“I missed you,” I said through clenched teeth—an effort being made to hold in the sobs I could feel threatening to escape my lips.
“I missed you, too, my Dimi,” Mother responded as she ran a hand up and down my back, right between my wings.A soothing motionshe’ddone many years ago—yet it felt so familiarthen,itcould’vebeen as recent as yesterday.
OnceI’dcalmed down enough to think clearly again, I slowly released my hold on her and sat back, stillvery nearto her, our knees almost touching. She watched my every move, her eyes sharp despite her time locked away. Her gaze was soft, though, as she waited for me to collect myself.
“How… How are you alive?” I finally asked, curiosity gnawing at me.
“What did your father tell you had happened when I disappeared?”sheresponded with a question of her own.
A crease appeared between my eyebrows at the response and her choice of wording, but I answered anyway.
“He saidyou’dgotten sick suddenly. That you gotvery bad, very quickly. And then one morning, he saidyou’ddied in your sleep.That itwas swift and peaceful, at least. We… never saw you again.”
Mother let out a breath that easily could’ve been a soft laugh. Almost like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“That doesn’t surprise me in the slightest,” she responded.
“So… what actually happened?”
Mother sighed. “Your father had an opportunity to erase me, to remove me from the playing board—so he did.”
I tilted my head and asked, “But why?”
“Horace… He caught me and your sister, Aviva, practicing herzirilium.” Her eyes softened a degree at the mention of my twin, while mine felt as thoughthey’dhardened. “I’msure you know by now that she was born with both Northern and Southern abilities—a gift from the Stars. She got her Southern abilities from me, of course, asI’malso sureyou’vefigured out. But despite Horace’s infatuation with me, he wanted his children to be likehim—not tainted by mybloodline’szirilium. When he found me practicing with Aviva that day, well, things got out of hand.”
I watched as she rolled up her tattered shirt sleeve to reveal two child-sized handprints scarred onto her upper arm. The skin was warped and discolored; scars like that, which obviouslyhadn’thealed properly, were either extremely bad wounds orweren’ttreated afterwards the way theyshould’vebeen. Or both in this case, if I were to guess.
I couldn’t stop the slight grimace that flickered over my features.
“Your sisterdidn’tmean to. She thought she was helping. It was the first timeshe’daccessed her firezirilium—and I discovered the hard way that her fire burned so hot it wasblue. But the pain was too much, and I passed out. When Iwokeagain, I washere,in this tower. AndI’vebeen here ever since.”
I’dalready known Avivapossessedabilities from the North and the South, but that was arelatively recentdiscovery. On the other hand, I’d guessed that our mother wasn’t Northern for most of my life—though I kept those thoughts to myself, so asto notupset Father. Shedidn’thave wings, and her coloring was all wrong for a Northerner. OnceI’dnoticed those qualities about her, Icouldn’tunsee them.
I couldn’t unsee how Southern she looked in my foggy memories.
My own abilities were also a recent discovery, though, as well.
I wonder…
“Did you know that I also had taken after you? That I, too, possessed Southern zirilium?” I asked tentatively.
Her lips tilted up in a small smile, then she nodded. “Youhadn’tdisplayed any solid evidence of it yet the last time I saw you, but I felt the shift in you. Aviva had beenaveryearlybloomer, but itdidn’tsurprise me when I realized you would be, too,” she noted. “You must be a master of your craft by now. Which abilities were gifted to you?”
I pressed my lips together tightly, the tips of my ears burning with shame.
She was right—Ishouldhave mastered my abilities before now.
Yet Ihadn’teven known about them until a handful of weeks ago.
Another thing Father had managed to hide from me.
“What is it?” she prodded gently.
“Father… He had me drink these elixirs every day, without fail, thatseemed to hidemy abilities—even from myself. I started taking them right after you…disappeared. I guess myziriliumhadn’tsurfaced justyet. Idon’tknow if Father knewthey’dhave surfaced soon, or if it was just a precaution. Itwasn’tuntil the past couplemonthsthat I realized the elixirhadn’tjust been for me—Aviva had taken them too, and it had done more than just hide abilities. Itseemed to eraseany trace of Southern from her, too. Ididn’teven remember she had two different colored eyes until after she left,” I explained.
Iwasn’tsure how Father had managed to terrify both me and my twin into never telling the other about our individual elixirs. Though, Ididknow that Hugo had been a part of it;he’dalways created the elixirs, and he was there to provide them when Fathercouldn’tbe.
At that, Mother’s eyebrows shot up.
