“I’ve heard goblins,” Autumn said.
“Sirens,” Isobel added.
“Sprites,” Kywyn said. “There are a lot of names, but we are not one race. There are many types of immortals, Indies included, and we are thelavanié—the kind mixed with mortal blood. Half bloods. You were born here, Caden?—”
“Sean.”
He winced. “My apology. Sean. You were born in this realm as heir to one of our four noble families, our Sovereigns, but your mother thought this life too dangerous for you, and she took you from Luxoria when you were a baby.”
“She brought me along,” Blaire said. “We were like sisters, and I had my Cole. I couldn’t imagine us raising our children without each other. When she made to escape in the middle of the night, I convinced her to take me with her.”
Like sisters.
So not actual sisters, then?
The late hour began to wear on Sean as he imagined fake Aunt Blaire with baby Cole, sneaking through a wall of mist with his mother, royal infant in tow.
“Before she”—Blaire darted a glance at Kywyn and lowered her voice—“passed, I vowed to carry on her wishes no matter what. But then she was gone, and I didn’t just have the long lost heir of the Sidera line hidden in my home, I had my sweet, grieving baby boy, and I wasn’t sure what to do or how to tell you. You were only fourteen.”
Sean peeked at Kywyn, only to find a wounded crease between his brows. His voice went hoarse. “She’s been goneseven years?”
Blaire dropped her gaze.
“Seven years, and you never told me? Blaire?—”
“We made a covenant, Ky. I couldn’t disrespect her by breaking it.”
“I don’t care!” he said, hands clenched. “You had no right to keep my son from me, especially not in Viterra. It isn’t safe?—”
“I was only doing as his mother wished?—”
“What about his father?” Kywyn snapped. “The Council forbade me to cross the mist. Did you know that? They sent hundreds of search parties over the years, and never once was I allowed to seek out my own family. They told me my blood was too valuable to risk, that if he was never found, only I could provide another heir. If they’d just let me cross the mist, I could have?—”
“What?” Blaire asked. “Found us? You would never. Lana made sure of that.”
“We were bonded. I would have found her.” Kywyn said those words with conviction.
She let out a long exhale. “We’ve already had this argument. I apologized. What more do you want from me?”
“I want my family back. My mate is dead and my son doesn’t know who I am.”
“It wasn’t aboutyou.” Blaire threw an arm around Sean. “It was about him.”
Kywyn blinked several times, his eyes suspiciously bright, and a strange melancholy settled over Sean, a nostalgia for things he’d never actually experienced.
A life with a father.
If Kywyn had been there, his mother wouldn’t have died.
“Lhynion Sidera didn’t act alone,” Autumn said, drawing the attention away from Kywyn. “During his time, there were four Sovereigns who led our people, each from one of our four noble families. I am the heir of Rhiannon Soléi. Isobel is the heir of Meléan Erdéa.”
Sean took in those names, flashes of laughter and fellowship and love dancing through his head.
You love me, Lhynion?
Forever til the end, Mel.
Cole broke the silence. “So what about the fourth?”
