And perhaps a little sad.
“My charming cousin has a strange talent for ferreting out information others would rather keep hidden. It’s happened to everyone in the family at some point. Consider it a House Corbois rite of passage.”
I blinked. Old habits had me wondering at Luther’s motives, but my suspicion quickly dissolved into apathy. Whatever the reason, it felt nice to have a conversation with him that didn’t seem doomed to end in bloodshed.
“Is there any chance Aemonn also has a strange talent for keeping information to himself?” I asked.
Luther huffed a laugh. “I’ll speak with him. I can be quite persuasive if I need to be.”
I sagged back in my chair with a sigh. “Thank you.”
The softness faded from his expression, returning to his trademark focus. “This mortal—does he know about the Crown?”
“Not yet.” I shrugged and looked down. “I don’t even know if he’ll still want to marry me.”
“Now that you’re Queen?”
“Now that I’m a Descended.”
“You’ve always been a Descended.”
“He didn’t know that. I didn’t know that.”
Luther frowned. “You truly didn’t know?”
“Not until last night. I suppose I had suspicions, but I never really believed it.”
“Is that why you were upset?”
I didn’t answer. Couldn’t—not without tearing down the walls my psyche had so carefully built to keep myself together.
I cleared my throat. I needed a change of subject. “Tell me about my mother.”
His demeanor shifted. He sat up straighter, his hands gripped together, knuckles white where his fingers were interlaced. “Tell me what you know first.”
“That wasn’t our agreement.”
“I agreed to tell you what I can. I made promises to your mother to keep certain things from you. If I know what y—”
“My mother wanted you to keep secrets from me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He gave me a curious look. “Isn’t it obvious? She must have known what you were.”
“She wouldn’t have kept that from me,” I protested, but even as the words fell from my lips, I no longer believed them.
“She was adamant that you be kept away from our world.”
“Because it’s dangerous.”
“Then why send your brother to a Descended school? Do you truly believe she cared less for his safety than yours?”
I couldn’t answer. I had asked my mother the same question a hundred times, and her response had always been the same: You’re just going to have to trust me, my little warrior. I know what I’m doing. At the time, I had blamed it on an unjust double standard in the parenting of boys and girls, but now…
“I’m only surprised she got away with it for so long.” Something intense and heady gleamed in his gaze. “I knew the truth the second I saw you. Though, I admit, when Maura swore you were born with brown eyes, I began to doubt. I should have known she would lie to protect you.”
“Maura didn’t lie. I was born with brown eyes.”
His head tilted sharply. “That’s not possible.”
“I remember my own eyes, Luther. And my hair. They were the same color as Teller’s. Besides, the Descended have blue eyes, even the half-mortals.”
“Only the Lumnos Descended. Each of the nine lines has a distinct eye color. Arboros is green, Montios is violet, Fortos is red—”
“Are any of them grey?”
His jaw worked, looking as if he was chewing on thoughts he wasn’t ready to spit out. “No,” he said, the word feeling unfinished. “But you’re wearing the Blessed Mother’s Crown. And I saw you wield her light and shadows.”
“Maybe the magic made a mistake.”
“The magic doesn’t make mistakes.”
“If it’s so infallible, why does it require that I fight someone to the death to prove myself worthy?”
“It doesn’t,” he said simply. “The Challenging is a modern creation. Before the Blood War, the Houses were constantly assassinating the Crown to gamble at being the next one selected. For a time, it threw the realm into chaos. The Challenging was the compromise that put an end to it. Now the Houses get one shot at taking out a new Crown, and if they fail, they must accept that Crown’s reign without interference.”
“And if I refuse to go along with it? Am I still the Queen?”
“Yes.” His answer was quick and surprisingly forceful. “You are the Queen now and for as long as your lungs draw breath.”
“But?” I pushed.
“But…” He sighed. “It will be near impossible to see your plans through with no support from the Houses, the other eight Crowns, and the Emarion Army.” His features darkened. “And I have a feeling you have a great many plans you intend to see through.”
My eyes thinned as I weighed his response. Were those words of advice—or another coded threat?
He rose and strolled around the table, then leaned down to brace his hands on the arms of my chair, caging me in place. My heartbeat stumbled at his nearness.
“Whatever those plans are, Your Majesty,” he rumbled, “I can help. I will find a way to prove that to you.”
I pressed against the high back of my seat, fighting to keep distance between us. “You have the most to gain from my failure. Why should I trust you?”
“Your mother trusted me.”
“No, my mother blackmailed you. And now she’s likely dead because of it.”
“I helped your mother long before she knew my secrets. And I very much doubt she is dead.”
Deep within my spirit, a faded spark glowed back to life and sliced through the shadows—a hope reborn.
I laid my palms against his chest and pressed him back as I shot to my feet. “She’s alive? You’re sure?”
“I know nothing for certain. But knowing where she was headed when she left… yes, I’d bet she’s still alive.”
My pulse picked up so quickly the room began to spin. “Where did she go? Is she still there? Is she—”
He grasped my shoulders, gently nudging me back toward my seat. “Tell me what you know first.”
“Luther, please—”
“Sit.”
My eyes were pleading, desperate, but his steely resolve warned me begging would gain me no ground.
I slumped back into my chair.
“Tell me what you know,” he said again.
“I know you arranged the bargain between my mother and the King so Teller could attend the Descended school, but only if my mother worked for the King for the rest of her life. Not just as a healer, but whatever the King demanded.”
He looked at me oddly. “And?”
“And I know you were arguing with her the day she left. She threatened to release your secret if you didn’t agree to her demands.”
“And?”
I swallowed. “And that’s all.”
“That’s what you know?” His brows drew low. “You don’t know the secret? Or how she found it? Do you even know who she was working with?”