“We have an emergency, Your Grace,” Blaine said in greeting as he removed the veil.
Caris ducked past him into the office, nodding at Lore and Meleri. Both women looked tired but focused, and Blaine wondered how long they’d been awake. Lore sat in a chair in front of her mother’s desk, but she stood at their arrival. Blaine kicked the door shut but didn’t bother locking it.
“We’ve read the broadsheets. We know the Clockwork Brigade is being blamed for last night’s attack,” Meleri said, setting her teacup aside.
“The attack on the ambassador is the least of our concerns,” Blaine said.
Lore crossed her arms over her chest. “I would think the attack would be your top priority.”
Blaine glared at her as he shoved the veil into his pocket. “My husband will always be important, but he knows I have a duty to Caris.”
“Blaine,” Meleri warned sharply as she rose from her seat.
Caris turned to face him, hands clenching into fists at her side. “No, I want to hear why. You’ve hinted as much to my mother, and no one has told meanything.”
“He’s a cog. We all have a duty to each other.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Blaine stepped closer and squared his shoulders before bowing to Caris to a degree reserved only for heirs to a throne, causing her to suck in a breath. “Emmitt and Portia Dhemlan are your parents, but they are not your bloodline. I carried you out of Amari after you were born on an airship captained by the Dusk Star.”
“Now is not the time,” Meleri said, sounding desperate.
Blaine straightened up, never taking his eyes off Caris’ pale face. “When will it be time, Your Grace? When you crown her after using her to gain the throne you’re after? I warned you keeping her in the dark would not serve you well.”
“Caris needs to be keptsafe.”
“And the North Star wants her to fight. If you wish to go against a star god’s decree, then so be it, but my orders come from the Dusk Star. They always have.”
“You called yourself Westergard after I woke up from the pub fight,” Caris said quietly.
Blaine nodded. “My father died to keep you safe. I was taken as witness.”
“Why?”
“For you. My father took you from Queen Ophelia’s arms and handed you to me. I carried you out of the palace and to the airship. We almost didn’t make it, and my father died to keep the enemy at bay while we launched into the sky. I was with you on the flight to Cosian, and that was the last I saw of you until you came to my class a few years ago.”
Caris’ lips trembled. “You took me from the palace?”
“You were born Princess Caris Rourke despite your name never being written in the royal genealogies. But I stand as witness, and I can attest to those memories.” Blaine smiled crookedly at her. “The Westergard bloodline has always guarded the Rourkes. You are my duty, Caris.”
She’d gone pale in the face, trembling, but didn’t appear as if she’d faint. Those who called the Eastern Basin home were forged strong at the borders. In that moment, Caris proved the star gods’ choice to see her grow up far from her birthplace was the right one.
“Do my parents know?” she asked quietly with a hitch in her breath, blinking wide eyes at him.
“I was not privy to what the Dusk Star told them, but everything they’ve done for you, it was done to keep you safe. If the Daijal court knew you lived, the king would have done anything to see you dead.”
Caris pressed her lips into a hard line before shaking her head and spinning around. “You knew, didn’t you?”
The accusation leveled at Meleri wasn’t enough to make the duchess flinch. “I’ve known who you truly were since Blaine told me four years ago, but none of us knew you could cast starfire until the train raid.”
“Andnoneof you thought to tell me the truth?”
“What good would it have done you if you’d known?” Lore asked sharply. “You came to Amari to go to university. You came to learn.”
“And you taught me all the things you thought a future queen should know, isn’t that right?” Caris asked bitterly. “All the parties and teas, all the visits to far-flung bloodlines, the lessons on politics, all of it done to introduce me to people I’d have known in some other life, but not this one.”
“I won’t apologize for guiding you down this road,” Meleri said.
