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MARA

T here was still much to be done, and many answers I still needed.

In the month that followed, much had changed.

Telvia had fallen under Sasha’s temporary control since she was Derek De’vor’s—the last legitimate president of the West—only living relative.

But with my mother finally recovered, the time had come to discuss Telvia’s fate.

A meeting had been scheduled for the UF Council to assemble in one week to discuss the future of the UFA.

But before that meeting, I needed some serious answers from two specific women.

Wes offered to be there with me, but I turned him down.

As much as I loved his support, I didn’t need it… not anymore.

I sat in Sasha’s office at Fort Warren while she sat behind her desk.

My mother sat to my left, looking older with more graying hair lacing her mahogany-brown locks than I remembered.

And if it weren’t for the fact that her eyes were light brown and mine were so dark they looked black at times, I could say I was looking at myself in a mirror two decades into the future.

“I know you have many questions, child. And I am finally ready to answer them as honestly as possible.” Sasha’s graying hair was braided and resting over her shoulder like always. The navy-blue suit made her look professional, just as I’d always known her to be.

“We both owe you a lot of answers, Mara,” my mother said. “It’s time we come clean.”

Sasha gave a long sigh. “Yes, it is well past time.” She drew the porcelain cup to her lips, sipped the steaming brew, and then rested the cup on the table. “Where shall I begin?”

“How about from the beginning?” I suggested, leaning back in my chair.

“Ah yes, the beginning.” And she did. She told me everything from the very start. It took some time to explain how and why everything happened as it did, and I did the best I could to keep from getting overwhelmed by it all, taking big sips of black tea to keep me grounded.

And an hour later, I finally spoke. “So…so you’re my—”

Sasha smiled. “Your great aunt, yes. Derek De’vor was your grandfather.”

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “That’s why you were able to promise me to Wes. You were my only living relative.”

She nodded. “Yes, though technically, since you were eighteen, you had a legal right to refuse it if you wanted, but I suspected you and Wes would find each other on your own with enough time.”

I rubbed my lips together and slowly faced my mother. “And…and your mother was—”

“Mary Smith,” Nora answered. “Both my parents were married to other individuals when I was conceived. Like you, I was their illegitimate child.”

“Uh huh,” I muttered, trying to wrap my brain around it all. I looked at Sasha again, pointing at her. “And you raised Mom?”

She nodded. “Mary was a dear friend of mine, and Derek was my brother. As a favor to both of them, I kept their indiscretions a secret and raised Nora under a pseudonym as though she were my own,” Sasha explained further. “No one knew who she really was, not even her. ”

My mother rubbed the back of her neck. “I was made to believe I was orphaned in the Division War and that Sasha simply took kindly to me. I didn’t know who I really was until Belinda told me the day she confronted me about your dad.

The day I—” My mother faltered, pressing down on her lips with her fingertips.

She didn’t have to say anything, though. I knew this part already. When Belinda confronted her, they fought and Belinda got hurt, causing her to lose her baby.

Nora cleared her throat, hand drifting to the armrest of her chair.

“I didn’t believe Belinda at first. I thought she was lying to hurt me.

It wasn’t until after your dad had taken you that I confronted Sasha about it all.

That’s when I discovered the truth, and that’s what drove me to leave in search of my own solutions.

I felt like I couldn’t trust Sasha anymore, so I went rogue. ”

That must have been so horrible for my mother. How lonely and heartbroken she must have felt to learn her whole world was built on lies. I sympathized with her. I remembered when my world turned upside down, too.

“If no one knew about Derek and Mary, how did Belinda figure it out?” I asked.

Sasha gave a long sigh. “I’m afraid the Adams were very talented at discovering and acquiring secrets.

Belinda’s parents were both very powerful people.

Jasper was the First in Command of the West, while Caroline Adams was the First in Command of the South.

I’m afraid that Mary might have trusted her First Commander too much. ”

I considered that for a moment, then moved on to my next question. “So…so you’re the true heir of the West?” I asked my mother, watching as she blinked and then nodded.

“Yes.”

“ And she is the heir of the South.”

I faced Sasha, watching as she clasped her hands neatly on her desk .

“Do you remember when I told you that Raúl executed the entire Smith family line when he invaded the South?”

My brain racked all the knowledge I had, drudging up that little fact she had shared so many months ago. President Mary Smith, along with her spouse and any children she had, were killed the day Raúl’s rebels invaded the South.

“Yes,” I drawled tentatively. “You said he did it so no one could contest his reign.” And then it all fell into place. “No one except for Mom.”

Sasha nodded. “Correct. He left no one alive in the Southern presidential line, except for your mother. Her and I barely survived the siege that night, and I brought her with me to the North where we remained safe and out of Raúl’s reach.

Nora is the only living heir to the West and South, and you , child, will inherit it all when her time is done. ”

Holy crap… I raked my fingers through my hair. I couldn’t even believe it. I was the heiress to half of the UFA. “Whoa,” I muttered in shock.

“It’s a lot, I know,” Nora said, resting her hand on my knee. “And with you being promised to Wes, you’ll become the most powerful couple following your marriage.”

I dragged my hands over my face, still trying to absorb it all. “Is that why Belinda hated me so much? I mean, I get that Dad was unfaithful and all that, but she didn’t love him. So why did she say that stuff to me in the end?”

“What was it she told you?” Sasha asked, sitting forward.

“She said that because of who Nora was, she would have been left with nothing. But I don’t understand. What was she talking about?”

My mother slumped back into her chair, shaking her head softly. “Belinda wanted power, much like her father. If I hadn’t been who I was, she would have stood to inherit the West and South.”

“What?” My brows laced together. “But how? That doesn’t even make sense. ”

“It does, I’m afraid,” Nora said with a heavy sigh.

“As long as Derek died without heirs, Jasper would have assumed control of the West. The same is true for the South with Caroline. With both family lines dead and no one left to inherit their thrones, it would have left Belinda as the heiress to inherit it all after her parents passed away.”

“It is my belief, child,” Sasha began to explain, “that Jasper groomed your father from the beginning. He took him in as a young man and filled his head with illusions. I suspect Jasper wanted the Western region for himself and used your father to do his dirty work. I fear that Raúl de la Puente was nothing more than a puppet in the end, controlled by a man who pretended to care for him.” She shifted in her seat.

“I do wonder if Belinda’s intentions were always to murder Raúl once they had defeated the North and taken the East. But I suspect now we’ll never know. ”

I ached at that moment. I ached for my father, my mother, and even for Belinda—sort of.

Because they were all just children being used in the ploys of older people hell-bent on power and control.

They were the products of lies and schemes and so much corruption, it was no surprise that it would all end as it had.

Taking steady breaths, I asked the last question I had lingering inside me. “So, where does this leave us? Where do we go from here?”

It was Sasha who finally answered. “The West does not belong to me, child. Nor does the South. In one week, we will face the UF Council and share the truth about Nora.” Her eyes glanced toward my mother for a moment, the hint of an affectionate smile at the corner of her lips, before she looked at me once more.

“Together, we must decide the future of the United Factions of America. As Wes’s promised, you will be given a vote, as will your mother.

You need to decide how you will use it.”

One week. I had one week.

And then the world was going to change again.