AllFreeNovel
Share Us
There was a mirror, dusty and the silver was mottled, but I pushed my sleeve up and inspected the mark on my arm, tracing the thick, veiny streak up to my bicep, then where it emerged from my shirt and spread across my chest.
A circle, with two lines running through the middle. I cocked my head, the image vaguely familiar.
Out of a book or a manual I’d once seen but, like these past few days, couldn’t remember.
I jumped at the light knock on the door, then Adele popped her head in, a lit candle in her good hand, Tavion nipping at her heels. “I just wanted to see her, Zor, before I went to sleep,” she explained, never taking her eyes off her daughter. “When it’s been so long, you don’t want to waste a minute.”
The words rang inside me as she limped across the room, Tavion prowling to the foot of the bed before he flopped down with a groan. Adele perched on the edge of the mattress and took Anaria’s hand.
“I never thought I’d ever see this place again.” She looked around, a hint of wistfulness on her pale face. “Especially not this room. I figured the Oracle or the king would have razed this entire place to the ground.”
“Why would you think that?”
“Because this is where Anaria was born.” She stroked her fingers along the edge of the bed. “Right here, in this very bed.”
Shock kept me speechless.
In all my secret visits to Solarys, I’d never been here, though I’d heard about the Wynters. Especially Lady Wynter, whose penchant for blackmail and violence was legendary.
Through the windows, faint fires still burned in the dark city, dull orange glows that flickered with a determination I had to admire. Overhead, the Reapers circled, like they had for two days, and I crossed the room to draw the drapes tighter.
“Here?” I repeated, barely stopping myself before I asked if she was sure.
Of course Adele was sure.
It was just…the Oracle had commanded them to appear here, before dispatching them to war. And there were no coincidences with that old spider.
She had to have known.
“I couldn’t stand the palace. Everyone in the royal court wanted me dead, and the only reason Carex kept me alive was because I carried his child.” Adele brushed a lock of hair away from Anaria’s face.
“I hated Caladrius. I realized once I gave birth I would die, so those ten months became my entire life. All I wanted before the end was to hold her in my arms.” She sighed. “Since his entire court had vied for a thousand years to take Carex’s throne, an actual blood heir…was the greatest threat they could have imagined.
“But for some reason…the idea of being a father seemed to grow on Carex. Keeping me at the palace became too great a risk. This was our compromise.”
“The Wynters?” I couldn’t follow where Adele was headed with this, but I already knew I didn’t like it.
Her smile deepened, to something knowing and almost cruel. “My suggestion, though I may have used a touch of arcane magic to convince him. Carex barely remembered the Wynters, though they’d been members of his court for centuries. But why would he? They were not his usual fawning sycophants. They rarely attended court, only the required royal events, and kept to themselves, though they donated heavily to his war.”
I barely remembered where I was, what I was supposed to be doing, only the knife in my belt, inches from my fingers.I should kill her. The thought popped into my head then was immediately rejected.
Adele was Anaria’s mother, for fuck’s sake.
I was being paranoid.
Yet the sense of danger, that something truly awful was about to happen, that she was the source of it, kept rising. This female was a threat, in the same way my wife had been a threat, though I couldn’t see how.
Adele was the most fragile, delicate, ruined thing I’d ever seen.
Which made this even worse.
“The Wynters kept me alive, and I was able to hold my daughter. Twice, before she was taken away by that fucking witch. But once Anaria entered this world, it didn’t matter what happened to me. Only what she would become.”
I relaxed, watching her stroke her daughter’s face with such gentle care.
Gods, she’d slept with the king, gotten pregnant, and still stayed to honor her bargain with the Oracle. To honor her word to Julian. To fight for a better world. I relaxed. It didn’t matter what happened all those years ago, only that both she and Anaria were alive.Safe.
I dipped my head. “I see now where Anaria gets her courage. And her determination.”
