Page 56 of Cages and Crowns
“My gods.” She whispers as she looks at me.
“So I am the heir? Or we are the heirs? Enzo and I?” I ask.
“Yes,youare the heir to the entire continent. King Jahara was more than just Noterra’s king, every kingdom answered to him. That only dissolved when he died, but he was High King, and you will be High Queen.”
“Why can’t Enzo do it?” Scarlett asks and I glance over at her. “No offense.” She says softly and offers me a small smile.
“It is not the way of the gods or the witches. It is you, Elaenor. The female descendent who has to carry the lineage.”
“I don’t understand.” I shake my head.
“You are stronger than your brother. The way your grandmother chose to have children is more or less the same way your mother did. Enzo is the heir to Vodia, but you, Elaenor, are the heir to it all. It’s always how the witch lineages have been. It is the female who holds the title and power.” Vodia. The mythical water people?
“What does this have to do with Amaya? What does this have to do with who killed my mother?”
“When Amaya was sold to Evreux, she lost me. And not just in a romantic way, but she lost the magic I had used to siphon. She needed me, but I couldn’t get to her. I was forbidden. Because of that, the curse grew. Amaya knew all along that you were not Viktor’s, she knew who your real father was, and she knew where Enzo was. Without the curse, she would have kept that secret to the grave. But the curse was more than just magic, it was a curse of the mind. She fellill. Not in a physical sense, but she grew paranoid, reckless.
“One day, when you were seven, she went to Chatis. She was convinced that you were going to steal Noterra from Tobias, from her children. She got it in her head that you needed to die. So she set out to do that. Your mother and her fought, long and hard, but she was weak. She had just gone through another miscarriage. Amaya killed her and then went after you.
“I could tell something was wrong, I could feel the surge of aether all the way in Labisa and then my own magic was gone. It took me days to arrive, but when I did, I was blamed for your mother’s death and your disappearance. I didn’t do it, and I managed to escape fairly quickly. I don’t know what happened to you after Amaya attacked you, but I found your blood on the bridge and in the carriage she used. Amaya had burns on her hands, which is how I realized that you fought back, Elaenor.
“She was taking you; I don’t know where, but you fought back. You burned her with your starlight and escaped. You ended up in the lake, where you were able to enter stasis and sleep.”
“Stasis?”
“Your grandfather is the King of Vodia, and he is a siren. Sirens are a form of shifter that can shift into merfolk. You don’t have the ability to fully shift, not like Enzo, but you can shift your lungs. You can breathe underwater just like your grandfather and his people.” This is too much. Too much information. But it makes sense. The water breathing makes sense…
“The bath. I used to spend a lot of time under the water in the bath. Tobias thought I was trying to kill myself.” I recall, squeezing my legs.
“Were you?” Nithe asks. I look at him briefly before returning back to Kassius, ignoring his question.
“How did they find me?”
“It was me.” Enzo speaks up. “I felt it. I felt when you used your aether to attack Amaya. All I could see was water and all I could feel was pain, I was shocking everyone I touched. It was your aether wasn’t it?” He stares at me, andI shrug. What am I supposed to say?
“When I got home, I learned from Enzo where you were. You were found shortly after, healthy and whole. Viktor was convinced that someone was going to attack you again, so he decided to tell the world you died.”
“The secret princess.” He nodded. “What happened to Amaya?”
“She killed herself. When the madness dissipated, as it often came in waves, she realized what she did. She killed her best friend and she thought she killed a child. She slit her own throat, taking herself and her unborn child with her.” We are quiet for a moment, my eyes frozen.
“Why did my mother separate Enzo and I?”
“She was worried that if she gave Viktor a male heir, he would turn him into a monster like him and Evreux. She did it to protect Enzo and to protect you, Elaenor. He would have treated you much worse if you didn’t have any value at all.”
“The miscarriages?” My voice is emotionless as I try to get out all of the questions I have lingering in my mind before I break down.
“It was us. I would siphon the fetus’s life energy, giving them a quick and painless death before they ever even started to exist, much like the herbs that clean out the womb. When she died—she took everything. She took my abilities with her. That can happen. You either absorb the other or you lose everything. Our mother absorbed her twin’s aether, and she had two different eyes because of it.”
“I don’t understand. All of this…”
“A lot?” I nod. “You will adjust.”
“So if I died, what would happen to Enzo?” I glance at my brother for a second, his eyes frozen on the wooden floors.
“He would either absorb your aether or lose his own abilities.”
“This doesn’t make sense. What about Mali?” Enzo asks, anger fueling his voice.
