Page 168 of Fortress of Ambrose
“It’s forgotten,” her mother said, but Nore could tell from the way her mother’s bottom lip shook that she was deeply hurt.
“I’m sorry, Mother, really.”
“Thank you.”
“Ellery is in the forest, digging up graves, killing our dead with ancient magic that hedidn’tlearn here.”
Her mother bit her lip and looked away.
“You knew.”
“I feared it the moment I saw something was happening in the forest.”
“You feared more than that.”
Her mother held her shawl around her as if it were armor. As if this conversation risked shredding her to pieces.
“My father,ourfather, is helping Ellery—the Dragunhead.”
“Idid notknow, Nore, for a very long time! He showed up at my door decades ago, and I thought he was hand selected by the priests and confirmed by the House through vote, like the custom. I even grew fond of him. He knew I couldn’t love him, but we had an understanding. He was as close as I could get to having someone. I didn’t get pregnant right away. It was difficult. But hestayed.” Her mother’s broken heart was evident all over her face.
“He became a maezre under a different name to keep close by. We shared a life. I believed…” She sighed. “When I told him I was finally pregnant and it was a boy, he was disappointed. He wanted to make an heir with me, he always said. When you were born, I never saw him again. Nore, I didn’t have a heart, and it hurt like hell. I grew angrier year after year. I had my Draguns hunt for him, but he was a ghost. Then I discovered that Kendall was a persona. Istillfeel nauesous about it.” She rested a palm on her stomach and turned her back to Nore. “I kept digging. When I realized it was just one of his many aliases, I spent a decade, most of your childhood, trying to track him down and figure out exactly who he wasand how he infiltrated this House.” She white-knuckled a seat back near her. “It tookyears, and you were growing so fast. I never found conclusive answers. I feared he might want something from you when you took on your Headship.” Her expression darkened. “I won’t lie. I wanted to find him and kill him.”
She’d never heard her mother talk this way.
“Then his name faded and mention of him or any of the aliases I’d uncovered completely disappeared.”
“Mother, he’s immortal. Think about it.”
Her mother stared blankly. Then her smile faded as Nore’s words sank in.
“He’s been changing aliases for lifetimes. And now he is coaching Ellery to get rid of the ancestors to get to me. What I need you to tell me iswhy. I need to know everything.”
There was no way out of this without blood. Either Ellery died or she did.
“All those years.” Her mother smoothed her bangs off her forehead. “Your brother would take trips away. I wonder if he was maintaining some kind of relationship with him behind my back.”
“My brother changed bedrooms when he entered induction. Which was his?” Nore was going to search it for any hints of her brother’s weaknesses. She had to bring down a duo who felt impenetrable, who had all the advantage and lifetimes of magic on their side.
“It’s the fourth suite in the family’s private wing. There’s a faulty lock on the door. I never had it fixed.”
“Stay here.” She crossed the room to her door.
“Nore, fight for what you really want.”
She stopped, remembering Yagrin’s plan to break the Pact. She didn’t like his plan, and she was terrified to let herself hope something like that was possible.
“I made a life with someone who wasn’t real. That was the beginning of the end for me. I stopped trying to make something beautiful out ofmy mess.” She grabbed Nore’s hand, and Nore let her. “Don’t be like me. Grow roses in a field of ashes. Dare to get your heart back if you want it.”
Nore stared, speechless.
“You are far cleverer than I ever was. If there is a way, I am confident you will find it.”
Bang. Brrrrang! Bang.
Nore jumped. The sound came from the estate’s grand entrance. Nore rushed out of her mother’s room and down the hall as débutants piled in, pulled from their studies by the noise.
Quell Marionne and Jordan Wexton appeared in the foyer of Dlaminaugh Estate.
