Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
"Ada?" A light slap against my cheek. "Ada?" Another.
My eyes fly open. White dots dance across my vision. Beyond the haze, three faces hover above me. Pale skin and red hair. Brown skin and dark hair. Darker skin and darker hair still. All three have arched ears.
Their features sharpen as I blink. Blue eyes.
Dark brown. Lighter brown. All filled with concern.
Then a wave crashes through me. Not theirs.
Malachi's. His worry floods the bond so powerfully I nearly choke on it.
I close my eyes and push reassurance back toward him, then pull away before his presence overwhelms me completely.
"Goddess, Ada." Anala's voice is barely a whisper.
"Are you alright?" Freida frowns as I try to sit up.
"I'm fine." My voice comes out hoarse.
Anala presses a glass to my lips. I drink. Her dark eyes search my face. "Better?"
"Thank you." Another sip. A shaky exhale. "I'm fine. I won't faint again."
They step back, giving me room, but none of them returns to their seat until I'm sitting upright again.
I look at Mother behind her desk. Mother. The word feels different now. Wrong, somehow. "Are you my... am I your..."
"No." Her voice is gentle. "You are not my daughter." A sad smile crosses her face. "But if you'll allow me, I'll tell you how all of this began."
I take a breath and nod.
"The island of Larimar had a monarchy, but not like the kingdoms you've studied.
" She settles back in her chair. "The island was divided into sectors, each belonging to a different tribe.
Each tribe had its own cacique, its own customs, its own way of life.
King Elías ruled with his queen, but they worked alongside the caciques.
Peace through cooperation, not domination. "
She pauses. "It ensured no culture was erased. No traditions lost. Just because people share land doesn't mean they share beliefs. Larimar embraced that difference."
"That sounds ... fair." I rub my eyes, half-hoping I'll wake from this nightmare. "Why didn't you teach us about them?"
"Because teaching about Larimar means teaching about Cato." She closes her eyes briefly. "I hoped he would be dead before you ever learned his name."
"I read about what he did." My jaw clenches. "How he wanted Pia and when he was refused, he tried to enslave the entire island with compulsion. When that failed, he ordered the slaughter."
Sara’s eyebrows rise.
"Where do Jordi and I fit into this? And Lunaris?" I ask.
She takes a long, steadying breath. Lets it out slowly. "Pia was your mother."
I recoil. "That's impossible. Tenebris has been cursed for three hundred years. Pia died shortly after."
"She did." Mother's voice is steady. "But she still gave birth to you and your brother.
" The words make no sense. I let her continue anyway.
"It was only by Ignata's grace that I survived what Cato did to our people.
I was taken to Asturyum, where the goddess Sulara allowed me to recover.
" Her voice tightens. "When I was strong enough, I tried to save my sister. The goddess would not permit it."
I close my eyes. "Your sister."
"Yes,” she whispers. "Pia was my sister."
“Gods,” I breathe, shaking my head.
"I was sent here with Freida and Anala to guard Ignata's Flame. We could not leave,” she says, hands curling into fists on the desk. "I knew Pia was alive because of what Cato was doing. His atrocities. I knew he was using her gifts to heal that scepter."
"The siphoning scepter," I whisper.
"It drains the gifts of his followers and stores them for his use. But each time it drains, it needs to be healed. That's what he kept her for."
"Before the curse fell, I began having visions,” Anala says softly. "I saw Pia escape. I saw Tenebris consumed by darkness. I saw the Shroud that would rise from that curse." She pauses. "And I saw children arrive here. Seven of them. The Flame told me they would need to be trained. Hidden."
"Constantine arrived shortly after." Freida takes Anala's trembling hand. "He brought the idea of the memory trade. We didn't like it. But Anala's visions were too strong to ignore, and we don't believe in coincidences."
"Did you know he was Shadow Guild when he arrived? That he worshipped Cato?"
"Many in the Guild call Noktelum the Everlasting," Freida says carefully. "The distinction wasn't clear."
"We knew." Mother's voice is harsh. "I knew. I recognized the look in his eyes. I've seen that devotion before."
"And you let him stay? Agreed to work with him?"
"I thought it was better to keep him close. Watch him."
"Like King Elías did with Cato? Even knowing he was dangerous?"
Her smile is bitter. "I suppose I am my father's daughter, after all."
"Gods." I press my hands to my face and drop them as I shake my head. “Why not use the memory elixir against the Council from the start?”
“Because the treaty was signed,” Freida says.
Mother eyes me curiously. “You think it’s wrong to use it against others but not Constantine?”
“He’s a monster!”
Her brows raise. “That’s what every usurper says about the people they dethrone.”
A harsh laugh spills from my lips. “Well, maybe I’m my father’s daughter, after all.”
She rears back as if I’ve slapped her.
“Ada,” Anala breathes.
I ignore her and narrow my eyes on Sara. "Does Jordi know?"
"He found the prophecy in the vault. He asked if you were the healer it speaks of." She meets my eyes. "I told him no. And that is the truth. Cato's sorceress wrote that prophecy about Pia. They knew she would eventually emerge from hiding to break the curse."
"There's a ..." She trails off. Her expression twists, and she looks away.
My stomach clenches. I've never seen her falter like this. I glance at Freida, hoping for steadiness, but her eyes are glistening. No help there.
"There's a legend about Pia." Freida's voice is soft. "She obtained Sulara's scepter. She planned to drive it into the roots of the Bratus that extend to Tenebris. To break the curse herself." A pause. "She was heavily pregnant when she set out. And so very brave."
Her smile is sad. "But legends are only written when ..."
"Someone's story ends." The words come out hoarse. Malachi said that to me once. "So she died."
"Yes. But not there. She was taken to Noktemore."
My heart stutters. The Flame. Its voice in my head. I was so rattled about Jordi that I barely absorbed what it told me.
"Pia was a follower of Mortiana," Anala explains. "When she was attacked on her way to the Bratus, Mortiana brought her to Noktemore. Put her in stasis. Tried to save her."
She shakes her head. "But saving someone requires a bargain. Everything requires a bargain. And there was no one to make one on Pia's behalf."
I have to bite down on the inside of my cheek to keep from sobbing. That poor woman. Even in her final moments, she was alone. She must have felt alone her entire life. I can't imagine that kind of isolation.
"The gods went to their siblings," Anala continues. "All of them rallied together. That alone should tell you how much your mother meant to them. The gods barely tolerate each other. They never unite."
"But the Creators denied their request." Freida's voice is heavy. "They said saving all three would cost too much."
"Three people were too many to save?" My sigil flares.
"We believe it's because of how powerful the three of you would have been together." Freida's voice drops. "And how powerful Cato would have become if he ever got his hands on all of you."
My throat aches with everything I'm holding back. The grief. The rage. The horror. Warmth pulses through the bond. Malachi, still there, still steady. I lean into it without meaning to.
Then the realization crashes over me.
Malachi, Kage, Draven, and countless others have dedicated their lives to undoing the damage my father caused. The curse my mother triggered. I am the daughter of the people who destroyed their kingdom. The comfort I've been taking from the bond suddenly feels wrong. I pull back.
"Pia's sacrifice started a movement." Anala's voice steadies. "The gods created the Reckoning. Healers began emerging from hiding, traveling to the Bratus. Some went willingly. Others ..."
"Were forced." My stomach turns. "Like the laborers here."
"The imbalance grew dangerous. So Mortiana waited. Two hundred and seventy-five years." Anala meets my eyes. "When the time was right, she brought your mother out of stasis and allowed her to give birth."
"But she died," I whisper.
"In childbirth. Yes."
The silence is suffocating.
I swallow. "Did they wait for us to survive? Or for us to have a chance at lifting the curse?"
"The prophecy is not yours!" Sara’s voice cracks like a whip.
"We don't know that!" Anala's eyes flash silver. "The balance hasn't been restored, Sara. The gods won't let an entire kingdom die."
"Cato is waiting." Sara’s voice is venomous.
"He's waiting for his heir to reach the Bratus.
For his hunters to find the son he believes will save his legacy.
He has the princess of Tenebris in stasis.
Kept in a glass case. Waiting for the day she wakes so he can cross the wards that keep him out.
" Her hands shake. "Everything is a waiting game. And we are running out of time."
"How would Cato know when the healer reaches the Bratus?"
"Sulara's scepter." Freida's voice is grave. "That's the key. They believe when the healer, the true healer, will drive the scepter into the roots and the curse will break. But the scepter has never been found."
"Is it here? In Lunaris?"
"The legend suggests it is. We've searched. Constantine has searched." She shakes her head. "Nothing."
"How do you know Constantine doesn't already have it?"
Her eyebrow rises. "We were here before he arrived."
Right. They searched before he ever arrived. Which brings me back to what I read in Lenora's journal.