Page 137 of Rage of Her Ravens

Chapter Twenty-Two

After grabbing a fewmore of the girls’ toys, we returned to Drae’s bedchamber, since his room was the biggest. The girls played with a set of wooden blocks in the sitting room while I draped my legs over the side of a big, padded chair and read through the book given to me by Ember’s ‘friend.’

What I discovered was profoundly shocking, a completely different account of what my parents had told me. It made no sense that what my mother had told me about our family history would be so different from her book.

Drae sat beside me, holding out a goblet of wine. “Well, anything useful?”

Closing the book, I sat up and took the goblet. “I’m confused more than anything.”

“Why?”

I took a long sip of wine. It was mildly fruity with a hint of citrus. “This history says the Avias line always bears twin girls who usually rule together.”

“Okay,” he asked, “what’s confusing about that?”

“There’s nothing about how one sister is good and the other is evil.” I bit my lip, trying to reconcile this history with the opposite account I’d learned from my parents. “It says that for thousands of years my ancestors ruled peacefully until a period called ‘The Dark Tide.’”

He arched a brow. “We’ve heard of it. I wonder if our account is different from the book.”

“A dark mage stole the throne from my great-grandmother and her sister. He slaughtered everyone except for my mother and aunt. He didn’t know about my mother’s face shifting magic. She and Malvolia shifted to look like the servants, and they hid in the sewers beneath the castle for weeks. With the help of a mage named Selig, my aunt snuck in on the dark mage and defeated him when she was just fifteen and restored order. Then later my mother was betrothed to King Fachnan, but she broke it off when she mated with two dukes who ruled their own province off the eastern coast.” I fanned the book’s pages. “There’s nothing in here about Malvolia and my mother fighting over the throne. My mother says she willingly gave up the throne to marry the dukes.”

“Maybe she and the dukes wanted more.”

I scowled at Blaze as he stood in the doorway between the two rooms. “But what if they didn’t?”

Drae looked at me a long moment, though his eyes lacked censure. “Are you saying Malvolia made it all up?”

“I don’t know what I’m saying.” I tossed the book on a nearby low table. “None of this makes sense. I once overheard my parents saying one sister was always evil and one was always good, but the book she wrote says they were all good queens who ruled together peacefully.”

Drae spoke to me through thought.Your parents thought you were the evil one.

Fighting back tears, I looked away.

That’s why you hid your siren voice from them,Blaze said as he sat beside me and took me in his arms.

I didn’t answer as I buried my face against his chest and let the tears silently fall. Had my parents been lying all this time? If so, why? Why would they let me believe I was evil? That Aurora would one day turn evil, too? My parents might have made some terrible choices, but they’d never struck me as intentionally cruel. Maybe there was some other reason for the discrepancy, a more sinister reason. The thought was like a rush of venom to my soul.

* * *

Iread that book mostof the day, so much that my eyes were practically crossing by evening. So many stories of my ancestors, all twin witches with unusually strong magic, which was why they ruled Delfi. And all of them had been kind and fair rulers. I still didn’t understand why my mother would want to murder her own sister for the throne that she had voluntarily abdicated. I couldn’t imagine trying to overthrow Tari, or Ember and Aurora turning on each other in such a way. None of it made sense.

Mrs. Euphemia still hadn’t returned from visiting her family, so the girls continued to play in Drae’s sitting room. The sun was starting to set, and I was tired of straining my eyes in the low candlelight. I finally put the book down, looking across the room at the girls as they happily played by the hearth, sharing toys and giggling together. My gut twisted and my heart felt like it was imploding as I imagined them turning on each other when they grew up—one sister ordering the death of the other and her unborn children, too.

Drae and Blaze had gone to the battlements, leaving Nikkos with us. He sat quietly in a chair opposite me, giving me the space and time I needed to absorb the words in the book.

But I’d had enough of that book, so I slowly stood, my stiff bones creaking with the movement, and went to Nikkos, curling up in his lap.

He kissed my forehead, speaking to me through thought.You okay?

I shook my head.Hold me.I hadn’t been this depressed in a long while. I felt as if I was drowning in my sorrow. I sighed when he held me tight, his warmth seeping into my bones.

After heaving a deep sigh, I sat up and wiped my eyes. I was about to ask Ember a few questions, but I paused when I heard wings outside. Drae and Blaze came into the room, their hair windswept as they tucked their wings behind them.

Everything okay?I asked them through thought.

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