That sets my nerves at ease, and I begin searching the passengers’ faces, wondering if I’ll recognize?—
The world around me slows as I spot a pair of eyes as familiar to me as my own reflection. Pale hair in messy waves, pinned under a straw hat dressed in silk flowers. She’s outfitted in a short-sleeved day dress in white linen, exactly the kind of lightweight ensemble one might wear in the Fire Court.
She reaches the bottom step, and a tall human male helps her down to the platform. I lose her when she joins the fray of the crowd, but it’s her. I know it is.
Daphne and I start forward. The roar of my heartbeat is the only sound I hear, drowning out the bustle of the chattering passengers.
Then the crowd clears…
And she’s there.
My mother.
Étaín.
Her eyes lock on mine, and we freeze. She…she looks so much like me. She’s nearly as tall as I am with the same gray eyes, the same dimples that frame her smile. Like most fae, she maintains a youthful countenance, but there’s vast wisdom in her eyes, paired with crow’s feet at their corners that speak of her age. She must be hundreds of years older than even Daphne.
Étaín’s chest heaves with a sob. There’s no question on her face. She recognizes me.
I swallow the lump in my throat and give Daphne’s hand a final squeeze before releasing it. Then I close the remaining distance between me and my mother. “Hello, Mother.”
Another sob tears through her, and she pulls me into her arms. I’m so stunned, so wholly unprepared for this, that I’m hardly aware of the detective who stands at her side. My heart cracks, and I remember how to breathe, how to move, how to return the affection I got so used to withholding from everyone around me. I fold my arms around my mother, and it feels as if something inside me locks into place at last.
This is where it all began.
The fox friend who left me, making me wonder what I’d done to lose her.
The mother who that fox turned out to be, leaving me so suddenly without telling me who she was.
The guilt that plagued me when I reflected on how I’d treated her, how I’d carried her, climbed trees with her, dressed her in flower crowns and bow ties.
The fear I developed that loved ones could leave at any time without more than a curt goodbye.
The cold behavior I’d engaged in, doing exactly what was done to me to keep myself from ever feeling that shock of loss again.
The blame I placed on myself so that I always had a concrete reason for being abandoned.
This is where it all began, but none of it matters anymore. I don’t blame her, and I don’t blame myself.
This is where it ends.
My cheeks are wet but my heart is light as Mother and I separate, just enough to look at each other again. There’s so much I want to know about her. What has she been doing all this time? What is her life like? In what ways are we similar? In what ways are we different?
But first, there’s a piece of my heart she needs to meet.
“Mother,” I say, stepping to the side and extending a hand to where Daphne hovers a few feet away, wringing her hands. Daph places her palm in mine and lets me pull her close. “Allow me to introduce my fiancée.”
This is where it ends, and this is where it begins again.
Forgiven.
Renewed.
Free.
BONUS EPILOGUE
ARAMINTA
