The tunnel fell silent, aside from the quiet murmuring of her parents in the room beyond. Nya took a short breath. “I wasn’t there, Carus, not until later, when they let me say goodbye, so I can’t confirm anything. But they can.”
“I shouldn’t.” He was backing up again. “I can’t.”
“Carus.” She reached out to him. “Just come with me. I’ll do all the talking. But this way, you can at least have an answer.”
“Do I want it?” he asked, not her, but Morgen, who stood just behind her. “This would mean… I don’t even know what this would mean.”
“You want to know,” Morgen said. “Believe me, Carus.”
Unspoken words lingered in the air:They would love you if they knew. Don’t waste that.
They would, Nya was sure of it. They had neverstoppedloving her baby brother. It didn’t matter that he was gone. Morgen had never had that love from the people who brought him into the world, and he never would. It made sense why he was pushing Carus to find out the truth.
“Alright.” Carus paced back and forth a few times before stopping in front of her. “Fuck… Fuck. Okay, you can ask.”
She nodded silently, and he followed her as she ducked into the room. Her parents were sitting on one of the cots together, and they immediately looked up when they saw her, their eyes wide and full of relief. Neither of them looked upset, despite the awful things she had said to them yesterday. Guilt clawed at her, but their lack of anger didn’t surprise her. They had never let anything get in the way of loving her unconditionally.
“I’m sorry about what I said,” Nya said first, crossing over and sitting in the chair across from them. “I didn’t mean it.”
Her mother nodded, tucking a loose curl behind her ear. “We know, Nya. But I understand why you’re angry. Nothing about this is fair, and I wish more than anything I could take that away.”
Nya bit her lip, tucking away her own emotions for now. This wasn’t about her. “I know.” She glanced back at Carus, who watched them with wide eyes. She blinked once at him, a silent warning, then faced her parents again. “I need to ask you both something.”
“What is it?” her father asked, brow creased.
She cleared her throat, folding her trembling hands tightly in her lap. “When my brother was born, did either of you say anything in particular?”
She knew they were going to be taken aback by the question, and, sure enough, her mother’s lips parted in surprise, and her father paled slightly, his shoulders stiffening. It took a moment for either of them to speak, but finally, her mother said in a tight voice, “We talked to him for a while.” Her voice broke as she added, “He was loved, Nya, just like you, and we needed to make sure he knew that before—” She cut herself off, quickly brushing at her eyes.
Even after all these years, she could tell their pain was still just as potent. That alone made the next words even harder to force out, but she did, for all their sakes.
“But was there anything in particular you remember?”
“Nya, what’s going on?” her father asked, his usually steady voice wavering.
There were very few times she had seen her father cry. The night her brother was born had been one of them, and she hated bringing the memories to light again.
In her periphery, Carus took a step back, and she thought he might have been about to leave, so she said firmly, “I’ll explain, I promise. But first, please, was there anything you remember saying of note?”
Her father took a deep breath, exchanging a look with her mother, undoubtedly speaking to her down the pathway, currently closed to Nya.
“When you were born, Nya, until the moment you opened your eyes, you were like a tiny replica of your mother,” he said, his smile bittersweet. “Your brother never got the chance to open his, but he… He looked?—”
He cut himself off, looking down abruptly, but her mother finished for him. “He looked just like your father, Nya.” She smiled too, even as tears tracked down her cheek. “I remember that most.”
Nya did not smile, her eyes widening. Their words matched Carus’ memory far too closely to be a mere coincidence. She glanced back at Carus, who wasn’t looking at her now, instead staring at her parents with a disbelieving expression. Morgen, who lingered in the doorway, nodded once at her.I think we were right.
“Nya, what’s going on?” her mother asked, obviously aware of the sudden tension.
Nya saw the exact moment her father noticed Carus standing with a hand pressed to the wall. Her parents did not know what their son would have looked like grown. She wasn’t even sure they thought he would be reborn, so she didn’t blame them fornot realizing it right away. It was the same reason neither she nor Carus had noticed their own resemblance. The mind did funny things to rationalize things it thought impossible.
“Carus was born to mortal parents in D’anna,” Morgen said quietly. “Obviously, he’s not mortal, but he never knew who his true parents were.”
“Stop talking about me as if I can’t hear you, asshole,” Carus muttered in a thick voice, though his eyes were still on Nya’s father.
Morgen lifted his hands in the air. “I was just filling them in on the basics, since I presume you weren’t going to.”
“How old are you?” Nya’s father asked hoarsely. Her mother’s eyes were huge, ether illuminating the tears rolling steadily down her cheeks.
