Page 9 of Reborn

“Most of what we have are suspicions and theories. As far as we can tell, Melina became aware of Malys’ deception at the same time that I did because of our bond with each other. When your mother and father eventually learned the truth, it was at the same time, too. I still remember getting her message in the dead of night, only a few hours after I came around.”

“It happened on the same day?”

Gullie nodded. “As far as we can tell, yeah. But Malys must have been aware of it, because your mother was arrested moments after she reached out to me. Arrested, then banished.”

“I don’t understand. How could Malys have done that? She was only a princess; my mother and father were the sitting royals.”

“As soon as they both realized something terrible had happened, the entire world seemed to forget them. From that moment on, they weren’t King and Queen of Windhelm anymore, and Malys became the only royal. Your father tried to fight her, but she was too strong, and there were too many soldiers. He begged your mother to flee, but she couldn’t leave his side, so she fought too. They lost.”

Tears threatened to spill down my cheeks. “They were forgotten… like me.”

“Forgotten and exiled, but not killed. Maybe she didn’t have the power to kill them.”

“You said you lost contact with them?”

“I did. Your mother and I had a telepathic link. She broke it that night, after I heard Malys give the order to send them away. She was probably afraid Malys would use our connection to get to me. Melina and I had to sneak out of the city. Lucky for us, we knew ways of getting out no one else did. I wanted to stay and help your mother, but I knew she would’ve wanted me to… well, do this.”

“This?”

“Come out here, find a quiet place, figure out how to put a stop to all this… find you. We found Colbolt out here, injured, wandering the forest. After we nursed him back to health, Melina was able to speak to him, and he told us what he saw. We’ve been here ever since, waiting.”

“Because you aren’t royals, and you couldn’t open a portal to Earth.”

“We tried looking for natural portals, but it was no use.”

“The portal we used to get us here was a natural portal, but one that could only be opened from Earth. My magic was spent when I got there, and it wouldn’t recharge. I would’ve had no way of getting back if my grandmothers hadn’t helped me.”

“Your grandmothers…” Gullie beamed. “Of course, they remembered you.”

“The crone’s magic hadn’t touched them. Whatever happened here, it didn’t reach Earth.”

Gullie frowned. “Crone?”

I shook my head. “Malys Wolfsbane. She is no princess.”

“You know her?”

I swallowed hard. “Gullie… I… caused all this.”

Her eyes narrowed further. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I’m the reason all this is happening. I’m the idiot that gave the crone a happy memory and ruined everyone’s lives.”

“Wait, that’s wrangling my brain. You gave a crone a happy memory?”

“It’s how all this started,” I said, sighing. “I didn’t want to be in the Royal Selection, I didn’t want to have to marry those stupid Lords. One night, while I was asleep in the village of the Moon Children, this woman came to me in my dreams. She told me she could take me out of the Selection, all I had to do was give her a powerful memory.”

Gullie was about to speak, but I stopped her.

“I know what you’re going to say,” I said, “I’m stupid. I shouldn’t have done that. I know all that now, trust me. I’ve spent the better part of… however long I spent on Earth being hunted down by Fate itself for what I did. The only reason I’m here right now is because I made a deal with it.”

“You are saying a lot of words,” Gullie said.

“I know I am, but you need to stay with me. This creature, this fate creature, it gave me thirteen days to find the crone and deal with her. To reverse whatever magic she used. After that, it’ll come for me again… and this time there will be no stopping it. I can run, and I can hide, but eventually, it’ll find me, and it’ll do what it needs to do.”

“Tie up the loose end…” Gullie said, her voice low, and soft. “That means the spellisimperfect!”

“What?”

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