Page 21 of Blood On His Lips

“He said so.” I smiled crookedly. “So we’re not first cousins, the Prince and I?”

She shook her head. “No, your ancestress’s descendants are numerous, at least the way Fae consider descendants to be numerous.”

“What is an avatar? Is it me? My power?” Now that I was actuallythinkingabout it, I could make a few guesses. I had never truly pondered the issue before.

Nora resumed her seat, pouring more tea from the freshly steeped leaves, and stirring a honey stick before she responded. “I will clarify. It is an extension of you, a repository. You’ve said you feel it playing in the well of your power, and your instincts are as sharp as always, Aerinne. The presence of an avatar tells us much. I don’t think your mother suspected, not with your human blood, though your father’s family isn’t without power of their own.” She narrowed her eyes and looked at me. “How long have you known? Since before your mother’s death?”

I nodded, mute, because the more I thought about it, the more a strange cobweb over my mind began to dissipate.

It was utterly insane that I had kept this secret for so long. The presence of something like this wasn’t like keeping a teenage girl’s diary close to her chest.

“I don’t understand why I never told my mother. Or Baba. Why I never told anyone.”

“You must have been compelled and have only now broken through.”

“But who? Who would do that and why?”

“Believe me,” she said in a chilly voice more dangerous than I had ever heard from her, “I am now closely considering this question. I know of only one person in the city who has the power to do so. If it had been your mother, the compulsion would have broken with her death.”

“The Prince, of course.” I rose slowly to my feet. “But why would he do so? He’s been asleep for all these years. How would he even know?” I stared sightlessly into a corner as I considered everything I knew. “He must have known. He warned me not to tell anyone but you of my avatar, or of his. That I could see his. He said it made me a danger. Or put me in danger, rather.”

Which meant it was more than possible for him to have done this to me. The motivation was there. Exactly how he had done it while sleeping, I didn’t know. But he had.

“That bastard.” My weariness evaporated. I was a half second from storming out of my house and to the palace, blade in hand, to show him the folly of manipulating my mind.

Nora held up a slender hand. “Sit, girl.” A grim smile flickered on her mouth. “I share your ire. But if it was he who did this—and I agree with you that that is the only possible explanation—then you are fortunate he did not do more.” She sighed. “I do not even blame him. You must have been young when he sensed you stirring. He would have wanted to protect himself until he was able to wake from sleep and deal with you personally. It also protected you. Husband your anger for when it truly matters—and remember what he is. An Old One. Entrenched in his power.”

I sat back down slowly, still seething, but seeing the wisdom of restraint.

“If he’s willing to manipulate her like this,” Murungaru said, a rare thread of anger in his voice, “what else would he be willing to do? I don’t care how good a reason he thought he had, it is wrong. Playing with her mind like this is wrong.”

“He’s a man,” Aunt Fatma muttered. She’d stopped drinking her tea.

He gave his mother an annoyed glower. Aunt Fatma lifted a brow at him. “I’veraised you well, boy, but we don’t know anything abouthismother.”

I was thinking as they talked, tapping my fingertip on the table. “Nora, would the avatar cause me to hear other’s thoughts?”

Her attention snapped back to me. “No. When do you hear thoughts?”

Juliette and Numair knew I spoke to a voice in my head. They’d kept my secret, though it worried them.

They only knew about the one voice, Darkan. “I heard a voice in my head. A female. I think I’ve heard her three times now, when I was with Renaud.”

“What did she say?”

Because Nora looked neither shocked nor worried, simply asked the question, voice flat, I relaxed enough to answer. “I think she’s mostly disapproving of Renaud’s interest in me. Lots of the ‘halfling girl is too weak for him’ kind of thing.”

Nora’s eyes widened a fraction, and for a moment I was worried she was going to shatter another mug of tea.

“I had wondered,” she whispered. “I haven’t tasted storms like this since—” she fell silent, looking at me. She shook her head slowly. “I believe the person you have heard in your mind is Nayya.”

“I know that name.” And my gut clenched. I didnotwant the attention of an Ancient.

She stood. “Good. I won’t speak her name again. She knows me, and for me to say her name repeatedly would eventually draw her attention. The storms. . .I should have known. Where she is, the storms always follow. Perhaps she felt her son wake.”

I blinked. “She’s Renaud’s mother?”

That would make so much sense. Which meant I was in much more trouble than I’d thought. What kind of female was strong enough to produce an Old One? It was rare that children of power fell from weak parents, and the inverse, which was why I was always scrutinized for signs of inheriting my mother’s strength.

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