Page 36

“There’s no evidence suggesting that,” Vitai says.“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

“The people are frightened.”Tarix spreads his hands.“So are the royals.”

“Are they now?”I face him with a mocking grin.“What do you want me to do about that?”

I won’t lie.I’m enjoying the fear reflected in his eyes.

“Your mother needs to take Elsie under her wing,” Suno says.He must see the anger on my face because he adds quickly, “To train her.”

The anger boils over, escaping from the tight lid I’ve tried to keep on it.“Do you think for one minute I’d entrust my mate to the very person who banished her?”

“Aruan,” my mother cries out as if I’ve insulted her.

I turn on her.“Isn’t that true?Are you going to deny it again?To my face?”

She trembles as she stares at me, pursing her lips so tightly they turn colorless.

My father lays a hand on her shoulder.

The silence that follows is charged.She’s denied it up to now, but I won’t let her get away with it any longer.

“Do you know what happened to her, Mother?Do you know what she went through on Earth?”

And as she stares at me, I tell her everything, every little detail that Elsie shared with me, starting with her childhood ailments and their painful consequences and ending with how her heart almost gave out.

If it were possible for my mother’s chalky cheeks to grow paler, they would.Even Suno and Tarix appear offended and moved for Elsie’s sake.Only Vitai, whom I’ve already told Elsie’s history, doesn’t look surprised.

When I finally finish, I face my mother unblinkingly.“Are you still going to tell me you didn’t do that to her?”My voice rises steadily.“That you didn’t steal my mate from me?”

“It had to be done,” my mother exclaims in a sudden frenzy.“There was no other way.”

So it’s true, what I’ve been suspecting.And despite those suspicions, I’ve never felt more betrayed in my life.

“Nia,” my father says, his manner soothing.

My mother’s proud posture sags.“I did it for you, Aruan.For all of us.”

It takes everything I have to control the destructive rage inside me.“Do not insult me, Mother.You didnotdo it for me.”

Only Suno wears a shocked expression.Everyone else has already worked it out for themselves.

“She was going to be your downfall,” my mother says.“Please, Aruan, try to understand.I did it because I loved you.Because Iloveyou.I knew the prophecy would come true that day you set off the explosion.”I wince at the mention, but my mother plows ahead.“That day, I knew you were too powerful, more powerful than any man who’s been born.Everything in the prophecy pointed to you.Removing your mate was the only way to secure our people and our world.”She comes closer, stretching out her arms with her palms facing up.“But I didn’t kill her.I could never do that.I sent her away as much to saveherlife as yours because I knew she wasn’t safe here.Don’t you see?She was a target since the day it became clear that she was your destined mate.”

“So you sent her through a portal to Earth,” I say with all the bitterness I’ve been carrying inside me since the day I found out my family deceived me.

My mother hangs her head.If she means to embrace me, I won’t offer her forgiveness so readily.When I step away from her outstretched arms, she looks up, and hurt washes into her eyes.

I take in her smooth skin and youthful features.The characteristics are familiar, but I see now that I never truly knew the person who calls herself my mother.

I never imagined she could be capable of such cruelty.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she says.“Don’t you understand?”

“No.”My voice is cold.Hard.“You sent Elsie away as a strong and healthy baby.”I know it.I felt it.“What did you do to her?”The blade of her double betrayal twists into my gut.“Was banishing her not enough for you?Why did you have to make her suffer so much?”

Vitai looks on with an empathetic expression, but I’m in no state to figure out if it’s meant for my mother or for me.

“Aruan, I—” My mother swallows.“It wasn’t my intention.I swear that to you.All I can think is that, seeing that she wasn’t fully developed yet, her body must’ve been put back together wrongly on the other side.It was the first and only time I sent a baby through a portal to Earth.”