I lower the mirror, focusing on my mother’s ears. They also point at the tips, but at a sharper angle than mine.
It’s like someone pushed all the air out of my lungs. My legs give out, and I collapse against the edge of the bed.
I bring the mirror back up, scouring my face—nothing else pops out as noticeably different, unlike my mother’s, which I can only describe as sharper than I remembered.
“Half fae? I really am half fae?”
“Yes. When I was exiled to the mortal lands, I was alone, without my family. I decided I would make a new one. I found a man of acceptable appearance with proven virility and took him to my bed.”
I blink, catching up to what she said. “Proven what?”
“He had already fathered six children. It would have been miserable to bed a Fallen and not receive the child I sought.”
“If he had six children… was he married? You seduced someone’s husband?”
Mother scoffs as she trails her finger along the wall. “There was no seduction involved. I simply took what I needed.”
My stomach pushes into my throat.She took? Like… by force?
The room closes in around me.
I don’t—I can’t…
“I think I’m gonna be sick.” I bury my face in my hands.
Not only am I not human, but I only exist this way because she… she…
I can’t even touch that right now. To go from knowing nothing about him, to this…
Fuck.
“Temper your thoughts. Get some fresh air. See our kingdom.” Mother’s voice echoes through the hollows of my mind as she takes my arm and pulls me to my feet. My skin crawls at her touch, but my mind clears as my body drags itself where directed, and I look out the window.
What the…?
We stand high in the canopy of a forest, full of oblong wooden structures built into the branches of the trees. Wooden walkways connect each of them, with people—fae—strolling along. While sunlight breaks through the leaves above in patches, warm orbs of flickering light float along the paths, brightening the shadows.
But the colors. It’s as if even the brightest shades in Haven were still half gray, and I never noticed until now. Rich greens and browns breathe into the air, as if the colors themselves are alive. I swear they even have a pulse.
I rush to the window on the opposite side of the room. The trees are less dense on this side, opening into far-off fields, full of wildflowers, and a sky that glows with a blue as radiant as my eyes.
“It’s so… bright.”
“This is how the world is meant to look,” Mother says. “It’s unfortunate you haven’t been able to see it until now.”
My wonderment dims at the edge in her voice. This is just a distraction from what’s important.
I turn away from the window. “Why are we here? You said you were exiled? Why were you able to come back?”
Mother pats my arm. I flinch away, and she shakes her head before sitting on the bed with a sigh.
“In the simplest terms, I was Queen of this land—Aedys, the northern realm. Before you were born, my husband, Gethin, turned against me. He took stewardship of the realm and cast me out. I was given a piece of the Land to hide my nature, as well as some water to sustain me in the Forsaken Lands, but I eventually ran out.”
My eyes narrow. “Your illness? You became weak when you ran out of water?”
“I lost many of my abilities then, and while it certainly made things worse, the weakness was the cost of the Land’s protection, so I wouldn’t be discovered in that decaying world.”
A decaying world?“Is that what you mean by the Forsaken Lands?”
