“Well, Gladys, why should I touch the strange glowing water with the scary runes floating in it?”
Trust me.
I laughed. “Trust a voice—a being—that withholds her real name? I think not.”
Then trust this.
Grandmother rose from the water. Well, not grandmother herself, but Grandmother shaped by steam.
“Haven.” Relief flooded Grandmother’s face, but as she studied me—filthy, exhausted, wan with hunger—her expression shifted to concern. “I’ve been sick with worry. Are you hurt?”
“Not hurt, just tired and starving.” My voice cracked. “Grandmother, I’ve missed you so much.”
“And I you. But listen to Gladys. This is important.”
“You’re not real.” Seeing her, even as a vapor, made my heart ache. But it wasn’t her. My real grandmother would scold me for my dirty face and tangled hair. My real grandmother’svoice never cracked. This was Gladys pretending to be Grandmother. “It’s not you.”
“My physical body is at home in Grimswood, but my spirit is with you.”
“Prove it.”
“Prove I am who I say I am? Khouri is settling in. Tatiana has started reading Elody her bedtime story, but Elody misses you. She says you put more life into the characters. Flora cut her hair.”
My heart lurched in my chest. I should be there. At home with Grandmother and the girls, not following some grisly, Destiny-mandated path. “I’m not convinced.”
“Your powers arrived on your twelfth birthday.”
“That seems like the kind of thing Gladys would know.”
She pursed her lips and said, “Grim is the wood.”
I swallowed hard. “But strong are the roots.”
It was Grandmother. No one, not even Gladys, could replicate that no-nonsense tone. And no one but us knew those phrases. “What is happening right now?” I was deeply confused and felt betrayed. Had she kept this a secret from me for my whole life? Because being “Destiny’s champion” was a big fucking secret. Had she lied to me? My heart clenched. “Why didn’t you tell me?” The hurt in my voice was raw.
Grandmother’s expression crumpled. “Haven, I tried to protect you. To give you a normal childhood.”
“I haven’t been a child in a long time.”
Her vapor managed to flush.
“I’ve been kidnapped, tortured, and nearly died. Multiple times.” My voice rose with each word. “You’re the only person I’ve ever trusted. The only one who never lied to me. Or so I thought.”
Grandmother flinched. “Haven?—”
“No. Don’t ‘Haven’ me. How many times did Iask you about my powers? About why I was different? And you just … what? Smiled and changed the subject?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Did you know? About this champion thing?”
Champion thing?Gladys sounded appalled.
Grandmother’s expression softened, and she shook her head. “I knew your destiny was important. But this? No, I didn’t know.”
I stared at her, my chest tight with conflicting emotions. Part of me wanted to believe her—she was my grandmother, the woman who’d raised me, loved me, guided me. But another, more cynical part wondered what else she’d hidden from me. If she’d kept this secret, what others were there? “All those tutors you hired? The language lessons, weapons training, history, politics, etiquette—you were preparing me for this, weren’t you?”
She winced.
