defiant. Nothing her mates did curtailed her behavior. About a year after the tragedy, she vanished, taking her daughters with her.”
Flora didn’t doubt what Nadis was saying, but her information could not be firsthand. She was too young to have witnessed most of it. “How do you know all of this? Aren’t you about my mother’s age?”
“My mother and Iris were friends. In fact, at one time they were best friends. Watching what the Citadel did to Iris was one of the reasons my mother joined a refugee community.”
“You chose to return,” Flora prompted. “When and why did my mother come back?”
Nadis’ voice grew distant and tense as if she were bothered by what she was explaining. “It was the job of un-bonded controllers to find the refugee camps. Your mother was ‘recovered’ during one of their raids.”
Flora shuddered, imagining the fear and helplessness her mother must have felt. “Was Iris forced to return as well?”
“Iris was banished, refused access to her daughters, and publicly humiliated. She spent years appealing the decision, but none of her strategies worked.”
Disbelief widened Flora’s eyes and she shook her head. “No wonder she hates this place so much. I would too.”
After a reflective pause, Nadis returned to the original topic. “Autumn was angry and despondent when she was dragged back to the Citadel. Otal befriended her, tried to help her see that her life would be more than training and fighting. She responded to him, learned to trust him so it seemed natural that they become a triad.”
“If Otal was kind and compassionate, why would he accept Azar as his controller?”
“Personalities are taken into consideration when triads form, but compatibility is even more important. The triad must be capable of operating as a unit. Their strengths must complement each other. Because Otal was so easygoing, he required a strict controller to create balance.”
“You keep referring to him in the past tense,” Flora pointed out. “Is Otal dead?”
Nadis nodded, her expression solemn. “There was so much tragedy in Autumn’s life, so much conflict. It made her zealous and incredibly stubborn. She always followed her convictions, which is admirable. But she seldom thought about how her actions would affect others. She did what she thought was right. Consequences be damned.”
That implied that her mother was responsible for Otal’s death. Flora started to object, to insist that her mother had only done what she must to keep three innocent girls safe. But Autumn’s decision to bind their abilities and leave them ignorant of their origins was a pretty good indication that Nadis’ criticism was warranted. Because of Autumn’s refusal to compromise, Flora had been completely unprepared when her past collided with her present.
After a long pause, Flora asked, “What happened to Otal?”
“He was crushed by her departure. He was deeply in love with her and couldn’t believe that she chose to abandon her mates.”
“If they were in love, why didn’t he go with her?”
Nadis shifted on the sofa, looking slightly uncomfortable. “He disagreed with her decision to leave. Otal was determined to keep the triad together. The only way he would have agreed to go was if she’d convinced Azar to go too.”
“If he refused to go with her, how can you blame what happened on Mom?”
“She had no right to take their child off world.” Nadis’ tone grew cold and bitter. Clearly, she had chosen sides long ago. “If she found the system intolerable, she should have worked to change it.”
“Theirchild? I thought Azar was my father?” The detail was irrelevant to the tragedy, but she needed to understand. The concept of a triad was still so alien to her.
“Biological fathers are identified to establish a medical history and help manage the gene pool. You are Azar’s biological offspring, but children belong to the triad. Triads are family units. They share equally in the responsibilities of rearing the offspring.”
“Considering Autumn’s past, my fathers had to know she might run. Why didn’t they do more to protect me?” Her anger with her mother and grandmother didn’t keep Flora from feeling defensive. “It seems to me that there is plenty of blame to go around.”
Nadis’ expression hardened and her gaze iced over. “Your mother severed the soul bond so she could conceal her destination. The result was excruciating and dangerous for her mates. A team of healers worked for days to save their lives and their sanity.”
“Service to the Citadel should not be mandatory,” Flora countered. She didn’t agree with what her mother had done, but she understood her motivation. “We should be allowed to say when and how our abilities are used.”
“Our abilities are not naturally occurring,” Nadis reminded firmly. “We were engineered, bred to be weapons. It is the purpose for our existence.”
That was an entirely different subject and Flora wasn’t finished with this debate. “How did Otal die?”
