Chapter 105 Bahira #2
“That was the last time I ever saw her. Shortly after, she disappeared. I tell you both this, but you especially, Nox, because I remembered something about my friend the first time I ever saw Rhea.” Nox adjusts in his seat, his eyes locked on hers.
“On one visit, she and I were talking about anything and everything, as children do, and I made a comment about the color of her eyes. They were a lovely shade, one I had never seen another mage have. She told me that her mama had them but not her grandmother. That, in her family, sometimes, the women have eyes like hers. Sometimes, they have a certain color of hair. Sometimes, they get both, and it was because of the special magic they had. It was then she told me that she was scared to do her Flame Ceremony. That a man named Kallin from the king’s council had come to their house to inquire why she hadn’t done it yet. ”
I think back to the few glimpses I had ever seen of Rhea and compare the memory of her to the details I had been given by Siyala.
Green eyes certainly weren’t a common trait among mages.
I chance a glance at Nox, and I’m not sure he is breathing as he leans forward, a look on his face I can’t exactly pinpoint. “What was her name?” he rasps.
“Stellaluna to most. Occasionally, her mother also called her by her middle name, and to some, she was simply Luna.”
“Fucking gods above,” Nox swears, pushing away from the table as he stands, his hands resting on his head as he begins to pace.
“What?” I ask, standing along with him.
He turns to look at our mother, his gaze hard. “You knew Rhea’s mother.” A statement, not a question. My eyes widen as I swing my head to look at her.
She nods, remorse drawing her mouth down.
“It had been so long since I had seen Stellaluna, since I had heard her name spoken, that I forgot. I knew someone named Luna had been made queen in the Mortal Kingdom, but I knew my friend as her true name, so I did not put the pieces together. But the moment Rhea came into this very room with you, it all came rushing back.” She stands and lets go of my father’s hand to walk around the table.
“I did not tell you because I did not know how to. Or if it would matter at all.”
“It would have,” Nox snaps, closing his eyes and blowing out a breath. More calmly, he adds, “It would have mattered to Rhea.”
“Then it will be my top priority to tell her everything I know when she returns.” The promise does very little to appease Nox’s scowl.
“Wait,” I say slowly, holding my hand out in front of me as I organize my thoughts.
“You said Kallin knew that they hadn’t done Stellaluna’s Flame Ceremony?
” At my mother’s nod, I continue. “Does that mean that Kallin might have recognized Rhea too?” If she looked like Stellaluna, then it stands to reason my mother wasn’t the only one who saw the resemblance.
But if he suspected her to come from a Void queen line, why would he get rid of her?
Besides his preference to have Haylee in her place.
“It’s possible,” she answers solemnly, and Nox curses again.
“That fucking bastard. I’m going to kill him.”
I can tell protests begin to form on my mother’s tongue, on my father’s, stars above, even on my own, but they don’t get the chance to fall before the door to the dining room swings open, and Max, of all people, is standing there.
“Highnesses, Sarai sent me,” he says, his chest heaving as sweat gleams over his brow.
“What is it, Max?” I ask, drawing nearer to him.
He gulps in a few more breaths, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand before looking to me. “They’re back.” At the silence that follows, our confused glares boring into his, Max clarifies, “Your friends are back from the Fae Kingdom.”
“They snuck in a side entrance and found Sarai in the seamstress quarters. She brought them up to the medical wing,” Max says from ahead of us, sharp breaths bisecting each word.
While he hadn’t been brought up to speed regarding the mission to the Fae Kingdom, his willingness to help clean up and hide evidence of what Nox had done to Stephan—and his silence after—was proof enough that he could be trusted.
Sarai must have felt the same if she sent him to retrieve us.
“Are they injured?” Nox asks, breathless where he runs beside me, our parents just behind us.
“They are, but I’m not sure to what extent. I haven’t actually seen them. I just got the order from Sarai when she came to my post.”
My heart pounds in my ears in anticipation of seeing my friends as Max rounds a corner and slows to a stop in front of one of the doors lining the left side. A cautious elation fills me at the chance to try to repair the Mirror and, selfishly, all that may come after that if we are successful.
But those thoughts are expelled from my head the moment Max knocks on the door and Sarai opens it with a look of devastation that makes it hard to swallow.
Stepping out of the way, I let Nox in first, following behind him and coming to a stop as I take in the two beds and the two figures that lay in them.
Only the two figures.
“Where is he?” Nox asks, confusion tilting his brows down as he searches the room again, as if his friend is hiding. At the impossible silence that answers, Nox asks again, “Where is Cass?”