“A memory,” I said. “You came upon Khalasa’s notes at one point.”
He tilted his head.
“You saw something about her learning how to get rid of her own powers. Her godhood.”
“Yes, yes,” he murmured, a crease forming between his brows.
“Do you think we can go to that memory? To that place? Can you show me?”
Fear flashed in his eyes. “Her castle?” He backed away. “She’ll punish me.”
I reached for him, grabbing his hand with both of mine. “I won’t let her.” My words came out as a growl. “I won’t let her touch you or your mind ever again.”
A sad smile formed on his face. “My brave, brave girl. You deserved so much better than her.”
He’d said that several times to me growing up, and I’d always thought he was talking about the mother who rejected me.
“I didn’t need a mother,” I said. “Not when I had such a great father and brothers.”
Tears filled his eyes. “Okay,” he whispered. “Let’s go.”
“Can you lead me there? Can you try to think of that place?”
“It’s hard,” he said, but he closed his eyes, and slowly the field began melting away.
Walls sprang up around us, filled with bookshelves. A vaulted ceiling fell over us, crashing down on the walls. Windows showed the star court, glittering and beautiful under the twilight sky.
“You’re doing good, Father,” I said, squeezing his hand. “So good.”
A stack of papers fell through the air, fluttering to the ground and scattering about. I gasped, wondering if those were it.
“You did it,” I said and fell to my knees. But the papers were blank.
I looked behind me at my father, who stood there, looking so small and pale.
“It’s okay. I’m here,” I said, getting up and rushing to him. I took his hand and led him to the papers. “Can you remember leaning over them, seeing them?”
He swallowed. “I don’t know . . .”
Purple smoke filled the room, and Khalasa walked through it. My father snatched his hand away from mine, shrinking back against the desk, shaking.
“Did you really think I’d leave that memory in his mind, daughter?” Khalasa asked.
Her long black hair flowed over her shoulders, so similar to mine. I’d always thought I got my black hair from my father while my brothers got their lighter hair from our mother. But while my father’s hair was straight and finer, my hair was thick and wavy, just like Khalasa’s. Her purple eyes glittered.
My father whimpered, and I moved in front of him.
“Stay away from him,” I said.
She reached out and stroked my cheek. I shivered at her cold touch. “He took you from me,” she said. “He used my own scythe against me, poisoned my mind with lies for so many years.”
“Why didn’t you tell me the truth?” I asked. “All those years ago in the Wilds. As you started gaining back your power against my father. He kept you prisoner for years, but you did finally get your powers back, your memories.”
She sighed. “I didn’t know at first. I really thought you were just another brat your father had with that woman he called a wife.”
The hatred and venom in her voice took me aback. So much vitriol.
“I wanted to make your father pay. So I did to him what he’d done to me. Death would’ve been too kind. I twisted his mind, filled it with nightmares, made him watch as I played with all his children like little toys I could break. I didn’t know you were my daughter, not until I cursed your brothers, tried to curse you as well, but I couldn’t. That’s when I realized the truth.”
