Page 53 of A Storm Rises
Heat rose in her cheeks. This was absurd. She might despise her parents, but she knew her identity, and no maidservant could tell her otherwise. “How would you know?”
“Because, I am Lady Sonia.”
Everything slowed—Avalynn’s heart, her breathing, even time itself. It was as if the Sun, Moon, and Stars had pressed pause on the realm and her life. “No, no, no,” she muttered. “I know who you are.”
She studied Maid Nia’s features—silver hair, heart-shaped face, petite frame… Everything remained the same. “You are my maidservant and friend and have been for years.” She shook her head as if clearing the mental haze caused by the note. “And I am Avalynn Stromm of Summit Range.”
“Indeed. I am your friend, and that will never change.” Nia stepped to the middle of the small room. “Allow me, and I will show you who I really am. And then perhaps we can discuss who you really are.”
Show her? She backed away from Nia. Her body trembled. Her mind reeling. Show her what?
Stormshroud stuck to Avalynn’s leg like a protective blanket as Nia closed her eyes. Her ivory skin sparkled with a soft glow. Her features blurred and then rippled like a pool of shimmering water. Her long silver hair flowed further down her back and then darkened until a jet-black sheen took hold. Her petite frame stretched, becoming longer, her features elegant and enchanting. The wave of magic pulsed so strong it sent a warm tingle across Avalynn’s scalp, down her neck, and then to her ears. When Nia’s shifting and blurring stopped, a completely different person remained in the room. Statuesque and beautiful, she wore a long blue dress with a black cape.
Avalynn’s mouth dropped. “This is…” Her words stuck in her throat like a knotted ball of yarn. “The real Nia?” She had just witnessed a glamour lowering. A sight few had witnessed, and only powerful fae and strong witches could do it.
“I am Lady Sonia, eternal friend to your mother and father, and your mother’s mother and father. This is my true form. My glamour was connected to the one I placed on you.” She motioned to a small mirror on the wall. “If you look, you will see a change in your hair and ears.”
Her fingers felt her ears. Usually sharply pointed, they rounded to her touch. Human ears. Lowborn. Sun, Moon, and Stars, what had happened to her? Backing up, she slammed her back into the wall. She was becoming someone and something else. “I-I-I’m no longer…myself?”
A gentle shake of the head and Nia, or Lady Sonia, said, “You are finally your true self on the outside. Who you are in the inside remains the same.” She motioned to Avalynn’s head. “Your mother had white streaks in her hair. You have a similar streak.”
Avalynn lifted a thick strand of her long hair. White nestled within the brown, the dark midnight gone. She turned and faced the mirror. The white swathe started at the roots and flowed to the tips.
“You look like Princess Gabriela, your mother. Yet your tall physique is that of your father, Leaf of the Sublands. Your mother was quite petite.”
Reaching behind her as if she had lost her sight, Avalynn found the bed’s edge and lowered herself inch by inch. A hurricane wind of confusion swirled in her mind. “My mother was petite. A royal. A princess from House Strong.” She wanted to touch her ears again yet kept her hands on her lap. “My father was a Sublander. An outcast and a lowborn, like Mateo.” She lifted her gaze back to Lady Sonia. “How?”
“How did you come to be raised as a Stromm? And Mateo, a true Stromm, came to be raised as a Vela?”
“Mateo is a true Stromm?” Why hadn’t she thought of that? He resembled a full-blooded fae through and through, and even acted like one. She’d figured whatever fae blood he had in him dominated his human ancestry. “He is a highborn with no human blood?”
“That is correct.” She nodded. “He is a pure blood. When you are ready, I will show you how it happened.”
She rubbed her sweaty palms on the skirt of her crude brown dress. Stormshroud pawed at her foot, as if signaling all would be well. But would it? Even if it frightened her, she wanted and needed the truth. She steadied her shaking hands. “I am ready. I must know.”
Lady Sonia took a small wooden stool from the corner of the room. She sat in front of Avalynn and rubbed her hands together. “I will use my magic to take you to the time and place of your birth and the switch.” She reached out. “I will do so by touching your forehead.” The witch’s graceful fingers grew closer. “I will be with you in the vision, and we will be able to speak to each other. Understand?”
Avalynn nodded. “Understand.”
The witch placed her cool fingertips on Avalynn’s forehead. Silence descended as weightlessness swept her off her feet and her vision tunneled to black. Her heart catapulted against her chest for a few long seconds until she met solid ground.
“You may open your eyes,” Lady Sonia said from within her head. “I am right here with you.”
One at a time, Avalynn cracked open her eyelids. She saw a thick wall of gray mist. “What is this?”
“Magic,” Lady Sonia said. “It will clear.”
A small bedchamber came into view. It looked like the one she was in now—thick, beige stone walls and a narrow window. A lady lay motionless on a bed, eyes closed. White-streaked brown hair clung to her face. Avalynn’s soul sank at the sight of blood-stained sheets between the lady’s legs.
A dwarf dressed in all-white moved from side to side, shushing a swaddled baby. A small maidservant huddled nearby. They assisted the lady.
Avalynn touched her own hair, which matched that of the motionless lady. “My mother?”
“Yes. That is your mother, Princess Gabriela.” Lady Sonia pointed at the dwarf. “That is a trusted friend and maidservant, Maid Gidna. The infant in her arms is you.”
With a gentle hand, she covered her gaping mouth. Her mother died giving her life. The sight crushed her. “Wh-wh-what happened to her?” she stuttered.
“We suspect the Kanes spelled her or somehow slipped her a poison. Their mission was always to end the Strong bloodline.”
