Page 63 of The Second Sight
Romeca’s eyes softened slightly, and she nodded. “The veil between realms grows thin when blood calls to blood. I’ve been trying to reach you for months, but communication across realms is difficult without proper training.” She glanced at Seven with undisguised suspicion. “And it seems that you’re not trained, and you’ve been rather... distracted with vampires.”
“How did you find me tonight?” I asked, wiping away tears with the back of my hand.
Romeca’s expression grew solemn. “Your fear and your visions called to me. When a yumboe is in mortal danger, those who share their blood can sense it, if they’re listening.” She looked pointedly at Seven again. “Some of us are always listening for our kin.”
She gestured to the young woman beside her, the one with black wings. “This is Kei’Mani, my niece and Theia’s daughter.”
The words hit me. I staggered back a step, and Seven’s hand immediately steadied me at the small of my back.
“Theia’s... daughter?” I repeated, my voice barely a whisper. “But that would make her my...”
“Your half-sister,” Romeca confirmed. “She is older but looks very young. We don’t age in our fae realm.”
I stared at the young woman, Kei’Mani, really seeing her for the first time. She looked like a teenager, maybe sixteen or seventeen, with skin so light she looked mixed. We had the same amber eyes, though hers had more yellow in them, and her iris’ where thin like a cat. She had loosely curled hair styled in a high pony with little ringlets falling on the sides of her face.
Kei’Mani met my gaze with a mixture of curiosity and wariness. “Hello, sister,” she said, her accent almost sounding British. “I didn’t believe my aunt when she said she sensed a sister. We thought mother was dead.”
A sister. I had a sister. My head spun with the revelation. It was too much to process. How could my mother have another daughter? When? Where had she been all this time?
Romeca continued her introductions, gesturing to the tall warrior whose wing had been injured. “And this is Kyren, my son.”
The male fairy inclined his head in greeting. He was taller than both women, with broad shoulders and the same perfect features that seemed common to the yumboe. His hair was short and curly, his eyes the same glowing amber. The military-style jacket he wore was torn where his wing had been twisted.
“We’ve been tracking the Bambara for weeks,” Kyren said, his voice deep and melodic. “They’ve grown bolder in their hunts.”
My mind struggled to keep up with the flood of information. A half-sister. An aunt. A fairy cousin. Family I’d neverknown existed while I’d spent years mourning my mother’s disappearance.
“Where’s my mother?” I asked, my voice cracking. “Is she alive? Is she with you?”
A shadow crossed Romeca’s face. “Theia lives. I can feel her spirit on this earth realm, but she cannot return. Not yet. The Bambara hunt her most of all. I saw a vision of her scarring their leader.”
“Why? What do they want with her so bad? Why do they want us?” The questions poured out of me, years of confusion and hurt bubbling to the surface.
“Our golden blood,” Kei’Mani answered simply. “The essence of our magic.”
Seven’s hand tightened on my shoulder. “It’s true. The Bambara Brotherhood believe yumboe blood grants immortality without the cost of becoming undead,” he explained. “They’ve hunted the fae for centuries, but especially the yumboe, whose blood is said to be the most potent.”
I turned to stare at him, startled. “You knew this?”
Before he could answer, Romeca cut in. “This makes sense. Your mother fled to protect you. We all thought the Bambara were just killing our people for our land. We thought they wanted the natural resources of Goree Island, but they wanted our golden blood all along. Theia hid us in a fairy realm when she found out they killed the Aziza.”
“The Aziza?” Who?
“They are the fae people of the West Niger Delta of Nigeria Bambara invaded their homeland before they came for us. Theia hid as many of us as she could but when she left the fae realm in search of the rest of our kin, she never came back. We all thought she was killed by the hunters.”
“She didn’t die. She escaped a man named Desmond Moreau. I saw it in my dreams.”
“Yes, she didn’t die. She came to the Americas and had you. I must find my sister. She never abandoned you, Kasinda. She sacrificed her happiness to keep you alive. Just as she did for the rest of us when she led us to the fairy realm.”
The weight of this truth pressed against my chest. All these years I’d believed my mother had simply walked away, chosen to leave us behind. The grief and anger I’d nursed suddenly felt hollow and built on a foundation of lies.
While my heart ached with these revelations, another, more urgent pain cut through. Brooklyn was still gone, taken by the same hunters who had forced my mother into hiding. My best friend was suffering because of who I was, who my family was. The thought of Brooklyn, terrified and alone with those monsters, made me sick to my stomach.
Romeca’s yellow eyes shifted from me to Seven. She took a step closer, and I felt Seven’s hand tighten protectively on my shoulder. The tension in the air was thick enough to choke on. Beneath the streetlights, predator faced predator, neither willing to back down. I was caught in the middle of a supernatural standoff. This was not the time for ancient grudges.
“Why is my sister’s daughter consorting with vampires?” Romeca asked, her voice laced with disdain. She practically spat the last word, as if it tasted foul on her tongue.
Seven stepped forward, squaring his shoulders. The movement was subtle but unmistakable the posture of someone used to being obeyed. His voice took on a formal cadence I’d rarely heard from him.
