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‘If you really believe that,’ he said, ‘you won’t mind waiting for your mum, will you? She can straighten things out once and for all, and if I’m wrong then I’ll apologise wholeheartedly to both of you. But if I’m right…’ He shook his head slightly. ‘If I’m right then this is huge. This is—amazing.’
‘You’re not right!’ I cried. ‘I’m a St Clair, and that’s all there is to it.’
I turned to leave but collided with Mum and Trinity who were coming through the door. Mum looked absolutely panic stricken. She pulled me into a fierce hug.
‘Romy! What have they said to you?’
‘They haven’t actually said very much to me,’ I told her tearfully, ‘but they were saying quite a bit when they didn’t know I could hear them.’
‘We’re so sorry,’ Sirius told Mum sorrowfully. ‘We came straight to this room because we thought we’d be away from you both, and we wanted to talk it over before we said anything to you. We had no idea she was upstairs. It was just bad timing.’
Mum let me go and sank onto Lowen and Keely’s bed, her head in her hands.
My heart jumped into my throat. ‘Mum, has Trinity told you what they said? Tell them they’re wrong! Explain to them.’
She rubbed her face then gazed up at me, her eyes beseeching.
‘I’m so sorry, Romy.’
‘What?’ My voice came out in a whisper. ‘What are you saying?’
‘I think,’ Lowen said gently, ‘that what she’s saying is that we’re right. You’re not a St Clair, Romy. You’re a Pendragon. You’re Wren Pendragon, and you’re my sister. Trinity’s sister. We’re triplets.’
‘Don’t be…’ My voice trailed off as I saw the look on Mum’s face. Without her saying a word I knew she was confirming Lowen’s outrageous claim. She wasn’t my mum at all. Harley and Keely weren’t my siblings. Trinity and Lowen were.
‘Three will become two,’ I murmured. Lyrica’s words had haunted me for months, ever since she told us her prophecy at The Fool’s Journey back in April. I’d been so afraid for a long time that it meant something awful was going to happen to either me or one of the twins. Now I realised those words had a different meaning entirely.
‘I’m sorry?’ Trinity asked.
‘It was a prophecy,’ I said, feeling dazed. ‘One will become three, three will become two, two will become three. I never knew what it meant. It was about us. Lowen discovering who he was—the three in one. Fae, witch, Great Guardian. Keely and Harley losing me, so the three sisters become two. You and Trinity finding me, so two becomes three. It was all about us. Lyrica knew. The three hares! That was the card she pulled. She said, “He is returning”. She meant you, Lowen! She knew all that time. It was all about us.’
‘I think she’s getting hysterical,’ Mum said worriedly.
Except, she wasn’t Mum, was she? Laragh Pendragon was my mother. I was the daughter of one of the Nine Sisters and a Pendragon. A Pendragon! I sank onto the floor, too weak with confusion and grief to stand any longer.
Trinity immediately sat next to me and, after a moment’s hesitation, Lowen joined us. We sat there together, our backs against the wall, the three of us with me in the middle.
‘This is amazing,’ Killian breathed. ‘The three Pendragon children reunited after all this time.’
Sirius dropped onto the bed beside Mum. ‘I just can’t take all this in,’ he confessed.
I lifted my gaze to my mother and said, ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
She gave me an anguished look. ‘Why do you think? To keep you safe! When Emrick, Keresen, and I agreed to separate you and each take one of you to raise, we swore an oath that we wouldn’t tell you, or anyone else, who you really were, and that we wouldn’t reveal where we were taking you, even to each other. I left Peloryon Island with you and the twins, and found our house in Northumberland, miles away from anyone. I’ve done all I can to protect you, and that meant you could never know. You’re Romy St Clair, and that’s all that matters.’
‘Except she’s not, is she?’ Killian asked reasonably. ‘She’s Wren Pendragon.’
‘Wren Pendragon would be a target,’ Mum cried. ‘Can’t you see that? I never wanted any of this to come out—not just for Romy, but for you, Lowen, and you, Trinity. I hoped none of you would ever discover who you truly were. I wanted you to have happy, normal lives, away from magic. Magic killed your real parents, and it killed my husband. Do you think I wanted that for any of you? I loved you all so much, and I couldn’t bear to put you at risk.’
‘But it wasn’t your decision to make,’ Lowen said gently. ‘You must have known, once those invitations were sent from Meri Kittow, that I was going to be called? And that if my identity was revealed, it was only a matter of time before I discovered I had sisters?’
‘And when Lowen and I found each other,’ Trinity said, ‘you must have seen how happy we were to be reunited, yet you still said nothing to Romy.’
‘Romy already had two sisters,’ Mum said stubbornly. ‘I was happy for you and Lowen, of course I was, but Romy didn’t need you. She had a family already.’
I just didn’t know what to think. I felt completely torn in two. Part of me clung to her, and to the sisters I’d loved all my life and had grown up with. But there was a part of me that knew I could never feel the same again now I’d learned the truth. I wasn’t a St Clair, I was a Pendragon. It changed everything. How could it not?
A prickle of excitement ran through me as I realised something else.
