Page 108 of The Demon's Discovery
The sound he made could only be described as a croak. He blinked, rubbing his eyes with the backs of his hands, getting so close to the bars of his cell that he hissed and pulled back, a mark appearing on his forehead.
My hands trembled, and I found myself sinking to the floor again, my knees unwilling to support me fully.
“You…” Anger suddenly darkened his features, and he hit the bars with his palm. “Another trick!” Desperation rode a hard edge on his voice, anger and sadness swirled together. Betrayal. “I’ve done nothing to deserve such cruelty! I’ve given you everything you wanted, haven’t I? To put on a face so much like hers? It’s too far!”
I held a hand up, trying to calm him as my own emotions swirled in a hasty frenzy through my veins.
“No tricks, I promise,” I said.
“You know where she lived. You could be any one of them pretending to be her.” He started to scoot out of the light.
“Wait! Please. Rowan is my mother. I mostly go by Greta, but she called me Libelle.”
“No.” He gasped the word. “It’s too far, cousin. Too far.”
“I swear I’m telling you the truth. That man, the one who brought me here, I knew him in my world as Otto Feiser. He disguised himself, paid off my employers and put this horrible ring on my finger.” I pulled at it again, the tendrils that had sunk deep into my flesh protested, a flash of white-hot pain momentarily blinded me. “I believe he cursed my mate and has caused plenty of trouble for other people I care about. He said he brought me here to help him claim his place as the rightful heir. I don’t even know where ‘here’is.” I knew I was babbling, but the urgency I felt in getting him to listen to me made the words pour out.
“He’s been working on that delusional plan since he brought me here. But if you are…” He swallowed, pain in his eyes. “He can actually complete the ritual.” He cleared his throat, the sound gritty. “Libelle.” He rolled the word around, scanning me over and over again.
“Yes. What is your name?”
He shook his head. “It’s better if you don’t know.”
“Please.” I begged, needing one thread to tie him to me, one tiny piece to carry around. He was so close to me and yet untouchable, still verging on unreal. “She never told me anything. But I saw you, with her. A sorceress—” I stopped, unsure how to explain what Ophelia had shown me, his portrait in the smoke.
“Prove you are who you say,” he demanded, falling into a hacking cough that racked his whole body.
“How?” I asked, unsure what could convince him.
He shook his head, defeat dropping his chin to his chest. “I saw Libelle a handful of times when she was small. I visited Rowan in secret, someplace far from where anyone would recognize either of us. We agreed it was safer…” He shook his head. “Libelle had a unique feature. If you are an impostor,you won’t know what it was.” He grimaced, like he’d tasted something bad.
His words made me pause, but there wasn’t time to waste on it now. I listened for a moment, making sure nobody was coming down the hall or lingering nearby. I loosened the bodice of my dress and shrugged it away from my shoulders before commanding my wings to flare out wide.
The man gasped. “It can’t be. We did everything we could to keep you safe.”
I put my wings away and tightened my dress back up. My necklace was still in place, but I worried for when Feiser realized the one he’d taken from Bea was a replica and unclasped it, securing it in one of the elixir pouches.
“I haven’t seen my mother since I was a child. I don’t know whether she’s alive or dead, though I desperately hope she’s alive. I spent most of my life as a household employee for a duke and his wife. Something happened to me… someone bound my ability to shift. I have only been free to learn how to be myself for a number of weeks.”
His attention snapped back to me, and he scrubbed at his face, removing the tears. “I’m sorry, Libelle. We did everything we could. But it wasn’t enough.”
“It’s not your fault,” I said. It was reflex, but I believed the words. He shook his head as though he disagreed. “What should I call you?”
He inhaled, his skinny chest lifting. “My name is Ris.”
“You loved my mother?” I asked, though the words came out more statement than question.
“With all that I am. I will never stop.”
“Is she here? In this realm?”
His eyebrows drew together. “It’s possible that she’s been trapped, the same as me. But I don’t know for certain. She was in your world, with you, last I knew.”
I nodded, mulling over how we’d find her if Magnus’s guess that she’d come here were true. I’d believed her gone for so long, I wasn’t sure how invested I could get in hoping we’d find her.
“Are you …?”
“Your father, yes.” The words wheezed from him, the admission leaving us both speechless for a time, though he looked at me with longing and regret in his eyes. “I’m so sorry. For everything.”
