“Eat,” Caelan demands.
Hesitantly, I take the plate from him, stuffing everything in my mouth, like it’s the first time I've seen food. Caelan retreats to his throne, and Aron and Izaac follow him, whispering in his ear.The chief slumps into his chair.
“Tell me about this marking? The one you saw on the witch?”
I shrug. “What marking? I don’t know about any marking,” I reply coolly, even though my heart is pounding out of my chest. Caelan nods calmly, his hand rests on the hilt of his sword. “Oh, the witch. Right yeah. I dunno, it was like a four-pointed star. What does it matter?”
“Wyatt, is it? I’ve been looking for this girl for a very long time.” A cunning smirk breaks out on Caelan’s face.
Chapter Twenty-One
Andi
The governor asks again, “YouareAndrina, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” I whisper, staring at my hands. Fighting the urge to tap my knee in an annoying beat.
The governor strokes his daughter’s hair, wiping away their tears. “You look like her, you know. Your mother. I’m surprised I didn’t see it sooner.”
“What?” I lift my head, my voice barely audible. The mere thought that I look like my mother excites me in a way I never realised it would.
Releasing his daughter’s hands and motioning for them to sit in the chairs, he walks over to the window, gazing out into the overgrown garden.
“We grew up together, while my father was a King’s guard, many moons ago. Your mother was a kind, curious girl, often up to no good. When I became a young soldier, she teased me so much, she would take it upon herself to test the young guards. Meaning we had to follow her when she would make for the city. I was at the army base in Sarine, on the coast of Nalori, when I heard about the attack. I was… heartbroken, to say the least.”
He fell still, slipping into a daydream, looking out the window with drooped shoulders, lowering his head. He knew my family, my mother. I should have a million questions, but all the words jumble in my head, and I can’t put a thought together.
The governor turns to look at his girls. “My, you’ve both grown so much, and I missed it.” His eyes glisten. “You both arethe double of your mother.” He lets out a soft chuckle, a one-sided smile growing on his face but doesn’t match the sadness of his eyes. “I need to have a chat with Andi. Can you two run along and play for a while? I promise we will have time later.”
Megan and Eliza hug their dad and warily leave the room.
The governor sits across from me with his face emotionless. I watch for any sudden movements, any sign I should run. My stomach twists into knots, my foot involuntarily tapping on the floor. The governor fusses with his clothes and combs his hands through his hair.
“I do apologise. I’m not usually in such a state. The past couple of years have been… well, tough.”
“I heard about your wife. I’m sorry.” I shift in my chair, crossing my legs to stop my foot tapping. I hate disappointing Myles. He’s going to be so angry that we have to run again, just when he had settled in this little town and started to become himself again.
Could I go it alone? To where, though? I haven’t even opened Dad’s box since Vendyl, it has stayed forgotten at the bottom of my bag. My gaze falls to my tightly clasped hands, and the char marks on the table stand out against the light grain of the wood.
“I’m sorry about your table.”
The governor wrings his hands in front of him. His face softens into a smirk. “Your mother had a similar destructive power. Do you know how she…” He watches me, his eyebrows drawn together, an expectant look in his eyes.
“I don’t know much. Somehow, Edrina escaped the castle during the attack. My parents —the ones I grew up with—found her dying in the woods outside of Eilia. They buried her where she died and marked a tree. She was gravely injured, yet managed to get me to safety. That’s as much as I know.”
The governor’s face drops, a wave of sadness flushes over him. “I’m sorry for your loss. We thought everyone died in thecastle that night. I mourned every one of you. But… seeing you here, alive, gave me a sliver of hope that maybe Edrina survived too.” He wipes a hand down his face, ruffling his beard.
I can’t imagine how Governor Thran must be feeling, seeing a ghost rise from the dead, standing before him in his manor, exploding uncontrolled magic everywhere. But there was a look in his eyes, a sense of sadness that I didn’t expect. He knew my mum, my family. My coming into his life must unearth a lot of old emotions.
Thran composes himself as only a political official could do. “So, what brings you to Cyvail? Why does Adrian want you?”
Taking a deep breath, I spit out my whole story. The governor sits quietly throughout it all, watching me with his resigned face. The chair skids across the hardwood floor as he rises, pacing the room, eyeing me every so often. His arms drop to his side, and he crosses the room, sliding into a chair beside me.
“This is a lot to take in. But Adrian has always been a superficial man, easily distracted by pretty objects and people. I can only guess he sees you as a trophy, though how he knew about you is a mystery. As far as we were told, all your family, including you, were murdered in the castle.” His chin lowers to his chest, intensity etched over his face. “If his men are roaming the country looking for you, then you need to stay away from populated areas. These will most likely have extra patrols waiting.”
“Why don’t you have any officers here?” I think back to the guards of Vendyl, who never wore a uniform because they felt it made them stand out too much from the town, and they wanted to remain a part of the community
“We did, but when I became Governor, I refused their services. I saw how they treated the people here, and I hated it. Instead, I hired a few men of my own, who are loyal only to me, to keep the peace. Adrian never bothered pushing me on thematter, he was never a fan of the mountains. You can stay here as long as you like, or at least until I hear word of any patrols coming our way.”
