Page 65 of The Source of Storms

“Crow, come on, enough with–” El protested, but Crow cut her off. Cool, calm, but serious.

“You agreed to listen quietly,” he said, raising a finger. “If you can’t let me work, then you need to leave.”

“If you can’t speak respectfully to me and my guests, then you need to leave,” El shot back. “This isn’t one of your interrogations, it’s Halja. She’s not a threat.”

“Halja is not a threat, but ignorance is,” Crow retorted, then turned to me. “Sorry for my blunt approach to a… challenging subject. But I––we––need to know.”

El took her glass and leaned back against the opposite counter. I could feel her eyes on me, watchful and protective.

“How long have you known the father who raised you wasn’t your real father?” he asked.

“Less than two years. I found out just before I met Eilith and Byrgir.”

“And you didn’t question why? Didn’t press for answers about who your father might be? Where he might be?”

“No. I didn’t really want to stick around for a family meeting. Didn’t feel like I was welcome to stay and start digging into my mother’s past after my father yelled at me to get out,” I cut back, my defenses rising. “After he said he never wanted me there in the first place. It just didn’t really feel like the time to pry, you know? When I was packing a bag and running out the door alone.”

“Understandable,” Crow said, but there was little sympathy in his tone. “That must have been difficult for you. Must have made you angry.”

“It did.”

“Did it make you despise yourself? Despise other fae-touched folk? Maybe want to punish them for your difficulties?”

“What are you talking about?” I snapped.

“Had you met the High Priestess before? She seems to have taken an interest in you.”

He didn’t care in the least that I was upset by his questioning. And he clearly knew something I didn’t.

“She seemed to, at the end of our meeting. And no, I’ve never met her before,” I said. “And I would never do anything to hurt anyone who wasn’t trying to hurt me first.”

He nodded, seemingly satisfied by my answers, then continued, “She knows something about you that none of us do. She knows your father isn’t your father, and she knows there’s something special about you. I think she knows who your father is. And I think whoever he is matters.”

I stiffened, uncertain how to respond.

“Your mother isn’t human, is she.” It was a statement, not a question.

“No. Not entirely at least. I know she’s fae-touched for certain.” I’d always known what she was, but I hadn’t been prepared to face it then.

Crow nodded. “Maybe she’s more than that. Have you ever asked her?” His tone was becoming softer, less interrogative as he realized I knew less than he’d suspected I might.

“No, it wasn’t really something she ever talked about. How do you know all this?” I asked.

“My informants in Avanis are getting much closer to the High Priestess and the Temple workings. One of them has been fucking one of the young Heralds for a few days. Apparently he’s eager to impress and bad with discretion. My favorite,” Crow added with a crooked half smile that did not reach his eyes.

“The day after your meeting with Zisorah, she had a meeting with her High Deacons, her most trusted inner circle. And afterthat meeting, she issued an announcement to the rest of the Heralds. Told them you were special, powerful, that you weren’t what you appeared to be. Told them to deal with you carefully, and said if you were ever interested in visiting Temple grounds that you were to be let in immediately and allowed to stay as long as you want. And that she wanted to know the moment you were there.

“The bottom line is, they know things about you that we don’t. And I fuckin’ hate being left out of secrets, Hal,” he said. “So how about you tell me everything you know, and we find out the rest before it becomes a problem?”

I took a deep breath, processing his words. I wished Byrgir was there, wished someone would get me out of this interrogation. I dug for scraps of information I might remember about the High Priestess, for any connection between the two of us that I might somehow already be aware of, anyone who she might know that knew me. I had nothing.

“You know as much as I know now. The father that raised me isn’t my father. I don’t know who my real father is. And I suppose I don’t know for certain who my mother is either, underneath the woman I grew up with.” I paused again, then asked, “Why does Zisorah think I’m powerful?”

“Because you are,” El said. “I’ve never trained someone like you. I’ve never seen someone master complex manipulations of Source like you have. Working with you… You don’t just weave things with power, Halja. Youbecomethat power. It flows so deeply and seamlessly with you, it’s like you’re part of it, born from Source itself. The only person I’ve ever seen that’s anything similar to that is, well, me.”

“And you’re fully fae,” Crow concluded.

El nodded. “But I think Halja’s power could surpass my own in a matter of years.”

---