Chapter 26
Rennick offered Amos a seat in front of his desk and positioned two chairs for he and Amelia on the other side. Amos unhooked his sword and leaned it against the desk. It was too awkward to sit with it strapped to his body.
Amelia lowered herself into the chair and clasped her hands in her lap. “Explain.” She might be sweet, but she definitely has Desert blood in her, Amos thought wryly.
He drew in a deep breath, hoping she took it well. Or as well as anyone could. “There’s no easy way to say this, but you’re my sister and second in line to the Desert Kingdom throne.”
Amos waited with bated breath, and nearly choked when Amelia burst out laughing. “Very funny.”
“It’s true, love,” Rennick said softly.
Amelia’s laughter died down, and she motioned to Amos. “He’s fae.” She pushed her hair behind her ear and pointed to it. “I’m a human.”
How did you tell someone their ears had been cut as a baby? “Your ears were clipped when you were born to hide your heritage,” Amos explained, his voice carefully measured.
She scoffed. “Come again? Because it sounded like you insinuated that someone cut off part of my ears as a baby.”
This wasn’t going well and he’d only said two things. Amos raked a hand through his blond hair, wishing he had Clover at his side. “When our mother was pregnant with us—”
“Us?” she echoed.
Amos nodded. “We’re twins.” She searched his face, and he saw the exact moment she believed him. “Our father wasn’t a good man,” Amos continued. “I could go on for hours about the horrors he inflicted on his family and people, but that’s a conversation for another day.”
Or never.
Amelia looked like she’d seen a ghost, and Rennick reached for her hand.
“He believed women shouldn’t hold positions of power.” Amos watched her to see if he needed to stop. She waited expectantly. “There were no female warriors like there are in other kingdoms, no female council members, and, more importantly, no female heirs.”
Amelia looked like she might argue, but said nothing.
“Our grandfather was the same way, and when his wife bore him twins, the firstborn of which was a girl, he changed the baby’s name and sent her away the day after she was born, but later in life, she found out her heritage and tried to overthrow our father not long after he took the throne.”
Amos cleared his throat and leaned his elbows on his knees. “He killed her and vowed that if he had a daughter, he would kill her immediately to prevent history from repeating itself. That’s what he told our mother.”
Amelia held up a hand. “Royals only have one child.” She looked at her mate. “Unless you lied.”
Rennick sat forward. “I wouldn’t lie to you, love. Usually, they only have one. No one knew your father had a twin or that Amos does.”
“I wouldn’t have known if not for our mother,” Amos added.
Amelia wavered, and Rennick laid a steadying hand on her back.
“Our mother didn’t know it yet, but she was already pregnant with us when our father told her about his sister. When the midwife told her there were two heartbeats, she begged the woman not to tell anyone until she had a plan for what to do if one or both of the babies were girls.”
It felt wrong referring to Alice as just the midwife, but it would take too long to dive deeper. She’d meet Alice one day.
“The midwife agreed without hesitation. The staff adored our mother and would have done whatever she asked.” Amos’ lips tilted into a half smile. “You’re a lot like her.”
“How do you know what I’m like?” Amelia cut in. “We’ve never met, and I grew up in an orphanage with no family.”
He heard the hurt in her voice. She had a family but had been left to believe otherwise.
He scrubbed a hand over his face, sat back, and motioned to Roland at his feet. “I checked in on you periodically through Roland.”
“His name is Eddy,” Amelia snapped, taking him by surprise. “You sent him to me when I was fifteen. That’s when you get your familiar, no?”
Amos pressed his lips into a grim line. “It is.”
“Then he is more mine than yours.” She lifted her chin. “He has lived with me for almost ten years. His fucking name is Eddy.”
He could argue with her and point out that he could speak with Roland whenever he wanted. It wasn’t like he’d had no contact with his own familiar for a decade.
Roland whined and leapt into her lap. “You’re upsetting her.”
“And she’s belittling our bond,” Amos shot back. “Or have you forgotten we have one?”
He felt Roland’s guilt, but cut the connection.
The lynx had apparently followed them inside, unnoticed by Amos, and moved closer to Amelia.
“He is my familiar, Amelia. I’m sorry, but he belongs with me.”
She leveled him with a glare that would have made him proud if he wasn’t on the receiving end. “I didn’t say otherwise, but his name is Eddy. You wouldn’t call a child by one name most of their lives and change it ten years later, would you?”
Again, he decided not to point out that he’d been calling his familiar by Roland through their bond for just as long.
Amos hung his head, suddenly tired of fighting. “Fine. Do you want to hear the rest of the story or not?”
“Watch your tone,” Rennick warned, and Amos told him to fuck off with his eyes.
Amelia motioned for Amos to continue.
“Our mother met Charlotte, the Human Queen, at a diplomatic meeting, and they kept in touch over the years. Mom would visit the Human Kingdom often, and when she found out she was pregnant, Charlotte agreed to help her. Because Mom carried twins, the midwife said she’d likely deliver early.
Our father didn’t know there were two babies, and thought she had at least two more months to go when our mother asked if she could visit Charlotte one last time before giving birth. He said yes.
“She stayed with Charlotte, and when she went into labor, she gave birth to me.” Amos swallowed. “And then you.”
Amelia looked away. “How disappointed she must have been.”
He understood his sister was hurt and confused, but he refused to let her diminish the sacrifice their mother made.
“She was, but not because she didn’t want a girl, but because she knew she’d never see you again until I took the throne.
She gave Father an excuse to stay another month with Charlotte to give herself time with you. ”
Tears streaked down Amelia’s cheeks, and Amos took a moment to collect himself.
“She left you in the Human Kingdom with Charlotte and crossed back into the Desert Kingdom with me. She told Father she’d only just had me so that our births were recorded a few weeks apart.
” He chuckled humorlessly. “I never understood why she decided to change my birthday and not yours, but it worked out in my favor in the end.”
“Heirs can’t cross the barrier,” Amelia argued, looking to Rennick for confirmation.
“They can’t leave their kingdom,” Amos corrected. “But I wasn’t leaving, I was entering. There is no magic in the human lands to tie an heir there.”
“If she left me with the Human Queen, how did I end up in an orphanage?”
“They couldn’t chance anyone knowing who you were. They hid you until your ears healed, then left you where they knew you’d be safe. The queen monitored who ran the orphanage and had extra patrols stationed in your village.”
“Why couldn’t I leave with Rennick?” she asked. “We could have married when we turned twenty-two.” She turned to Rennick then. “Why didn’t you send for me sooner? I had no one. I thought I had no family, and the entire time you knew.”
Amos hated that she’d felt alone, but he prayed she’d understand it was the only way to keep her safe.
“We tried, love, I swear it,” Rennick said, shooting Amos a death glare. “The human queen wouldn’t let you leave until I took the throne.”
“Why?”
“Because until you became queen, you were considered an heir to the Desert Kingdom,” Amos said softly.
“One look at you, and our father would have known you were his.” He gestured between them.
“We look just like him. If you married another king and took the throne, you’d no longer be in line for the throne because you’d already rule another kingdom. ”
Her forehead wrinkled. “How do you know that sitting on one throne prevents you from taking another?”
Amos felt exhaustion set in. “A treaty signed between the five kingdoms over a thousand years ago states that no one person can rule two kingdoms.”
“Rennick would’ve kept me safe,” she argued weakly, her shoulders slumping with defeat.
Amos shook his head. “It wasn’t worth the risk.”
“Where are our parents now?” Her voice sounded as tired as his. “Did our mother not want to meet me?”
Amos’s eyes burned, reliving the night he’d lost their mother.
“She fell ill when we were twelve. She’d been so full of life one minute, and the next she puked for hours, and her mouth filled with sores as if burned.
” He stared at his feet for a moment. “I think she was poisoned, possibly by mistake, but there’s no way to know for sure.
There were many people in our kingdom who wanted our father dead.
” He sniffed. “When she realized she was dying, she told me everything and begged me to make sure our father never knew of your existence.
“I was a child, but I swore to her I would take care of you. The following year, the Mountain King came looking for his son’s mate—a girl named Amelia born on my real birthday.
I knew in my gut it was you, and I thought Callum could protect you.
I managed to get him alone before he left and told him everything. ”
Silence sat heavy between them.
Amelia shuddered out a sob, and Amos stood and rounded the desk to kneel beside her chair, but the lynx wouldn’t let him.
Amos stared at the lynx. Was he Amelia’s familiar? He’d wondered if she’d get one. He glanced at Rennick, who subtly shook his head.
Amos awkwardly rested a hand on Amelia’s shoulder, unsure how to comfort her. “You were always loved, and I came for you as soon as I could.”