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I was impressed. What child wouldn’t have been? “Truly?”

“Truly. And you’ll be there by his side, helping him along the way.”

She made a gesture with her hands, and suddenly two figures appeared from the shadows to her right and to her left. Fae guards.

Alarmed, I moved impulsively towards the door.

“They’re only here to help me, Medra,” she said quickly. “We’re ready to go now, aren’t we? There’s no need for guards. They were only here to protect me. I wasn’t sure what I might find here, you see. But everything has gone exactly as I’d hoped. For you found me before I even had to search for you. You came right to me. My dear, dear niece.”

I looked between her and the guards in their black masks and shining black metal armor. I wanted to ask her what she needed protection from.

“Can’t you come and meet Odessa and Crescent? Can’t I tell them that I’m leaving first?”

Sarrasine shook her head sadly. “That wouldn’t be a good idea, I’m afraid. They won’t want you to leave. It’s their job to keep you here, Medra. To keep you captive.”

Captive? Was that what I was? Was that what I’d been all this time? The thought startled me.

“I need time to think,” I said fretfully. “Can you come back tomorrow? I need to say good-bye to them.”

At least to Odessa. I couldn’t leave without saying good-bye to Odessa.

“We have to go now, Medra,” Sarrasine said firmly. “We’re out of time.” She looked between the two guards, then back at me consideringly, and I took a step closer towards the steps.

“Here now,” she said, her tone becoming sharper. “What are you doing? Stay close. I need to be touching you for it to work.”

“For what to work?”

“The stitching, of course. Not many can do it, even in our family.” She smiled brilliantly at me. “Won’t it be fun? Have you ever stitched before? We’ll be gone in a flash.”

She was speaking to me as if I were a child, I realized. A much younger, much more naive child.

And perhaps I was one. In part.

But I was something else, too.

“No,” I said stubbornly. “Come back tomorrow. I do want to come with you, but I can’t go yet. I need to say good-bye to Odessa.”

“How ridiculous,” my aunt said impatiently. “Medra, please. You won’t like it if I lose my temper with you.”

My eyes must have widened at the sharpness in her voice, for abruptly, her face relaxed. She shook her head, letting her lovely hair cascade around her shoulders. “Come, my dear, take my hand. This will only take a moment.”

Her voice had changed. It was becoming sweet once again. I could feel myself being drawn in. I took a step towards her instinctively.

“Step away from her, Medra,” a hard voice said. “Quickly now.”

I whipped around to see Odessa poised at the top of the tower stairs. She was barefoot. Clearly she had been sleeping. But her swords were strapped to her back, as they always were.

“Come towards me, Medra. Very carefully.”

“This is my aunt,” I explained, knowing they were already getting off on the wrong foot, desperate to fix it. “Her name is Sarrasine. She wants me to go with her. But I’ve told her I can’t. Not yet. But tomorrow. I’ve told her to come back tomorrow. Then she can take me to meet the rest of my family. I have a grandfather. Why didn’t you tell me, Odessa?”

“It wasn’t my place,” she said quietly. “You have a large family, yes, Medra. But there are only a few within it who truly care about you and want to keep you safe.”

“How silly. And I suppose you’re one of those people?” Sarrasine said disdainfully. “Or perhaps Morgan? We have as much right to this child as anyone does.”

“Medra is her own person. And we both know what you plan to do with her as soon as your father has her within his grasp,” Odessa replied.

I had never heard her sound this way before. So cold and full of rage. And more than rage. She was frightened—not of me, but for me.