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My heart skipped. “She’s beautiful.”
Riot draped an arm around my shoulders and hugged me into his side. “Looks like her mother.”
“Lucky for her.” I snickered when he pinched me. “What’ll you call her?”
Anneli glanced at Riot, smiling. “Calista.”
A small gasp pulled me away from the sweet moment. Calista was near the door, her hands over her mouth. I was nudged away from my brother and his wife, from the spell, or the draw to the one who still lived, I didn’t know, but I took her hand.
Dozens of moments filled my head. Cooing to the girl in the summer sun as butterflies fluttered about. Giggles of a small child when I tickled her. Watching her learn to speak, to walk, to draw her favorite flower.
“Blood roses,” I whispered. “Those are your favorite. I made you a crown of them on your fifth birth fete right before—”
“He took you from me,” she finished. “I cried because I couldn’t find you. Then, I cried harder because I followed my maj, and I saw . . . I saw what he did.”
My grip on her palm tightened.
She sniffed. “I recognize their faces, but it doesn’t make sense. I was young here and young not long ago too. Why?”
It was a question for which I had no answer. “I don’t know. There remain secrets we’ve yet to uncover.”
“Will you tell me about them? All of them, even Stef . . . even Annon?”
I hugged her. “I’ll tell you everything. You were—are—very loved, Calista Ode.”
The rite faded, but Calista and I remained wrapped in each other’s arms.
“I’m going to take it as there is a familial connection,” Ari said.
I pulled back, wiping my eyes, and nodded. “She is of House Ode. The heir of a fate king and queen.”
“All hells.” Kase closed his eyes and cursed at the ceiling. “Another one.”
“Another what?” Calista snapped.
The Nightrender chuckled but didn’t answer.
Elise gave Kase a sharp look, then took his place. Calista trusted Elise Ferus, they had a connection. Whether their story began the race to gather fate’s gifts, or it was that they saved each other before they really knew each other, it didn’t matter. Calista visibly relaxed when Elise took her hands.
“Cal, what Kase is not eloquently saying is that if you are the heir of the first fate king and queen, you are a royal yourself. You’re a queen.”
“Thank the gods.” Ari wrapped his arm around my waist. “There you have it, our throne is all yours. We’ll be in the hills, undisturbed for at least a turn. Enjoy ruling a kingdom.”
I elbowed him but chuckled when Calista’s face blanched. “Cal, he’s teasing you.”
“Am I?” Ari wrinkled his brow. “What happened to a month in bed, sweet menace?”
Elise chuckled but looked back to Calista. “No one is plopping a crown on your head that you don’t want.”
“Good.” She was stiff and clearly afraid. “Uh, if it’s all the same to you lot, I’d like to see those scrolls you found.” She glanced at Ari. “Right? You found a lot of songs written by . . . by my daj, I guess.”
To have the rite pull back the shadows, I could almost see bits of Riot and Anneli in her expressions. The smirk was the same as my brother’s, the wild light in her eyes was Anneli’s.
“I’ve got those, Cal. Some don’t make a lot of sense, but they’re yours to scour,” Niklas said. “Come on, chat my ear off about all this while you read, girl. I’m wholly intrigued.”
Niklas draped an arm around her bony shoulders and started off on a rant about fate and what she was thinking on the shore to make the burst, and if she thought she’d start donning gowns now that she was a dirty royal.
For the first time since Annon died, Calista truly smiled.
