Page 394 of Blood and Ruin: The Complete Series

This could also all be some fabricated lie, another game, or messed up trick. It wouldn’t be the first time I was fooled so easily.

I narrow my eyes on her. “How do I know you’re telling me the truth?”

Rielle’s smile drops slightly. “You have my word.”

Which means nothing to me. She’s a stranger. One that may look like my mother, but I live in a world where illusions and magic are real. It’s very possible that this is another illusion or spell.

Mom never mentioned her either, and I don’t rememberRielleever visiting us. My frown grows the longer I think about it.

If she is my aunt, why does she care now after all this time?

“Mom never mentioned you.”

She forces her smile back in place. “Reyna had no memories of her life before you. It was part of the…dealshe made.”

Oh, right, I forgot about that. It makes sense that I never heard about her from mom. But what about Rielle?Shestill remembered.

“Is that why you never came to see her?” Wouldn’t she want to check up on her sister, her twin?

Mom was vulnerable, she was pregnant and alone with no abilities. Couldn’t she at least check in on her every now and then?

But maybe I’m giving her too much credit, basing my feelings off my family with the guys instead of the reality of having one.

“I wanted to but I couldn’t leave the Underworld.” I give her a look making sure she knows it sounds like a shitty excuse. Family should always come first.

Rielle sighs. “There’s a lot you don’t know and a lot you don’t understand.”

And apparently a lot she’s not telling me. I stop myself from rolling my eyes. “Then tell me. I’m never going to understand unless you at least try to explain.”

Rielle nods as an exhausted look settles over her. “The Underworld is imbalanced.”

That’s… nothing new. “Soren told us.”

Her eye twitches at the mention of Soren but she continues on as if it never happened. “But it all started when Reyna left.”

I frown thinking over Rielle’s words. I thought the imbalance started when King released the demons from the Underworld recently.

But it sounds like the imbalance began whenIwas created.

She gives me a look as if trying to tell me something. But I’ve already started to piece it together.

I’mthe imbalance. I have to be. The timeline adds up. As soon as Mom left the Underworld, that’s when she said the imbalance started and even when she died, it never got better. That was because I was still alive in King’s Tower.

“So,I’mwhat caused the imbalance?” The thought that my existence alone caused something this big makes my stomach churn.

Rielle gives me a small smile, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “No. Notyou. The imbalance began when a powerful being escaped the Underworld.”

A powerful…She gives me a look and with that one look I know exactlywhoshe’s talking about.

“King.”

Rielle nods, a frown on her face as she starts pacing back and forth. “After King escaped, the Underworld went into a type of lockdown. No Guardians were allowed to leave for fear of being compromised and upsetting the balance further.”

“But Mom left…”

She shakes her head. “Reyna was human when she left the Underworld. She would not have upset the balance.”

“Then why—”

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