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“Fae,” I whispered.
“She hid among us,” Delphine murmured.
Her voice sounded far away, even though she sat next to me. I watched Healynas throw the girl to the ground before mounting her, ignoring the way she wept and struggled. I wanted to look away, but I couldn't because I sensed how critical this was.
The smoke swirled, thinning for a moment, before another ghostly-yet-solid image appeared. The same young woman, only this time her belly was swollen. She moved through the camp with one hand over it, rubbing slow circles while she carried a bucket.
Now, I could see her face better than I could before. It was like looking in a mirror. “It's me. But it's not.”
“You know who she is. Who she was to you.”
“But... How? I grew up in Sypani.” I couldn’t take my eyes from the girl.
She was so pretty. Young and fresh-looking. And when she looked down at her belly, she wore the sweetest smile. Tears filled my eyes, but I blinked them away as fast as I could because I didn't want to miss a single second of what was unfolding. Stupid tears, getting in the way.
The smoke swirled again, and now, I saw something that looked painfully familiar: our old home, where Jett and I grew up. A familiar-looking woman, too, only this was back when she was healthier. She hadn't sunk too deep into her addiction yet.
“Mom,” I said.
Only she wasn't my birth mother, was she? Because now I was understanding. Now, I saw the pair of babies held in the Fae girl’s arms. I watched her weep over them, pressing kisses against their foreheads before she laid them in a crib. I watched others behind her, Delphine included, and witnessed them casting a spell.
“The woman you knew as your mother was chosen not because she was remarkable, but because she was anything but. Just another woman among so many others. We chose to hide you and your brother with her, knowing Healynas would never think to look somewhere so low. After all, he was a king. He would never think to search for his offspring in such a place.”
My mother. My real mother stared down into the crib where the babies I knew were Jett and me started to wail. Tears filled her eyes the way they did mine. My mother, knowing she had to leave us. Nobody had to tell me that. I could see it on her face, the pain written all over it. It broke her heart to leave us there, even though she knew it was for the best.
All of a sudden, a female voice filled the tent. Deep, like it came from the earth itself. “The child of light shall restore balance. Two great pillars must rise against each other, one pillar meeting the other across the waves.”
In the smoke, I saw destruction. War, struggle, blood. And then a blast of light so bright I lifted an arm to shield my eyes from it.
And when the light faded, so did the smoke. “What happened? Is it over?”
“You've seen all that needs to be seen, and what we witnessed confirms you are who my son believed you to be. The child of Healynas and another of the Fae.”
To my surprise, she reached out, closing a hand over mine. The strangest, pulsing sense of energy radiated from the place where our hands touched. Was it my power or hers? Maybe the two of us combined.
“But what does it mean?” I searched her face for answers, my throat tight, as the memory of my mother—my true mother—imprinted itself on my mind’s eye. I wanted to hold her there, keep her there. I wanted to see her again, damn it all.
“It means your brother is coming for you. It will mean the fulfillment of the prophecy. You are the two pillars, and he is coming across the sea to face you.” Her grip tightened, and the energy turned hot, prickly. “With or without the help of your sire, we must awaken your magic.”
“But how? I still can't control it very well. I don't even know where that electrical zap comes from. Only that it burns people to a crisp when it hits them.”
“Have you practiced at all with fire and earth?”
“A little bit with earth, but I sort of dabbled.”
She nodded slowly, her brow creased in concentration. “Your light power might be enough to face your brother and emerge triumphant. Still, we will do everything we can to awaken your other powers. My son was right in bringing you to us. This might mean your salvation—and ours.”
No pressure or anything.
