My eyes fly open. White dots dance across my vision. Beyond the haze, three faces hover above me. Pale skin and red hair. Brown skin and dark hair. Darker skin and darker hair still. All three have arched ears.
Their features sharpen as I blink. Blue eyes. Dark brown. Lighter brown. All filled with concern. Then a wave crashes through me. Not theirs.Malachi's.His worry floods the bond so powerfully I nearly choke on it. I close my eyes and push reassurance back toward him, then pull away before his presence overwhelms me completely.
"Goddess, Ada." Anala's voice is barely a whisper.
"Are you alright?" Freida frowns as I try to sit up.
"I'm fine." My voice comes out hoarse.
Anala presses a glass to my lips. I drink. Her dark eyes search my face. "Better?"
"Thank you." Another sip. A shaky exhale. "I'm fine. I won't faint again."
They step back, giving me room, but none of them returns to their seat until I'm sitting upright again.
I look at Mother behind her desk. Mother. The word feels different now. Wrong, somehow. "Are you my... am I your..."
"No." Her voice is gentle. "You are not my daughter." A sad smile crosses her face. "But if you'll allow me, I'll tell you how all of this began."
I take a breath and nod.
"The island of Larimar had a monarchy, but not like the kingdoms you've studied." She settles back in her chair. "The island was divided into sectors, each belonging to a different tribe. Each tribe had its own cacique, its own customs, its own way of life. King Elías ruled with his queen, but they worked alongside the caciques. Peace through cooperation, not domination."
She pauses. "It ensured no culture was erased. No traditions lost. Just because people share land doesn't mean they share beliefs. Larimar embraced that difference."
"That sounds ... fair." I rub my eyes, half-hoping I'll wake from this nightmare. "Why didn't you teach us about them?"
"Because teaching about Larimar means teaching about Cato." She closes her eyes briefly. "I hoped he would be dead before you ever learned his name."
"I read about what he did." My jaw clenches. "How he wanted Pia and when he was refused, he tried to enslave the entire island with compulsion. When that failed, he ordered the slaughter."
Sara’s eyebrows rise.
"Where do Jordi and I fit into this? And Lunaris?" I ask.
She takes a long, steadying breath. Lets it out slowly. "Pia was your mother."
I recoil. "That's impossible. Tenebris has been cursed for three hundred years. Pia died shortly after."
"She did." Mother's voice is steady. "But she still gave birth to you and your brother." The words make no sense. I let her continue anyway. "It was only by Ignata's grace that I survivedwhat Cato did to our people. I was taken to Asturyum, where the goddess Sulara allowed me to recover." Her voice tightens. "When I was strong enough, I tried to save my sister. The goddess would not permit it."
I close my eyes. "Your sister."
"Yes,” she whispers. "Pia was my sister."
“Gods,” I breathe, shaking my head.
"I was sent here with Freida and Anala to guard Ignata's Flame. We could not leave,” she says, hands curling into fists on the desk. "I knew Pia was alive because of what Cato was doing. His atrocities. I knew he was using her gifts to heal that scepter."
"The siphoning scepter," I whisper.
"It drains the gifts of his followers and stores them for his use. But each time it drains, it needs to be healed. That's what he kept her for."
"Before the curse fell, I began having visions,” Anala says softly. "I saw Pia escape. I saw Tenebris consumed by darkness. I saw the Shroud that would rise from that curse." She pauses. "And I saw children arrive here. Seven of them. The Flame told me they would need to be trained. Hidden."
"Constantine arrived shortly after." Freida takes Anala's trembling hand. "He brought the idea of the memory trade. We didn't like it. But Anala's visions were too strong to ignore, and we don't believe in coincidences."
"Did you know he was Shadow Guild when he arrived? That he worshipped Cato?"
