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“Do you hear that?” she whispers to me. “The song… do you hear it? It’s like it’s inside me. It’s beautiful.”

I hear the gasps and muttered awe of my family as they watch us. “Yes, I hear it.OnlyI hear it. It’s from inside me, singing just for you, Lady Bianca.”

Tears stream down my face and I see them mirrored on hers, falling down her cheeks. She’s crying too. She doesn’t understand—can’t possibly—but she feels it all the same and embraces the unknown.

“You are so beautiful, Taran.” Her forehead knots. “But your name isn’tTaran. Taran is likebirdordeer, isn’t it?”

I nod in her hand.

“It’s not your name… the song knows.”

“What’s my name?” I plead, praying desperately for many syllables.

“Sebastien,” she breathes, her voice filled with wonder. “The song… I hear it. Sebastien…Theodore—that’s your name.”

We’re both smiling and crying and she can’t possibly understand what it means to me to finally have my true name revealed. But meeting my soul’s owner is even more powerful and the consequences even more dangerous. If she doesn’t claim me, I’ll die, but I wouldn’t trade this moment, this knowledge, this sudden understanding of what was always meant for Tarans, just to continue a life of never-ending uncertainty.

I know to whom I belong and when my Lady Bianca leans forward and hugs me to her, my sobs break free in earnest. She doesn’t pull away. No, she holds me tighter, her arms like the safety of a net when the raptors are about to dive.

“I’ve got you,” she croons over and over, while my family is silent around us, though I definitely hear some sniffles coming from Archie, possibly Nico. “I’ve got you.”

When my outburst settles into some ragged breaths, my mistress leans away and studies my face. “So, do you like Sebbie or Bastien?”

“Which do you like?” I ask, feeling tremors of emotional exhaustion throughout my body. A change beginning—a perilous change that can’t be stopped.

I thought the origin feather had to be accepted by my mistress before this rite of passage, but it’s coming. I can feel it.

She considers. “I like both, butBas-ti-engives you three syllables where the guys’ nicknames only have two. So I think Bastien.”

I chuckle. “Yes, I think Bastien too.” I send a warning glance at Pennie, whose concern is unmistakable.

“Let’s go inside,” Pennie says, nodding to Nico, who doesn’t understand but who follows his lead in lowering his hand to my mistress.

Lady Bianca seems hesitant to release me, but at Nico’s urging, she does and he helps her to her feet and pulls her against him in a way she clearly loves.

Together, we enter our home. I know I’m not the only one who understands that either we are a family from this moment forward or we’ll never be the same again.

Chapter14

Bianca

Iheart castles.

There, I said it.

And Clumberton Castle is worthy of a lot ofhearting.

It’s amazing. Approaching it, my eyes were mostly drawn to the monsters awaiting me, but I didn’t miss just how stunning the place is. It reminds me of a Slovakian castle I tried to convince my dad to take me to when I was a kid. That castle had teal-ish roofs, where Clumberton Castle is blessed with lavender ones that sparkled beneath the sun as we approached. Towers and bastions, and so many windows from which to look out on the forests that surround the castle.

The drawbridge is entirely epic, over a moat no less, and then massive purple wooden doors that can be barred from inside. The courtyard is divine, with vines growing up the walls, with purple and white flowers and a pleasant fragrance that is nothing next to how delectable Nico smells right now.

“Purple… it’s a Clumberton color, isn’t it?” I blurt, turning to study the ginormous lavender monster whose shade darkens as I gaze at him.

He clears his throat. “Yes, Lady Bianca, family lines share the same hue. All Clumbertons are lavender.”

I continue analyzing him as his shade deepens even more. He’s lovely, as tall as the others but so different. Nico is furry, where Pennie and Archie aren’t. Archie’s skin looks like tough leather and I’m already curious about his tusks. Who knew tusks could be appealing, but they are. Everything about these monsters is comfortingly soothing. Maybe I really have had it with human men in general, in a way that makes monsters entirely welcome.

Archie has adorable small, pointed ears, is bald, and has hands that are so burly I wonder whether he could juggle boats or something. He’s big enough, but he also seems gentle and nervous in an endearing way.