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“Diana. What did Donika say? She whispered something to you. The moment before she passed. What was it?”

I hadn’t told anyone.

Not Nik. Not my mother. Not Tess.

Nobody.

I wasn’t sure what to do with it. What it meant. Why she told me at all. What was the point? In that moment, she knewthat she was on the precipice of death, but she had chosen to spill her darkest secret, anyway.

Why did she tell me?

My gaze fell to my lap before once again landing on Tess.

“I haven’t told Nik yet,” I admitted.

Tess had always been my best friend. My go-to. She always knew everything first. But the bond between Nik and I had strengthened increasingly over the last few months, and we were able to send words down the tether that held us together now. He could likely sense in this moment how uneasy I was, despite me trying to shield it from him. Despite him being in Prins on an excursion with Puck to see Alastir.

Tess smiled conspiratorially. “I get to know first?!”

“I didn’t say I was going to tell you,” I replied, mouth scrunching. But she could gauge in the tone of my voice that I had, indeed, decided to.

She scooted closer to me, grasping my hand off the armrest and capturing it in hers.

“Whatever it is, you can tell me. You know the anticipation has beenkillingme. I’m not a patient person… ”

I cut her off by raising the hand not currently pressed between hers. “Fine, I’ll tell you.”

She made a noise halfway between a squeal and a screech, and I had to stop myself from covering my ears.

“So… what did she say?” she asked once more, practically spilling out of her chair.

I took a deep breath, letting the air fill my lungs, then slowly releasing it. “She told me… she told me that she… ” As thewords left my mouth Tess was visibly on edge, though I wasn’t sure if this would be received as good news or bad.

“She has a son.”

Tess cocked her head to the side, clearly not the answer that she had been expecting.

“A what now?” she finally replied, her eyes cast towards the throne room floor, brows knit together.

“A son. Donika has a son. And she asked me to find him.”

“Find him? What do you mean,find him? She didn’t know where he was?” she asked.

I shrugged. “I’ve got no clue. That’s all she said. ‘I have a son, Diana. Find him.’” My impersonation of her voice was a terrible rendition.

“And then what?” Tess asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” I told her with a shrug.

“Sweet Mother… why do you do this to us?” Tess asked the empty room as she tilted her head back, falling against the chair and releasing my hand.

I stifled a laugh at her expression.

“What does this mean?” Tess asked.

I shrugged again. “I’ve got no clue. I can’t imagine when she would have had a child. How old he might be. Who the father is,” I said.

Tess shot me a glance with a brow raised.