“It is.”
Is that what will happen to me if this ends badly? If I can’t fulfill my goals? “Then what happens? After they’re done? After we’re all done?”
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you that. But I can tell you I have big plans for you, daughter.”
Her words should frighten me, but somehow, a warm sense of reassurance and peace falls around me like a comforting blanket. “Why are you here? Was it to collect Juliette?”
I want to ask again about how she died. What she was trying to tell me, but I am beginning to understand that Mara doesn’t give answers. She expects me to work for them.
“Partly for her but also to tell you to embrace your magic. Stop fighting your gifts. I gave them to you for a reason.”
Whimpering sounds come from behind me, and I turn toward Charlotte. She twists on the bed, making a few more noises, then settles.
When I return my attention to Mara, she, and Juliette the Raven, are gone.
I’m still staring at the place where Mara had been standing when the door opens.
A servant strolls in, carrying a tray with tea. She sets it down on the table in front of the sofa, then pours me a cup. “Is there anything else you need?”
“No, thank you.”
She nods, takes a few steps, then looks over her shoulder. “I’m sorry about your friend, Empress. We all are.”
I notice that her eyes are red. She’s been crying. “Did you lose someone tonight, also?”
She nods.
I get the distinct impression that it wasn’t the same person Charlotte lost, which means, there were more deaths. “I’m sorry.”
After giving me a weak smile, she leaves the room.
I watch tendrils of steam rise from the cup while the fire crackles behind me. It’s darker than it was, nearly night. I don’t know how the day slipped away.
When the door opens again, I don’t turn to look. The measured footfalls are familiar, the steps sounding far too close to those I was getting used to from Brevan.
“May I sit?” Nate asks.
“Please.”
He removes his sword, then sets it on the table before sitting in the chair near me, his posture stiff. He’s clearly uncomfortable. “How’s Charlotte?”
“Still asleep,” I say.
“Good. I don’t really want anyone else to hear this.”
I wait, tamping down all the questions simmering below the surface, afraid he’ll change his mind.
“I spent the last several years living in Vailstead but that’s not where I’m from,” he begins.
I blink rapidly, my chest tightening as emotions I can’t name fight for dominance. “It’s still there?”
“Yes, you know how stubborn they are.”
“That’s true,” I agree.
“That’s where I learned of the rebellion and ended up joining. But I didn’t do it to overthrow the empire. I did it to find someone. Someone who has the same kind of magic that killed my sister.”
“So, you’re here for revenge?” Maybe that’s what I was sensing in him. Perhaps he felt familiar since he was like me.
