A small flame of hope—one I hadn’t wanted to admit that I’d felt—went out.
“Nice work,” Asinia muttered. “What a kind way to tell a woman both of her mothers are dead.”
“The woman who stole her wasn’t her mother,” Demos hissed.
I got to my feet. Even after everything Mama had done, I couldn’t bear to hear her disparaged. Not when I knew she’d died protecting me.
I was allowed to rail against her for what she’d done. But I couldn’t bear to hear anyone else do the same. Not yet. Not while her death was so fresh.
“Wait. Don’t leave. I’m sorry.” Demos caught my hand. “I’m just… Fuck, I never expected to meet you. I’d convinced myself you were dead. Hoped for it sometimes, because there is rarely a happy ending when tiny girl children are stolen. And now you’re here, and you’re alive, and…”
“I understand.” Taking a deep breath, I attempted to prepare myself for the answer to my next question. “Um, our father. Is he…？”
Demos’s mouth thinned. “I don’t know. I watched our mother die that day. She’d refused to leave, certain she would find you. And she’d run back into our house when it collapsed. She didn’t even use her power—I think she was out of her mind with terror and grief. She pushed me toward Father and insisted she needed to check the cupboards one last time. That maybe you were scared and hiding.”
My eyes filled with tears. In reality, I’d been out of the city. Why couldn’t Mama have left them a note, letting them know I was safe? Would they be alive then?
“And…Father?”
He swallowed, glancing down at his hands. “When the house collapsed, he fell to his knees. It was like he was unable to move. They loved each other so much, Nelayra—uh, Prisca. So much that if not for me, I think he would have climbed into that burning pile of rubble and lay down beside her.” Demos looked away. “One of the neighbors pulled him to his feet. I remember her screaming that he still had one child to keep safe. She died moments later. A block of stone fell on her.”
Gods, the things he had seen at just six winters old.
“We were almost at the city walls when Father went down. I don’t know what happened. Someone said the fae were shooting arrows. We were separated, and one of our neighbors grabbed me. She raised me with some of the other orphan children, until I was old enough to fall in with the rebellion. Two years ago, our headquarters were raided. Everyone who was arrested was burned months later. Everyone but me. I don’t understand why.”
“Telean works for the queen. She was spared because the queen had heard of her skill with fabric. When she learned you’d been arrested, she begged the queen to allow you to live. That’s why you’re still here.”
“Telean.” Demos went quiet.
We both sat in silence for a while.
Eventually, I sighed. “I better get back.”
Demos looked at me some more. “I just… I can’t believe it. Be patient with me…please.”
“I will. And I’ll ask the same of you.”
My mind whirled as I made my way out of the dungeon. I needed to talk to Tibris. And then, unfortunately, I would need to find Lorian.
Thankfully, Lorian’s hunting trip with the king had taken him away from both the castle and Telean. But I’d recognized that cold expression he’d worn when he’d learned of the threat to me, and I needed to make sure he didn’t get any ideas about killing her. My stomach tightened at the thought of seeing the bane of my existence. After the way we’d lashed out at each other last night, I’d prefer to avoid him until I absolutely had to deal with him.
Tibris met me on my way to my room. He raised his eyebrow at whatever he saw on my face.
“You look…strange.”
I linked my arm through his. “Strange?”
“Your eyes are all swollen, but you also look happy. What’s going on, Pris?”
Yanking on the thread of time, I pulled Tibris into my room.
“You may want to sit down,” I told him, pacing to the window.
“You’re making me nervous.”
“It’s nothing bad. It’s good. At least, I hope you think so…”
“Pris.”
“My other brother. My birth brother. He’s alive.”
I turned back just in time to catch Tibris’s mouth fall open. “How do you know this?”
I told him about Telean. And when I got to the part about Demos, Tibris launched to his feet.