Page 92 of House of Ydril

Without saying a word, I draw in a breath and give her a nod, letting her put her weightless palm on my forehead and suck me into yet another one of her memories.

This time, I find myself looking straight into her eyes. It startles me, until I realize she’s in front of a mirror, brushing her hair.

And while here it’s actually furnished and beautifully kept, I recognize her room. It’s my room, the one I’m currently sitting in.

It’s only when my eyes dart to one corner of the mirror that I see him. A vampire stalking towards me. I feel myself jump and I quickly turn around.

Then, to my own surprise, I get up off my chair and throw myself into the man’s arms. He has ridiculous side-burns, but he’s handsome and he’s looking at me with mischief in his eyes.

“I thought I told you to stop using the passage,” Moswen tells him, but her voice is so soft and not at all scolding. This is her beau, I finally realize.

“And let them keep me away from you?” he asks as he strokes her hair. “Not a chance.”

It disturbs me, how familiar the features of his face are.

“But if you could only prove it to them, that it has nothing to do with you…”

“Don’t worry about it,” he whispers in her ear. “Soon none of that will matter. I’ll have built an entirely new world, where I am king of everything the eye can see. What will your parents have to say to me then?”

She pulls away from his embrace a little. “That’s when they’ll start with the actual protests. Baldor,” she starts, but she’s hesitant.

It makes me draw in a breath. But it is him, just without the armor on his arm and the walking stick in his hand.

“You know they’ll never accept it,” Moswen finally says. “I know our House is ancient, but they’re liberals to their cores and they’ll never allow you to put everyone under your rule. They’ll rather die.”

“I don’t care about any of that,” Baldor growls a little. “I only care about you. Doyoubelieve in me?”

“I do, but…”

At that exact moment, I hear a loud thud and Moswen’s head snaps to her left.

And there she is, standing in the doorway with a pissed-off look on her face.My mother,just the way I saw her in Moswen’s previous memories.

“Get out,” she hisses at the man in Moswen’s arms.

And then everything goes black and I find myself sitting on my bed again, looking up at Moswen, my chest heaving and my eyes narrowing. She’s just standing there, waiting for my reaction with apparent unease on her face.

“What was my mother doing in your room?”

“I think you know the answer to that question,” she mutters.

I can tell she’s struggling not to look away. “Say something,” she pleads.

“You’re my fucking sister?” I yell out.

I get up, fuming. My hands balled into fists, I walk past her, all the way to the window. I look out, but I don’t really see anything.

When I finally speak, my voice is full of anger and bitterness. “How funny it is, to find out, all at once, that you exist and that you’ve betrayed me.” I turn to throw daggers at her. “That you’ve betrayed this entire Academy, in fact.”

“I didn’t realize he was alive,” she insists, her voice low but forceful.

I shake my head, my lips pressed tight. “Doesn’t explain why you didn’t tell me about the bloodbath or your own involvement in it.”

“Iwasn’tinvolved,” she protests, struggling not to raise her voice. “And my parents,ourparents, they did warn me about it, that I do remember, but I didn’t have any recollection of it actually happening, not until you and I learned that it did.”

“And then?” I demand.

“Then it started coming back to me, little by little. Something going terribly wrong at the Trials, people yelling and screaming, smoke billowing…” She pauses and then adds even more forcefully. “But it was all so vague, utterly useless.”

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