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Like Vale. My magic perplexed him, and I’d already hurt him with my actions. But all of that would be nothingto what he’d think when he learned of my bloodline. “I don’t want to do that.”

Think of those who will suffer if you do not. The fae of winter.

A deep breath sank into my lungs. For the first time, I saw what, perhaps, others would have seen so long ago. Claiming my name, my ancestry, would come with more problems.Hugeproblems. It would mean many fae would wish to kill me.

But I could also help others—those who had been like me.

Perhaps even the slaves in the Blood Court. Heat built inside me as purpose thundered in my heart.

If you think of them, you are worthy of the crown, my daughter.

Daughter. My heart rate ramped up. The voice I’d been hearing, the voice that spoke when I saved Anna. It was my mother’s voice?

My hands began to tremble with the revelation that, yes, my mother had been a healer. She’d been there that night and helped me save Anna. Stars, how could I have been so stupid?

“Mother? I wish I could see you.”

No sooner had I said the words than the air in front of me shimmered. A female shape materialized out of the shimmering and where once nothing stood, a faerie watched me. A crowned faerie.

A queen with eyes of blue I’d seen in paintings.

A sob wrenched its way up my throat, and the image of my mother gave a sad smile.

“Why haven’t you done this before?” I lifted a hand and gestured to her form. She wasn’t solid, and yet seeingher, almost lifelike, was more than I’d ever dared to hope for.

“Communication comes at a great cost. Just as it does when I speak to you without a body. Speaking to you this way, I will deplete faster. Turn back to stardust faster.” She spoke normally, though her voice was the same as when she’d had no body. “But you need me more than ever before so I will stay as long as I can.”

I wouldn’t lie and say it was enough. It would never be enough, but it would have to be for now. “I’m so scared. Of so much.”

That smile returned, sad and longing and understanding. “I would be worried if you were not. Much is to be done to bring the kingdom back from the brink. But remember this, my love—fear is normal. Fear is a reaction. Courage, however, is a choice.”

A pretty line, but much more difficult to act on than to say.

“I want to help others,” I admitted. “Those who have no power most of all. But how?”

“No one knows how to lead, not really. Not until they do it.”

I wasn’t sure how true that was, but any question flew from my mind as my mother’s form began to disappear. First her feet, then legs and arms and body. It happened so fast that within seconds I was trembling and committing her face to memory.

“Are you gone?” I whispered, wishing I’d asked a million more questions. That I’d been faster.

For a little longer.

“Why didn’t you tell me before? Why didn’t you tell me my given name? Who you were?”

You were not ready. Not in heart, soul, or mind. I would have only put you in more danger.

“But I am now?”

Yes, my love. You are ready now. I am sure of it. First, you must go west. Back to where it began.

West, to Guldtown? To confront Roar? I’d already wanted to do so. Nothing would stop me now.

“Mother?”

Go, Isolde, before it is too late. Make your family proud.

“I don’t know how,” I said.