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“What if the children are dead because of me? Most of the women who have been killed recently are around my age. What if the children were just caught up in it, and saw too much?”

“Larkin sometimes said, entire families. What if the recent missing children weren’t the targets but their mothers or sisters? They only had an approximate age, right?” Azalea asks.

“But the hunters never knew of your existence. Everyone thought you were dead,” Cedric says.

“But what if they knew I was alive when I was a kid? My mother, I mean Marrissa, was on the run. She was hiding from something. It is obvious to me now with how we never stayed in one place long, and that leads me back to my dream.”

“Your dream?” Cedric answers.

“Yes, my mother told Marrissa to run with me, to give me to my mate,” Azalea says, looking at me.

“But I didn’t know you were my mate back then. I didn’t even know you existed,” I tell her.

“Doesn’t mean Queen Tatiana didn’t know. Your mother sometimes saw things and got strange senses. Your father tried to say she dabbled in the dark arts and banned her from using some of her particular gifts,” Cedric explains, and Trey nods behind him.

“Yeah, gifts that would catch him out cheating, not that she couldn’t feel his infidelity, the prick,” Trey growls. I smile sadly, knowing that it must have been terrible to watch his mate in agony because her husband was unfaithful.

“So my mother could see the future?” Azalea asks Cedric.

“Not exactly, more like intuition. Sometimes when she touches someone or first meets them. She didn’t have full visions,” Trey says.

I hum thoughtfully, thinking back to all the times I had met Tatiana and how she was always so welcoming. Was that why? “Although that would explain when King Garret always tried to sabotage the trials, why your mother always made me sabotage him,” Cedric says.

“My mother sabotaged him?” Azalea asks.

“Yeah, he would try to cheat, poison the water to make those competing sick. A couple of times, she had me switch the bottle over with his own or empty the vials and refill them with herbs. Another was when he attempted to use his powers to command everyone to fail; Tatty asked me to slip him wolfsbane and water hemlock so he couldn’t, so I did,” he chuckles.

“At first, I believed it was her revenge for his infidelity. Everyone knew the king was unfaithful, and it shamed your mother. None of us were blind to it,” Cedric says softly.

“Anyway, I thought your father hated King Kyson at first, but it turns out he was trying to win your hand back because he promised it to another,” Cedric answers. I glance at Trey, who looks away.

“And just for the record, Cedric. When you caught Marrissa on the ground floor that night, Marrissa didn’t betray my mother. My mother told her to run with me, that the hunters would discover me if she ran with me. She asked Marrissa to run. She was never a traitor,” Azalea tells him, and Cedric bows his head in shame.

“When I saw her in the hunter uniform–”

“You were wrong, but your Kingdom was under attack. So I understand,” Azalea says.

“But who let the hunters in if Marissa didn’t let them in?” Cedric asks.

“Someone else on the inside,” Azalea answers.

“But the King’s sister, same thing on their anniversary. I’m sorry, my Queen, but you have to admit Marrissa looks guilty. Two castles she was working in, both attacked by hunters,” Cedric says.

“But Crux also had access to both kingdoms. I know it wasn’t my mother, the dream I had. Marrissa and my mother almost seemed like friends. She trusted Marrissa with me. I know what I saw, and Marrissa tried to get my mother to run with me.” Cedric’s brows furrow while Trey rubs his temples. Larkin just sits quietly, listening to everything, though he seemed deep in thought as well.

“I can get Crux travel records. I will also question those in the brothel too, see what I can find out,” Larkin says.

“You would go against Crux?” Azalea asks him.

“If he is helping the hunters, then yes. But everything you have said is now making me question everything. You’re right. It doesn’t make sense. Too much doesn’t add up, and Tandiverified the insignia patches. I’ll check it out,” he says, and I nod to him.

Larkin leaves, followed by Damian, leaving just Trey and Cedric. They turn to Azalea, who speaks again. “Wait, I want to ask you something,” Azalea asks, and I stare at her. Instead, she reaches for the books Cedric placed on the desk when he entered my office. They are books about Landeena and Azure history. Azalea drags one closer and Cedric retakes his seat. And so does Trey.

“I dreamt of the attack the other night,” she starts, and I feel her grief through the bond, longing for the mother who raised her and the mother who sacrificed herself, the mother she never got to know. She pauses for a second, her brows furrowing as if she is trying to make sense of her own dreams. “My mother, before she left, she pulled her hair pin out, it turned into some sword like thing?” she asks, and Cedric and Trey look at each other.

Cedric leans forward and opens up one of the books and turns to a page before turning the book to show her. Azalea’s fingers brush over the page. “Yes, what is this?” she asks, but I notice how Cedric and Trey look at me nervously.

Cedric gathers his thoughts before explaining. “The Astral Tendril Pin, as it’s called, isn’t just any pendant. It’s said to have been born from a clash of celestial forces, a literal storm brewed by the power of both Garret and Tatiana. This pendant is essentially a product of that fierce confrontation.”