Page 161 of Heat of the Everflame

“No. Your mother has a role to play in what’s to come.”

“And what is that? What’s to come?”

Yrselle didn’t answer. She leaned forward and lifted up a porcelain kettle. “Tea, dear?” She filled my cup before I could answer.

“Did you know my mother? When she came here to Umbros, did you read her mind? Or was it when you came…” I paused, my head tilting. “Wait…didyou come to Lumnos? The woman I saw looked—” I glanced at her regal gown and curvy body. “—not like this.”

The corners of her eyes creased slightly. I felt a tingling buzz between my temples and the scratch of sharp nails on my mind.

Are you sure?her voice crooned in my head.

I blinked, and suddenly her skin was wrinkled and spotted with age, her shoulders hunched and draped in tattered fabric—the old crone I’d seen in Paradise Row on Forging Day.

“Appearances can be deceiving, child,” she croaked, her voice sounding much older and weaker.

I blinked again, but the illusion persisted. My godhood jerked unhappily at the mental invasion.

Fight.

I yielded to thevoice’s demand. A burst of cool warmth cascaded over my head. My skin sparked with light, and her presence in my head was gone.

“Marvelous,” she gasped, her appearance back to normal. “Justmarvelous. I’ve never felt anything like it.”

I sat up straighter, feeling slightly energized—though more than a little unnerved.

“I did read your mother’s mind, both here and in Lumnos,” Yrselle admitted. “She didn’t know that, of course. Auralie thought she was very sneaky.” Her dark eyes rolled. “They always do.”

“If you knew about the attack, why didn’t you stop it?”

“Stop it? I was grateful for it. If it gets me out of those awful rituals, the mortals can keep that damn island forever. Do you know how many of those ceremonies I’ve had to attend? How many hundreds of Forging Days I’ve had to trek out there just to shed a drop of blood?”

I gaped, unable to believe I’d heard her correctly. “You’re not opposed to the Guardians’ occupation? Won’t that disrupt the Forging magic?”

“The Forging magic is already disrupted.”

“Because of me? Because...” I held my breath. “‘When forgotten blood on heartstone falls’?”

Her smile was wide and proud. “Clever girl.”

“Does that mean my birth father is the ‘forgotten’?”

She shrugged lightly. “Words in prophecies can have many meanings. Some quite obvious, some less so.”

“What about the rest? What chains? And the debt—whose yoke?”

“If I give it all away this early, you won’t stay for the whole trip. We can discuss the rest tomorrow, before you leave.”

I sank in my chair, frustrated. “You said my birth father was alive—where is he?”

“That, I do not know. You’ll have to find him on your own.” A spark of something glimmered in her midnight eyes. “Perhaps your mother will know.”

“But she’s in prison.”

“Yes. As a prisoner of the Crowns. And what are you?”

“A Crown.” My pulse picked up speed. “So I can get her out?”

“For that, you need a vote of six Crowns—unless you intend to start a war. But you are entitled to question her. And if Fortos says otherwise, you remember what I told you.”

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