Decree 6 of the Post Great War: All children of the uprising leaders shall henceforth be turned into the first changelings, sworn to loyalty beneath blood oaths to the immortal kingdoms. May their bodies provide the fertile soil of the next immortal dynasties.
DRAVEN’S STARE IS SO COLDit’s starker than the field of snow and ice I collapsed in as a girl. I’m strung between them, pulled between my love and anger for them. They’re both liars.
“You betrayed us,” Draven says between gritted teeth, still baring them.
She takes a deep breath. “I told your fathernotto go on that mission.”
“How do you even remember that time. I don’t,” I snap at Draven, trying to wrap my head around any of it. “We werechildren.” He’s only a year older than I am, and I was five when the War ended.
“I bet she’s to blame for that, too.” He grinds the words through his fangs.
I turn on her.
“I … had you and your brother’s memories altered by a druid sympathetic to our cause,” she explains matter-of-factly. As if this is something any loving parent would do to their child.
My eyes bulge, fists trembling at the violation. I think of Professor Vexus using his Hierophant to wipe the minds of all the changelings training with Draven. I never fully realized the horror of losing chunks of your life.
“If we got separated during the Scourge, I wanted you and your brother safe.”
“Yet you didn’t give a shit about me or mine,” Draven snarls.
“So, you’re going to betray me now? Have your revenge?” It’s the tone she used with me so many times, challenging me to disobey her. Knowing I wouldn’t.
She still thinks of him as a child.
He takes a deep breath, but his nails elongate and clench around his arms as he holds himself tightly. He glances at me for a telling moment. “No. Though King Altair will likely find you now that they know which kingdom you’re in. If they haven’t already.”
“We … led them to her?” I feel sick to my stomach.
“Altair likely Selected your father because of who he was and what he knew. He would’ve recognized him. It must be why Altair kept asking you about her.” He jerks his head in my mother’s direction. “I didn’t understand it, why it should matter. Thought it was merely a test on your ability to tell the truth.” Draven’s wings tighten up against his rigid back, and he stalks a bit farther into the room, wedging himself into a corner.
As the memory of my interrogation slams into me, Altair’s determination takes on a new meaning.
The druids took her seven years ago, for avoiding Selection, I had said.
Then Draven had added,She was sent to the Destarion.
The prison keeps records of transfers. We both may have led them to her.
“And … my father was Selected first … we moved afterward. He wouldn’t know where she was. Probably thought she was still in the mortal realm.” I look to my mom, and she collapses against the wall, clenching her hair.
“I changed our last name from your father’s to protect you kids, stopped using my own first name entirely.” She heaves a sigh, devastation written in the frown of her lips. “I knew one day this would come.”
I want to break. To scream out my heartbreak and frustration. I came here to save her … and look what I’ve done instead.
Draven pinches the bridge of his nose. “All the pointed fucking questions I just asked Eldarion will get back to Altair. He’ll know who and where she is in a matter of weeks. I’m sure he has spies here.” He clenches his jaw, and his gaze rakes me over. “I don’t think there’s anything we can do to stop it. I’m sorry, Rune.”
“That is not our deal, Draven.” I step toe to toe with him, and he straightens up, fists clenched, as he watches her over my shoulder, like a serpent coiled at my back. “She’s not safe here. We need to take her tonight. Can’t you undo the magic binding her to this place?”
His jaw ticks. “Your mother is the reason the Selection exists. She created the Curse. We can’t do anything for her.” He flinches, as if it hurts him to tell me.
I look to her, my lower lip quivering.
“Mom?” I want her to tell me it’s a lie. To say it’s not true.
My mother flinches. “Your father was a general of the rebel leader Kieran Ceres.” She takes a deep breath, tears spilling down her face. “And I was his top alchemist. When Ceres gotcaught, your father fled with you both. I … performed my last duty before escaping to join you.”
My mother. The soft singer. The garden keeper.
