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Galen looks panicked that this information isn’t good enough, and it really isn’t. “She needs the dagger because it has special properties. It collects the blood of everyone it cuts. If she used it on Finn, then she has his blood. I also know that the red algae works on Fates.”
My mind starts to race. The dagger she has also cut me during the wedding, as well as Essos. One glance at Finn, and I see him rubbing his arm that Posey sliced with the God Killer blade. How many of us have been cut with the blade, which is now imbued with our blood?
Unable to get further with that unknown, I focus on the latter half of his statement and think over the implication of the red algae. In all the chaos, I had forgotten about the attempt to poison me during the Trials. Posey had installed Ellie and “Miranda” as lady’s maids to work for me, one of whom was dosing me with red algae powder, which slowly bound my powers. Of course, that was Ellie, the nymph who’d slept with Essos.
My brain hiccups again. The maids weren’t just Ellie, my husband’s former lover, but also Octavia, posing as Miranda.
Essos’s stroking falters, and I twist to look at him. If I could will one power into existence in this moment, it would be telepathy. This is not a conversation I want to have in front of everyone else.
“Red algae?” Dion asks. Most of the group had been oblivious to it. Once I knew my powers had been bound, I hid that fact from everyone. The only reason I even found out was my father-in-law, Titus, who alerted me to it.
Essos and I fill everyone in on the substance, not bothering to sort out who knew what it was or wasn’t. Tink stays quiet, watching us volley before he sits at the table as well, looking overwhelmed by everything he’s learning.
“Ellie was slipping it into her tea,” Cat pipes up.
“Ellie is Posey’s second. She’s who you need to get the upper hand on her,” Galen suggests. I snarl at the idea, and Galen snorts. “Finally realizing that Essos isn’t so perfect after all?”
I feel the growl reverberate through Essos, but I squeeze his knee to stop him. “You’re wrong. Ellie’s not clever enough to be Posey’s second. She couldn’t even handle sending memos correctly. She’s a nymph, and not a very good one, if I remember correctly.”
Galen sneers. “No,you’rewrong. Ellie is Posey’s daughter.”
CHAPTER28
Xavier looks the most shocked of everyone at the table, and I can’t say I blame him. He was an inattentive husband, but the idea that his wife snuck in a love child during their marriage seems unbelievable to everyone.
Once the shock has had a chance to dissipate, Xavier starts to laugh. It’s full-body tremors, and he laughs so hard he doesn’t make any sound at some points. It takes him several minutes to control his laughter, including time for him to get up and grip his chair as the fit nearly takes him to his knees.
“I’m sorry, that’s just…outrageous,” Xavier says, turning to his little brother, all amusement gone.
“It’s not. It’s why Ellie had the job with Essos to begin with,” Galen insists.
Now I chuckle. His own words prove him wrong. “That can’t be. Essos and I had already dealt with the nonsense with Ellie by the time Xavier and Posey were married.”
“How do you know this?” Essos asks Galen.
“How do Inot?” Finn asks.
“During the Trials, I overheard Ellie ask Posey when she would claim her as her daughter. I don’t know who her father is, or how she managed to keep a kid from you during your marriage, but I know what I heard,” Galen insists.
Essos leans forward and presses a kiss to my shoulder. “Can I talk to you alone for a minute?” he whispers so only I can hear.
I’m still trying to swallow this latest pill, so I nod. “Of course,” I agree.
We step inside, not giving an explanation to the rest of the group. We leave them to strategize while we cloister ourselves in Essos’s office. Dave is the only one who follows, prancing happily between us.
“I have a confession to make,” Essos starts once the door is closed behind me.
I cross my arms and gesture for him to go on. He walks first to his drink cart and pours himself a whiskey, taking a moment before pouring another glass and offering it to me. My eyebrows shoot up. Now I’m worried. This revelation has to be bad if he’s offering me booze to take it better.
I accept the cup but don’t drink from it, moving farther into the room. A layer of moss pads the walls, giving us privacy.
“After the Calling Ball, after you agreed to wed Galen and I was on the run, I saw Ellie.”
I inhale a deep breath through my nose, stung. We’ve been together uninterrupted for months. Why this is the first I’m hearing of it, I don’t understand.
“Go on,” I tell him, my voice shaking.
“Nothing happened, but she came to me, wanting to prove to me that she was the only one for me and that you truly did want Galen. I obviously never took her up on her offer, but what if we can use it?”
