With some effort, she knelt down in front of him, her age evident with each snap, crackle, and pop of her body. Their gazes locked as Rise stared at her, as if the answer of her identity could be discovered in her eyes. Maybe it could. She looked at him just as his mother had, from what he could remember of her.
“Are you…?”
“Your grandam. Your mother was my daughter.”
The air around Rise stilled, and his thoughts raced as he analyzed every wrinkle, every visible tooth in her crooked smile, every freckle on her face. Could it be true?
“I’m going to unchain you now. Do you think we can remain civil?”
Rise glanced down at the shackles on his arms and nodded as he raised them. She produced a key, and with a twist, they fell from his wrists.
She turned toward Liv and nodded. “Is she friend or foe?”
He turned to look at the woman he’d kidnapped and kept as his prisoner for the past week. Was she still his enemy?
“You can remove her restraints.”
Whether she meant him harm or not, he needed her to believe he was beginning to trust her. If he was being honest, he was.
As the shackles fell to her lap, Liv spoke as she said, “Thank you. I’m Liverity Strongwill, but believe me, I mean you no harm.”
“I knew who you were before you told me, child. I trust Rise’s judgment. He can see people from the inside out. It’s his blessing and his curse.”
With effort, his grandam stood back up and hobbled to the cot to sit. “You can call me Decelia or Grandam. I’ll answer to either. I’m sure you have questions.”
“Why were we attacked? Was that your people?” Rise still couldn’t quite relax under the circumstances.
She nodded. “There are few here on this plane who can portal walk. The sorceri like Grawl, Liverity, her sister Valentina, and their brother, Tavorious and our people. We couldn’t take the chance it was Grawl and his army.” She shrugged. “Plus, you have a reputation of swinging first and thinking second, Rise.”
Rise acknowledged her statement about him with a dip of his chin. “But I can portal walk. To which one do I belong?”
“Riserion, you are finally back where you belong. You are one of us, one of the Volarchans.” She pulled in a heavy breath and released it toward the ground. “You are the king of the Volarchans, and the rightful ruler of Umbraland, this entire plane of existence as we know it.”
13
Liv’s mind spun as Decelia’s revelation sunk in. She believed Rise was the rightful ruler of Umbraland. So, then, how was Grawl the current tyrant in charge?
“How is Grawl sitting on the throne then?” Liv’s confusion was tinged with hope.
Decelia turned her attention toward Liv. “Oh, your father’s rule will come to an end, and he certainly didn’t come by power easily. He found a way to manipulate the system and use it to his favor, but now that Rise is as powerful as he is and you and your siblings have returned, Grawl will fall.”
Liv wanted Decelia’s words to be true. Did she have a way to know whether Tavorius had come through the portal behind them? Liv had thought it could be true, but without him, they wouldn’t be able to break the curse.
As Liv focused on Rise, she saw the confusion in the tightness of his visage. He was still trying to figure out whether all of what Decelia said could be possible.
“If you’re my grandam, where have you been?” Liv was not expecting the undertone of anger, but she knew from the little he’d revealed to her when they were in the pocket dimensionthat the nightmare of his childhood haunted him still. With firsthand experience of the horrors of torture her father could create, she was sure Rise still held tight to the trauma he’d experienced, much like she did. She was sure he felt abandoned by a people who should have rushed to save their king if they knew where he was.
“You and your mother were being held hostage. We made many attempts without success to rescue you both. Grawl seemed to know our plans before we made the first move. Turned out that he had a secret weapon.”
Rise’s face seemed to soften at Decelia’s revelation that they hadn’t just abandoned Rise and his mother.
But in the next moment, Liv felt her heart drop as Decelia explained, “Liverty, Valentina, and Tavorius’s mother was a powerful seer. She told him our every move.”
Liv looked back and forth between Decelia and Rise, both of them stared back at her. She stiffened her back, resisting the urge to apologize.
As if acknowledging her thoughts, Decelia said, “No one blames you for that time, Liv. We don’t even blame your mother. She was led to believe that if she cooperated, Grawl would keep you and Valentina safe. She had already begun to make plans to smuggle the baby she carried in her womb out of Umbraland. She was trying anything she could to keep him from killing his children.”
This was exactly what Liv had tried to explain to Rise. Would he believe her now?
