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“Darren is—was—our father.”

A heavy silence follows, and the man—our uncle—steps back. “I think you’d better come inside.”

CHAPTER

ELEVEN

We tie Reya off to a railing. Temra grabs the bundle of weapons to bring inside for safekeeping, while Petrik removes the saddlebags. We wipe our muddy boots on the colorful rug just inside the front door. The spacious receiving room is immaculate, with statues in the likenesses of the Sister Goddesses positioned on decorative tables. Ebanarra is always done in white while Tasminya is in black.

“Please have a seat. I’m sure Mother will be down shortly.”

He leaves us standing there, dripping from the downpour outside. We shuck our cloaks and hang them on nearby pegs. We’re so dirty from weeks of travel that we don’t dare sit on the finely upholstered couches.

“Who are you going to tell them I am?” Petrik asks. “Ifthe mercenary’s cautions about magic are true, we probably shouldn’t tell them I’m a scholar studying magics.”

Temra thinks a moment. “A cousin on our mother’s side.”

Petrik blinks. “All right, then.”

I fiddle so violently with my fingers that they turn red. Temra reaches out a hand to still me.

“It’ll be all right, Ziva. Maybe we’ll even get to sleep in real beds tonight. Who knows? Think of happy things right now. I can do all the talking.”

It feels like hours before anyone joins us, when in reality I’m sure it’s only minutes.

A woman with her hair cut into a gray bob enters the greeting area. She wears a short skirt that doesn’t quite reach her knees. Sandals cover her feet, and her sleeveless shirt shows off beautiful tattoos of local flowers, marking her from her wrists to shoulders. Blue eyes flit from Temra to me and back again. Her hand flies up to cover her mouth. “You look so much like your father. You have his eyes. And you his nose.” She laughs sadly. “I’m your grandmother, Volanna. Would it be all right if I embraced you?”

Temra runs into her arms without hesitation, and guilt replaces any fear I may have had about this encounter. I didn’t realize how starved for comfort Temra was. But it makes sense. We’ve been on the run for over a month. Before that, it’s just been the two of us. No parents or even parental figures.

I’m not one for hugs with strangers, so I do not embrace Volanna when she turns to me. Instead, I plant an awkward smile on my lips.

But Temra captures her attention once again, telling thiswoman our names, our ages, where we’re from. She introduces Petrik.

When Volanna asks what happened to our father, Temra tells her how Father and Mother passed away when we were young, leaving it at a home invasion gone awry. Temra and I slept through the whole thing, and I found our parents in the morning. At least that’s what the matron of the orphanage told me. I have no memory of that day, for which I’m grateful. Temra, of course, doesn’t include any of those details. She explains how I’ve provided for us while Temra has focused on her schooling. Volanna nods politely and squeezes Temra’s hand reassuringly through the painful bits.

Then the older woman looks to me. “You don’t have much to say, dear. Is there something wrong?”

“Oh, Ziva is just very shy, Grandmother,” Temra says.

Grandmother?That was fast.

“No matter,” Volanna says. “We have endless time to get to know one another. I’m so glad you decided to seek us out. Come, let’s get food in your bellies.”

It turns out Father has three brothers. He was second eldest, and all the others work on the estate during the day before returning home at night to their families.

“You have six cousins!” Volanna says over a meal of fresh bread and butter, salted pork, and tropical fruit. “You’ll get to meet them later this week at the service. Oh, you will of course wish to join us for church?”

Temra doesn’t miss a beat before saying, “Of course.”

Our worship of the Sisters has always been flimsy at best. We’ve never regularly gone to services held in their honor. I can’t stand to be around all the people. Temra went a few times for the social aspects, but she eventually quit attending. I don’t think she believes in a higher power.

I believe the Sisters are real. The world and all its creations had to come to pass in some way. The Sisters gave me my own sister, and for that I’ll always be grateful. But they also let my parents be taken from me.

So I suppose my relationship with the divine is complicated at best.

But Temra and I can feign interest in a religious service if it means earning the protection our father’s mother can provide us.

“I just can’t believe you’re truly here,” Volanna says. “Darren disappeared twenty years ago. He left a note to tell us he was safe but his future was in another place. We never met your mother. I don’t know if he met her before or after he left or what caused his disappearance. I am relieved to hear he was safe and had a family of his own, but I am grieved to hear of his passing.”