Page 111

“Let’s do this,” I grunted, renewed hope swelling inside me.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Paris

Isat on a flat boulder beside Elio, Alistair and Lia standing before us. We were finally alone, until Medusa returned.

Deep-sea diving, huh?

Going to be interesting.

Elio leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs. The silence was awkward here on the beach of Coralkiss Cove, two miles west of Saltwave Port.

Man, it was so pretty. Lots of golden sand, crystal waters, and lovely sunshine. My jumper wasn’t built for it, though. Phew! Talk about a scorching day.

Okay, so this family of mine. What could we say? Did I even want to hear anything now? There was a bit of time while Medusa made sure Vaughn and Declan were somewhere safe before bringing Silv here.

Ugh. The initial shock of this whole thing back in Glimmer City began to wane, blissful ignorance looked more appealing than ever.

But Lia made the first move, speaking over the gentle lapping sound of the waves. “There aren’t enough apologies in this world for what we did.”

Whoa. A shot from the dark, right in my feels. I gripped the log, fingers scraping the bark.

Now it was Alistair’s turn. “This isn’t the time for a full discussion, but you have to know our hands were tied.”

Yeah, I bet they were. Oh, look! Twins! Screw having to deal with them. One kid would be more than enough, right?

Speculating much?

“There might never be a time for a discussion,” Elio cut in.

True.

Lia carried on. “We were trying to escape the authorities when we had you and your sister. There were recruiters from Academy Fifty coming to Elmwhisper Woods to gather up newborns for executioner conscription. You were due to be born within a day or so.” Her hands were shaking. “We couldn’t bear it. We’d waited so long to have you, and to be blessed with twins was a joy we weren’t about to give up.” Tears broke free, her bottom lip trembling. “We were told they would probably take twins.”

Alistair took over. “We fled by train, getting to the Dew Hills. Managed to navigate the pass to the border with the Hinterlands, where we… We weren’t sure what to do next.”

“Strange place to run to,” Elio said, eyes narrowed toward his dad.

Our dad.

Lia spoke again, wiping her eyes. “The desperation drove us there. We didn’t have a plan, and it didn’t matter. My waters broke on the banks of River Celestia while we contemplated what to do next. Your sister came within an hour, you only fifteen minutes later.”

Alistair put his arm around his wife.

“Shortly after,” she continued, “the recruiters found us. And you were…” Her voice cracked, tears falling from Alistair’s eyes too.

“Taken,” Elio filled in the gap, standing. “When did you have me?”

Sadness slammed into me, stealing my breath.

“Two years later,” Alistair answered. “After we moved to Glimmer City.”

Winded. Emotionally bruised. I wanted out of this cove.

Pearl and I grew up thinking we were born in Elmwhisper Woods, given up to Academy Fifty in the Human Domain days after being born.

“Did…” I rubbed at my throat, gnawing my bottom lip for a moment. “Did you name us?”