Page 14 of Terragnata and the Heir of the Earth

“Around your twelfth year, a budding power revealed itself. Fae blood mixed with Witch blood doesn’t necessarily result in a potent combination, often they dilute each other. But in your case, the opposite occurred. Fae magic from your father strengthened the Witch magic from your mother. The combination gave you what we call Earth magic. It is very rare, you see, for someone to be able to call upon the Earth. Air, Fire, yes, they are common enough. Water? A bit rarer, and requires great strength, for the element is dense, but it is not unheard of. But Earth? It comes once a millennium. The Earth is the closest thing to calling upon the Mother—the creator—herself.”

“And you think I can… call upon the Earth,” I said flatly. “To what? Make it do my bidding?”

Jana lips set in a firm line. “I know you can.”

I let out a sound between a huff and a laugh, but Jana did not relent. “When your power revealed itself, many in the Viribrum took notice. Your gift was too rare, too difficult to hone in Fae land. Your father, Viturius, knew you would need Witch training to control such a power. You set out to leave Viribrum and return to your mother’s country, Nebbiolo, for schooling. On the way, you and your father were ambushed. And I’m sorry to tell you this, but he was killed.” She paused, her voice beginning to tremble. “And you were taken—though we didn’t know it at the time. Months after it happened, one of the ambushers was caught and confessed to taking part in both your deaths. So for the last seven years, despite your body having never been recovered, everyone in both the Fae Kingdom of Viribrum and Witch Queendom of Nebbiolo has presumed you dead,” Jana finished.

I shook at the thought of losing another parent, however foreign, the recent memory crawling up my throat, threatening to shatter my questions into irrelevant pieces.

But I needed to know more. I needed to knowsomethingthat could explain why all this was happening. “Why now? Why did you come for menow?”

“A group of us always held suspicions over your death. We’ve been tracking a known associate of the ambusher who was caught. The search went on for years. Once we located him in remote caves of the Safroy Mountains, it didn’t take long to recover the truth about how you never died, and where you were hidden. This was only a few months ago. We came as fast as we could.”

“Why don’t I remember? I had a real childhood in Argention. I had a family. As real as you sitting across from me right now…Or at least they were.” Heat pricked my eyes, and it took all my effort to shove the wave of loss down—to not let it consume me, rob me of the truth.

“The male who coordinated your abduction is a very powerful Witch. He cleared your mind of previous memories and replaced them with false ones of an early childhood. He found a town full of silver that would dampen your power and trap the magic in you, hindering it from presenting and preventing your Fae body from maturing. This is why I had to perform the cleansing on you—to release such power. And he paid a human family to look after you. You know this man, Terra,” she said, using my name as if it were tender to her.

Him.

The man who stripped me naked. The man who murdered my family. A family he supposedly gifted me.

All of a sudden, the burning feeling Leiya offered me returned. It rolled through me, swallowing that wave of grief. Shame, loss, fury—all churned together into something ugly, scarred, emboldened.

For the first time in my life, I had a thought so frightening, so vile, it pierced through my sea of fear and anger.

I will kill this man.

The sentiment should have terrified me. I’d never come to blows with another being physically.

It didn’t.

In fact, it soothed me. It eased the grip wound so tight around my lungs—ever so slightly—letting me take in more air than before.

I wouldn’t have gone so far as to say I could breathe normally again, but hey, it was a start.

I met Jana’s amber gaze, which simmered regally. She had soft gray hair, braided in a crown that piled on top of her head. She wore an acorn pendant around her neck—which seemedto pulse and move with its own energy. I would have thought twice about it, had the new fantasy taking root in my head not distracted me.

“Fayzien of Wahaca,” I ground out.

“Fayzien of Nebbiolo,” she corrected. “We still have not confirmed why he took you, though I speculate he thought you, an Earth Witch, would threaten his position in the Witch queendom. Why he didn’t just kill you right away is still a mystery to us all.”

I blinked, trying to slow my thoughts, attempting to sift through them for the memories that had supposedly been unlocked. But I only heard the buzzing of camp, louder than it should have been, and a steady thrum in my blood—demanding that of Fayzien.

The chaos in my mind stilled a moment. “If he went through all the trouble of planting me in a human family… why did he come back? Surely, the goal was to keep me hidden.” My nostrils flared. It was a flaw in the story, a crack that sent adrenaline straight to my gut.

Is she lying?

Unless… my heart sank. “Did someone in your ranks tell him you had found me?”

At this, Jana looked down, not able to meet my eyes. “To that question, I don’t have an answer. Fayzien arrived in Argention three, maybe four, days before we did. He was far gone by the time we reached your cottage, so we could not confirm if his return to Argention was related to our quest to find you… but… the timing is conspicuous. I have interrogated all who knew about our mission, and I have sensed no deception.”

“So, if you had never come for me,” I said, my voice shaking, “he wouldn’t have, either? I would still be home, my family alive.” I reached for that well of fury I was nurturing but met only darkness.If they had only left me alone…

Jana remained silent, as if weighing how to respond.

Her carefulness only angered me more, for she’d been utterly careless when the cost was so high. I stood, knocking my chair back. “How can I trust a word you say? You are the reason my family is dead.” I meant to yell, but choking on tears, my voice came out barely above a whisper.

A flash of genuine pain crossed Jana’s face. “Terra, truly, I am so sorry about your human family. I told you all this would not be easy to hear. But you have to know, I?—”

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