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“ P ardon?” I stammered. “You’re confident?” I pressed Laurence further, who was still sitting on the couch before me as I placed both of my hands on the table to steady myself.

The male nodded stiffly. “I’m confident, my queen.

They’ve been among the other noble families invited to the castle for meetings with the king and his advisors on multiple occasions.

” He paused. “Your Majesty, you even have a set of grandparents,” he said in his usual, soft voice. As if that made any of it less painful.

My eyes snapped up to meet his as my jaw dropped slightly open.

I hadn’t even considered that looking into my mother’s origins would lead me to finding any family. In my mind, where she came from was always a mystery, something I’d never truly have an answer to. But this… I couldn’t have come up with this in any scenario I’d made up in my head.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts, slamming my teeth together harshly.

“Did you know?” I asked with much more calm in my voice than I felt. I could feel my zirilium beneath my skin simmering.

Each morning while I took a bath, I created different objects or shapes with the water, or used the air to float some of the bubbles high above my head.

I did this each day, hoping to keep my zirilium at bay, but I knew as I felt it crawling through my veins that I couldn’t hold it off for too much longer. Bubble baths wouldn’t suffice forever.

Laurence looked stunned momentarily, but quickly recovered and shook his head side to side before saying, “No, Your Majesty, I hadn’t a clue.

I don’t know much about the noble families of the South—most of my time is spent here in the library.

I much prefer books over people these days.

I wasn’t even aware that the Ashford’s had any children, let alone a daughter.

But now that you mention it… well, I’ve only seen them in passing, but I can see small pieces of them in you.

You even share Lady Billie’s face shape. ”

I inhaled sharply at hearing this, but nodded despite the churning in my chest.

I realized in that moment that I’d decided to trust Laurence.

After a moment of silence, I cleared my throat and reached for the Southern-crafted dagger I now kept on me at all times. It made me feel closer to my mother somehow, even if it didn’t change the fact that she was gone for good.

Pulling it out, I placed it on the table before Laurence.

“Dimitri, my twin, found this among our mother’s belongings. It was my first hint that my mother might have Southern origins,” I said, sliding the knife closer to his side of the table.

Laurence gently picked up the blade, flipping it over in his hands. He murmured, “Interesting,” as he did so.

“What is it?” I prodded.

“Well, both sides of the dagger have a small family insignia etched into the weaving pattern on the hilt. This one,” he motioned to one side, “is the Ashford family’s insignia.

But this one,” he flipped the dagger over, “I have never seen before. It’s unlike any of the Southern ones I’ve come across in my time here. ”

I groaned, sinking back into the leather chair behind me .

“Why was my mother such a complicated female?” I asked, exasperated.

Laurence frowned slightly, then slid the dagger back across the table for me and stood up.

“I’ll return momentarily,” he said, then slipped through the curtain back out into the main sector of the library.

I took the blade into my hands and studied it, wondering how I hadn’t recognized my own mother’s family insignia before now.

The insignia that Laurence had pointed out as being the Ashford’s was the perfect image of a willow tree, one that looked like it would sway in the wind with the slightest breeze, but had deep, strong roots.

I turned it over, observing the other side.

The image of a wave was etched into it, with small stars overhead as if depicting the ocean at night.

Interesting , I thought.

Shortly after, Laurence returned with a large book, forcing him to hold it with both hands as he stepped through the curtain, letting it fall closed behind him. He rounded my side of the table and placed the book between us.

“This book lists every noble family that’s been in the South in the past few centuries, all the way up to modern times. Let’s see…” he trailed off as he opened the book with a soft thump , then began thumbing through it until he found the A s portion of the book.

Together, we flipped through the pages until we came across one that had the name Ashford scrawled at the top in loopy handwriting.

Below the family name was that same family crest, the one with the willow tree, except this time, with more room for details.

I noticed a small bird perched on one of the branches.

“Here we are,” Laurence said as we reached the page. My eyes widened in surprise as I took in the large family tree, full of so many members it took up two pages side by side.

It seemed that for many generations, there had been solely large families, with a minimum of three children each, spanning all the way up to nine children in some generations.

Almost every name had a small symbol underneath it, indicating whether that person had been a wielder or not, and if so, what kind.

There was a leaf for plant wielding, a flame for fire, a rock for earth, a gem for crystal, and a plain black circle with loopy lines swirling from it for shadows.

Lightly running a finger over the lines tying the families together, I followed the flow of the generations down and watched as the number of Ashfords slowly dwindled down to almost nothing over the course of a few centuries.

Down towards the bottom of the second page were two names—the only two that hadn’t yet been crossed out unlike all the others, indicating these people were still alive.

The names read: Billie and Geoff.

My fingers paused on their names as I released a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding in.

“These are my grandparents?” I asked quietly.

Laurence, next to me, nodded in confirmation.

Below the names of my maternal grandparents, there was one name remaining, though it too had been crossed out.

Elore .

I sucked in a sharp breath, as if reading it had physically pained me. My fingertips hovered in the air above her name before I gently stroked the page, as if I could feel her through it.

“The Ashford line ended with her,” I said, suddenly feeling bitter, though I think it was simply to cover my own guilt.

“No, my queen. She lives on in you . You uphold the Ashford line now, along with your brother,” he said to me.

I loosened a breath, trying to let go of the tightness in my chest at the thought of Dimitri. I hadn’t realized just how much I missed my twin until that moment.

I wonder what he would have to say about all of this.

“You’re right, Laurence. Thank you for showing me this,” I responded, hoping I sounded genuine.

He flashed me an encouraging smile, then aligned his spine as he stood back up to his full height, nearly a head taller than me.

“Unfortunately, I have to take my leave now, Your Majesty. You were right when you said I wasn’t supposed to be here today. It’s my day of leave, and I have some things to tend to,” Laurence said, then bowed deeply.

“Laurence, you can just call me Aviva. I truly don’t mind. And thank you for helping me today. I greatly appreciate it. Let me know if you ever need anything, alright?” I said as I watched him straighten back up.

“I think I’ll stick with Your Majesty. And it’s been my pleasure, I assure you.” He smiled as he dipped his head once towards me, then left through the curtain.

I sat there for a long while after his departure, simply staring after him and wondering what the Stars I had just uncovered.

***

I remained in my small, private portion of the library with the same book Laurence had retrieved for the next few hours, until the high windows up above revealed it was already late in the afternoon.

I had already flipped through the giant book twice, looking at each and every family crest, trying to match one to the insignia carved onto the backside of the dagger.

After the first time going through each page of the hefty tome, I thought maybe I had overlooked it.

After the second, I simply gave up, concluding that it wasn’t in this book.

Obviously, the mystery crest didn’t belong to any of the noble families of the South.

Once I’d accepted my defeat regarding that book, I stared at the dagger for a long while, flipping it over and over again in my hands. It was one of the last ties I had to my mother, and yet part of it was etched with a stranger’s family insignia.

What does it mean?

Lost in thought, I barely had time to conceal my dagger again as the curtain parted and a tall figure stepped inside.

For a moment, I thought Laurence had returned, but looking up, I caught a glimpse of a white streak of hair, shining like a beacon against the rest of his messy, deep brown hair.

“I thought I might find you here,” he said, stepping into the small space.

White Streak! I thought to myself as I recognized his face from the wedding afterparty. Please don’t call him that to his face, Viva. Stars, what was his name again?

“It was Ezra, right?” I asked, getting to my feet from where I had sat comfortably in the low chair.

He smiled, then nodded. “The one and the same.”

I took just a handful of seconds to study the male.

He stood just as tall as Robyn, maybe an inch taller even, his pointed ears unadorned aside from a single golden hoop at the top of his left ear.

Today he wore a golden yellow sweater vest over a cream shirt, along with dark brown pants and boots to match.

He carried a small satchel on his hip that looked worn with lots of use.

Overall, besides his obvious birthmark, he looked almost… ordinary.

For some reason, this made me wary.