Page 30 of Ruined Kingdom

“Sophia?” A familiar voice set my mind at ease.

I looked up to see Tieni standing before me with a feather duster nervously being twirled around in her hands. I gave her a weak smile and greeted her. “Tieni.”

“If you have a moment, I was wondering if I could steal you away for a moment?” she asked, but her eyes nervously danced away from me.

“Of course, whatever you need.” Although I was unsure of the situation, I still followed her.

She led me down hallways I'd never been through before until we reached a quaint door that was nowhere near as grandiose as all the rest around the castle. She opened the door, and I immediately realized it was her room.

Strange. I've never been to her room before. The matter must be very serious then.

I closed the door behind me as Tieni sat on the end of her bed and patted the spot next to her.

She waited until I sat down to begin speaking. “I have something I must tell you. I've waited a long time for this, trying to find the right moment. Now it feels like I'm running out of moments to tell you…”

I reached over, placing my hand on hers. “It's all right. When you're ready.”

She took a deep breath and nodded more to herself than me. Then she pulled out a thin gold chain necklace from her pocket with a small golden locket hanging on the end. “This is for you.”

“It's lovely, but I couldn't take this from you.” I politely refused.

She had already given me so much, and I couldn't imagine taking something like this from her. “I suppose I should say … that this is yours.”

I gave her a dumbfounded look.

Tieni took another deep breath before continuing. “This necklace belonged to your mother.”

My mother?

I couldn't even comprehend what she was saying. How could she have had something that had been my mother's?

“My daughter.” She added after a lingering moment of silence.

The air left my lungs effortlessly, but I found myself unable to take in my next breath.

My chest tightened.

My mouth ran dry.

“I’m sorry. I—I don't think I understand.” My words were so low that I worried they were inaudible, but Tieni heard me well enough.

“I knew who you were at the moment you told me your full name. Everly… That was the surname of the man who took my daughter away from the forest.” Tieni searched my eyes for clues on what I was feeling.

In truth, I didn't even know myself.

“I know this is a lot to take in, but I spoke with Kaine about what he saw in the portal to the Light Fae Realm, and I know you’ve been having doubts about who you are and what you’re capable of. That was when I knew it was time to tell you. You're not just a mere mortal. Your mother was a shifter, and you might be, too.” She couldn't hide her excitement at the thought.

“Are you saying I can turn into a wolf? Can you even turn into a wolf? I've never seen you shift.” The question sounded more cynical than I meant it to.

“No, my dear, we aren't that type of shifter. I'm not able to shift. I never have been. In fact, it's very rare that our kind shifts at all, but your mother could. Oh, she was beautiful. There are certain powers that shifters like your mother possessed that others coveted. That made it dangerous for her to stay here, especially during the war. So she left to live with the mortals until it was safe. That was when she met your father, and she decided that she didn't want to come back. I couldn't say no to her… She was supposed to be safer away from the forest…”

I blinked a few times, trying to process everything that was being told to me. “Does my father know?”

“No. She knew better than to trust anyone with the secret. It would only have put him at risk.” Tieni took her hands away, sensing that she might have been crowding me.

“All this time… I wanted to return to my family when I had family right here.” I scoffed at how ridiculous the idea was. “There has to be a mistake. I’m not a shifter. I don’t have any powers.”

“That's what I thought too. In fact, I prayed that you didn't have any of your shifter powers. That would make you the safest, but after you were taken by the Dark Fae King and healed, I knew that he must have discovered something in you.” She looked away, biting her lip as if to stop the words from coming out of her mouth, but she knew she had to say them. “You must take great caution from here on out. Because you are not only mortal, and you’re not like me. You’re like your mother.”

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