Page 152 of Glow of the Everflame

My gaze darted to Teller as a sudden realization punched the breath from my lungs.

“And that works?” I gasped. “You’re sure of it, Teller? Your blood opens that door?”

He nodded, and my heart felt as if it might claw its way right out of my chest. Ever since being revealed as a Descended, a tiny part of me had wondered if my mother was really my mother. We shared so many features and mannerisms, but her secrets had infected everything in my life with doubt, and my mind had succumbed to wild speculation about the real origin of my birth.

But if the bloodlocks opened for Teller, it could only mean one thing—my mother’s blood ran in both our veins.

And while I didn’t need that to consider Auralie my mother or Teller my brother—just like I didn’t need a blood tie to consider Andrei my father—the comfort of knowing that at least this one piece of my identity had not been a lie...

Gods, it meanteverythingto me.

I was moments away from tackling Teller to the floor in a weepy embrace when the door to the dungeon flew open with a heavy bang.

“Your Majesty?” a voice cried out from the top of the stairs. “Are you down there?”

“I’m here,” I answered.

Frenzied footsteps echoed through the cavernous space as Alixe rushed inside. Her eyes had grown too large, her face deathly pale.

“I need you to come with me, Your Majesty. There’s been a... an incident.”

I shot to my feet. “Where? What happened?”

“Come, I’ll take you there now.”

I glanced at my brother. “Teller, go home immediately.”

“No!” Alixe said.

Too quickly.

Too forcefully.

I stared at her as dread began to crystallize in my veins. My bones felt leaden and heavy, the heft of them holding me in place and begging me not to go with her. Not to learn anything more.

Muscles tightened on Alixe’s throat. “Your brother should stay at the palace. I can get him to your suite unseen.”

My mind and my body pulled at the rope that bound them sanely together, the cords unravelling and snapping under the strain. I watched numbly as Teller disappeared with the help of Alixe’s illusion magic, then felt my legs carry me up the stairs and through the palace to my chambers as if controlled by someone else.

“Where is Luther?” I choked out. “Is it... is he...?”

“He’s there now. He sent me to get you.”

For one singular heartbeat, the anvil on my chest lifted, and I could breathe again.

“What happened, Alixe?”

She looked across her shoulder at the empty air, where only the quiet breathing that followed us signaled Teller’s masked presence, then looked back at me.

The horrible pity in her eyes was the swing of an axe. It severed the last frayed thread that held me together. My last hope that my world had not just shifted in a way I could never put back.

Once we reached the royal chambers, Alixe gave orders for Lily and Teller to stay in my suite and for Perthe not to let anyone in or out until we returned. Lily nodded emphatically and clutched Teller’s hand to her chest, while Teller watched with a look of confusion.

“What’s going on?” he asked, his eyes jumping between Alixe and me. “Was there another attack?”

I knew if I opened my mouth, it wouldn’t be words that came out, so I only nodded.

I lied.

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