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“And her stubbornness.” Her smile turned sad. “And something else, I’m afraid.”
“Her dark sense of humor?” I asked, trying to lighten the mood. Tavion lifted his head, whining as his huge, silver head swung between us.
I’d forgotten he was even there.
His eyes snagged on mine, a thread of warning in them, as if his instincts picked up something I’d missed. I wrapped my fingers around the hilt of my knife.
“No, but that’s a nice thought, Zorander. Anaria was not only born here, she came here many times after, before she was smuggled to Varitus.” Adele peeled back the blanket, revealing Anaria’s bare arm. Adele ran her finger down her sleeping daughter’s pale flesh, much like she’d stroked the blanket so lovingly a moment ago.
In the trail left behind, a marking appeared of pure white. A branching tree, sparkling with power, every branch reaching for the sky. Breath exploded from my lungs at the sight, at the impossibility of what I saw.
“Lady Wynter was my sister. Wynter is our family name…Anaria’s family name. The king tried to wipe us out, but he didn’t know we were hiding in plain sight. Carex is powerful, but not all that clever, as it turns out.”
“Wynter?” The name was barely a husk of sound. “You are a Wynter?”
Her eyes slid over to Tavion, who lowered his head, lip rising to bare his fangs. “My family. Who Tavion condemned to death, then did the deed himself.” Her eyes narrowed. “I wonder what my daughter will think about that, when she finds out?”
Adele smiled at Tavion’s low, urgent whine, her expression too similar to the Oracle’s for my comfort, every piece of me trembling at the resemblance.
“The Oracle has been planning this for a thousand years, since Carex killed his own father and corrupted the magic. My family has been privy to those plans for three hundred years.”
I was debating slicing her throat when she smiled. “My fighting days are long over. I am not here to harm my daughter.Or you, general.” Her laughing eyes seemed to mock me. “I’m here to ensure Anaria follows through on plans that were put into motion long ago.”
I drew my knife anyway. There was a threat here I could not yet see but was beginning to take shape. Tavion climbed to his feet, circling the bed, padded feet silent on the dusty rug, a low snarl rumbling in his throat.
“I love my daughter, but she has a purpose. Anaria was meant to restore the magic and kill the kings, but she is meant for so much more. All of you are meant for so much more.”
“What is that mark on her arm?” I’d never seen anything like it. “How did you get that to appear?”
“As I explained to Tristan and Tavion while we were trapped in that tomb, my ancestors possess witch blood. Pure,untaintedwitch blood. After a thousand years, the Oracle, in her desperation, never thought to check that small detail.
“My ancestors moved to this godsforsaken place, joined Carex’s court, and hid in plain sight. When the opportunity presented itself and whispers went through the realms, the villages and towns, that the Oracle of Tempeste was searching for a female of pure blood to join another great rebellion, my family knew our time had come.”
Her smile grew serpentine. “You see, Zorander, power is an elusive thing, and our kind has waited a long time to get it back.”
“You mean…witcheshave waited a long time?”
Who the fuck was this female? I gripped my knife tighter, praying I didn’t have to slay Anaria’s mother while she lay sleeping beside her.
“I volunteered, was chosen, and played my part. In the Oracle’s play, but not mine. Or my people’s.” When she lifted her gaze to mine, her eyes were burning. Silver fire, the kind I’d never seen.
“They burned my world, you know. Right after I had Anaria, word got to Tempeste that there were witches in the High Barrens. Carex’s army drove them out, into the mountains. Even trapped in that hellhole, I heard the stories of what he did.” Her gaze drifted to the shuttered window. “But none of that matters now.” When Adele lay her hand on Anaria, I wanted to tear it off.
“Anaria is half witch and half full-blooded Fae. And she’s claimed the magic.” Adele smiled up at me, not a hint of shame on her face that she’d fooled us all.
“My daughter is the single most powerful creature in this entire world. With the four of you by her side, she will be unstoppable. You need to ask yourself, Zorander Vayle, who do you fight for?”
Tavion was closer. Close enough to tear out her throat.
His eyes slid to mine, the question in them clear.What do we do?
If everything Adele said was true—and I suspected it was—the information might put us in a better place than we’d been before. And as I looked into my heart and answered Adele’s question, I realized none of this changed the outcome. Not for me.
“I fight for Anaria. And I fight for what’s right.”
“Good. That’s what I fight for as well. You don’t have an army. The old witch took that from you. But I will give you an army when it is time to fight.”
This time, her smile didn’t strike fear in me at all. But I despised her, just the same. I might have cared for Adele, as the mother of the woman I loved. Now she was just someone else who meant to use Anaria—her own godsdamned daughter—as a tool to gain power.
