Emma
“You’re here.” I cling to my mother. “You’re alive.”
“Too pretty to die, aren’t I?” She laughs, but I can sense her worry … and her relief.
“I thought you’d been killed. When they said your hearth was cold, I didn’t know—”
“Kidnapped, I was.” She squeezes me tight, her hands pressed to my back on either side of my wings. “Some bunch of fools trying to overthrow the high fae. It’ll never happen. Never. The high fae will always look down their noses at us. I tried to tell them, I did. But they thought better—”
“Mama.” I pull back and just stare at her as my tears well and overflow.
“Oh, my sweet child.” She sniffles and pulls me close again, then rocks me back and forth a little, the same way she’d do whenever I was sick as a babe. “I’ve missed you so.”
“I’ve missed you.” I can’t stop the sob that rips from me. “So much has happened.” I sob louder. “I’m different now. I’m dark and wrong, and I—”
“Not a word of that.” Mother strokes my hair. “Not a word. You are my daughter, wings and all. Nothing can change that.”
I look up at Lucidia. She nods. “She’s right, nightling. You are still you. I see that. I see every bit of that sassy changeling right here. The same as I saw you the day you arrived to turn our realm upside down.”
I reach out, and she takes my hand. “The things I’ve done.” I shudder.
“From what I’ve heard, you were under the thrall of a seeker king.” Mother rocks me some more, and Lucidia sits next to me on the cot. “You aren’t responsible for—”
“I am.” I cry harder, my body trying to purge itself of all the darkness, though I don’t think it’s possible. “I’m responsible.”
“No.” Lucidia shushes me. “No, Emma. You are good. Iknowyou are good.”
I wish I could know that, too. But I still feel Eraldon, his blood linked with mine.
“And look,” Mother chirps, “you’ve gone and become immortal. Forever in the bloom of your youth.”
I snort. I can’t help it. Awash in tears yet laughing with joy at finding my mother again. I hug her close and inhale the smoky scent in her hair. “I’m so glad you’re here,” I whisper.
“As am I.”
I finally blink away some tears, and the infirmary comes into focus. Caltinius, Sophina, and Lunarie are all standing together beside the potions wall and watching.
“Lunarie? What are you doing here?” I sniffle.
“She saved you,” Sophina says matter-of-factly.
“What? How?”
My mother gives Lunarie a quick glance. “A powerful witch that one.”
“Alchemist mostly,” Lunarie calls. “But yes, a little witch blood as well.”
“I think, um.” I sit up and wipe my cheeks. “I think I’ve missed a few things. What happened while I—”
A throaty roar shakes through the infirmary and makes the walls tremble.
Before I know what I’m doing, I’m on my feet.
“You should rest.” Lunarie steps toward me.
The roar sounds again, closer this time, and my heart answers. I can’t deny that pull, that glow of light and understanding that I can feel permeating me.
“Go.” Mother smiles. “Go to him.”
