“Your mother?” Curious. She’d managed to surprise me. In all the speculation about her secret evil plans, nobody had suggested she was looking for family. “Is she here?”
She nodded. “The last time we saw her, she was coming here for a day, but she never returned.” She shrugged. “Of course, that was thirteen yearsago, so I don't have high hopes, but I've seen some of her magic, which makes me hope a little…”
She drifted off as my expression contorted. I tried to keep an impassive face, but… the things she said! Thirteen years ago. A fae. Coming into Hemlit.
I forced my mind to focus on the facts. I didn't have them all yet. It could be just a coincidence.
But coincidences were for fools. I knew better.
My voice fell to a hoarse whisper. “What is your mother's name?”
The half-fae in front of me smiled and her fears almost disappeared entirely. “Her name is Radira. Radira Blackwater. Will you… look for her?”
Radira Blackwater.
A sinking feeling of horror tightened my throat.
I never knew her family name, but I would remember Radira every day for the rest of my life.
I was the one who had killed her.
Chapter 9: Callista
The king’s tone could almost have qualified for gentle and considerate… until I named my mother. The way he froze at her name left me with no doubt: he knew her.
Was she alive?
Did he know where she was right now?
Would he look for her?
As seconds passed in silence, his expression morphed from shock to horror to anger to an attempt at an impassive, unrevealing expression. Finally, he spoke through clenched teeth. “I need to finish this conversation tomorrow.”
He closed the door and left me in silence.
I laid the dressing gown over a chair and crawled back in bed. What did the king know about her that turned his entire demeanor? Had she done something? Had he?
Possibilities swirled in my mind for the rest of the night. If theking had wanted to ruin my sleep, he could not have chosen a better way. At least I had the freedom to nap.
As soon as I heard birds outside the window, I climbed out of bed and put on clothes. Darkness still filled the sky, but we were in the middle of winter—I expected darkness for a few more hours. Since the birds were up, though, I might as well be too.
I cracked my door open just in time to see Koan disappear at the end of the hall. Mylo stood in front of my door and dipped his head in a polite gesture. “Can I help you?”
I nodded. “I’m afraid I woke up early and can’t sleep. I was hoping you might be willing to light my room?”
“Of course.” He offered me a kind smile and stepped closer to the room. I wasn’t sure what to think of this elf—he was loyal to his king, without doubt, but every word he’d said to me had been almost gentle. I suspected he’d throw me off the balcony if the king told him to but, unless he was instructed to hurt me, he seemed to be one of my best allies here.
He waved his hand in the doorframe, and magical light gathered into a ball in the middle of my ceiling like a hanging lantern. Just as I was about to thank him, a long shadow entered my vision.
The king stood next to Mylo in front of my door. He held a massive book and wore the same tunic he’d had on when I saw him hours ago. Had he slept in it? Or had his thoughts been as troublesome as mine?
He faced Mylo. “Is there a problem?”
“No, sir,” he said, stepping away from my door. “I was just lighting her room for her.”
The king nodded, as if approving of his soldier, and then turned to me. “Do you know anythingof my parents?”
“No.” I shook my head quickly. Why did he keep asking such strange questions?
