Elurra didn’t get to retire to her room until after midnight. She was expecting a fitful rest, but the moment her eyes closed, she found herself in the middle of a muddy, dark road, lined with shapeless, towering shadows. A cloaked figure hurried past, cradling something wrapped in cloth. Rain drizzled down from the sky, creating a blanket of humidity around Elurra.
Where am I? Elurra wondered, trying to make sense of the scene. The cloaked figure halted and looked around in distress. After making sure no one was closing in, the person started running again. Elurra took off after them. They ran around a bend in the road and vanished from her line of sight. She followed, and as her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she saw a cottage in the distance. The mysterious person took the path up to the door and rapped sharply against the old wood. A sense of déjà vu overwhelmed Elurra, but before she could put a finger on the familiarity, someone opened the door. She couldn’t see who it was from her position on the path, but she heard a woman’s voice ask, “May I help you?”
“Can you please call your husband? I must speak with him immediately,” a feminine voice called softly through the veil. Elurra had to strain to hear her.
“I will fetch him. Would you like to come in?” the woman at the door asked. She didn’t seem bothered by the mysterious visitor so late at night.
“No. I cannot. Please fetch your husband and tell him an old friend from the south has come to ask a difficult favor.”
“As you wish, ma’am,” the lady in the doorway replied with a hint of suspicion in her voice.
Elurra heard footsteps recede into the house and a murmur of conversation. Heavier footsteps approached, and a quizzical man’s voice said, “I have few friends from the south, and fewer are female. Who are you?”
The cloaked figure pulled back her hood, and Elurra gasped. Lira’s face looked desperate and pale in the light coming from the cottage. The man inside inhaled audibly.
“My queen. What are you doing here without accompaniment?”
Elurra mounted the steps and was startled again when she identified the man in the doorway.
“Please, I do not have much time, and I do not know who else I can trust. I have tried everything, but I cannot stop them. They will take—” A terrified sob consumed the rest of her sentence. Without a word, she shoved the bundle in her arms toward the man in the doorway. Cautiously, the man pulled back the cloth to reveal the face of a small child. He looked up sharply.
“My lady, I don’t understand. Why are you giving me your son?” he asked, clearly bewildered.
A tear trickled down Lira’s cheek, but she quickly wiped it away. “I cannot protect him. I am as cursed as he is. The rift is like a healing wound, and we are like a beacon shining through the closing crack. Together we make an almost irresistible target for Demons. They can use our curse to find the links between our worlds. They appear in the night without warning. I have no choice. Apart they cannot see us, but together we are too visible. I have lost too many men. If he remains with me, he will die. I know you are much more powerful than you let on. You have Guardian’s blood in you, do you not?” she asked.
The man nodded curtly. “Only a little.”
“His only chance is to stay somewhere the Demons cannot find him. You are the only person I know who can save him. You saved my life, so I beg you to save his as well. Please. Without you, he will die.”
For a long time, the man was silent.
“I will protect him with my life, Your Highness. I swear it. My territory is richly protected. Nothing will harm him,” he finally said. Her shoulders slumped in relief.
“Thank you. I cannot tell you how grateful I am. I will send you monthly payments for his food and lodging.”
“My lady, I must know—where is the girl? Why only the boy?”
“She is not in danger. He is my firstborn,” she said softly. Lira looked down at her child with tears in her eyes as she leaned down to kiss his head. “I cannot protect you from your Demons, but hopefully this will help.” She draped a familiar necklace around the baby’s neck and touched his cheek adoringly. Lira stood and addressed the man one last time.
“Please do not tell him I am his mother. He will come looking for me. Raise him as your own. Teach him to be a healer and protect him from the outside world. Above all else, please let him know he is loved.”
The man nodded solemnly. Without a word, Lira vanished into the gloom of the night. Elurra couldn’t believe what she was watching. She knew that place. She knew the muddy path all too well. She glanced down into the baby’s lilac eyes. They were wide and curious, greedily taking in the world around him. Ramer brushed his cheek gently and took him inside, calling for his wife. He shut the door and left Elurra outside in the rain.
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Elurra shot up, breathing heavily. She sat there for a full minute, trying not to hyperventilate. Everything clicked into place like puzzle pieces.
Ramer was not his father, just his protector. That explains why Ramer was against Terrin learning about magic and reading about the other kingdoms. I should have seen it sooner. Terrin is darker skinned than most Amorians, she thought. Terrin is Lira’s son.
She ran out of her room, disregarding being in only her nightgown. She passed a clock in the hallway, which told her it was two in the morning. She reached Terrin’s door and barged in. Elurra was in no mood to knock. She was astounded to find that he was up, reading the book about Tipet. He looked up when she burst through the door.
“Just the princess I wanted to see,” he said dryly, his face hardening. “Have you come to tell me the news?”
She stopped mid-stride, not expecting his unwelcoming demeanor.
“News?”
“I saw you and Kai downstairs, chatting with the king and queen,” he said, looking back down at the book he was reading. Elurra had no idea what he was going on about.
“They did host this party for us. It would be rude not to speak with them,” she said irritably. Terrin shut the book and gave her a sharp glance.
“You and Kai went out to the balcony for a rather long time and came out grinning like jack-o’-lanterns. After that, you had a rather long chat with his parents.”
“Oh, that. Listen, I will explain all of that in a second, but first—”
“When’s the date? Is it before or after you regain your precious kingdom?”
Elurra felt herself becoming very angry. “What on Incari are you even talking about?”
“Your wedding, of course!” he shouted, standing up.
She threw her hands up in exasperation. “Will you forget about that for a second? None of that is important, but what I am trying to tell you is!”
“Not important? Why is it—”
“Terrin, you are being a child. Honestly, can you drop that for a—”
“I’m the one being a child? Why is it always my fault? I can never—”
“Why does that even matter to you? It is none of your business in the first—”
“It is my business! You’re the one who dragged me along!” he yelled.
“Well, if you feel that way about it, then you should have stayed behind!” she screamed back. Her face was flushed a deep crimson with rage.
“Stayed behind where? You got my father killed!”
“That is not fair! Nitiri is to blame, and besides, he was not even your—”
“Don’t try to change the subject! You just agreed to get married to some buffoon who calls himself a prince—”
“You are a prince!” she screamed, panting.
The room fell into a deathly silence as they stared at each other. They were both breathing heavily, and their cheeks were colored almost maroon. It took Terrin a moment to understand what she had said.
“What?” he asked crossly.
“You are a blasted prince! That is why I had that stupid vision, and that is why I am here at two in the morning. I know who your real parents are, not that you deserve to know,” she said angrily, giving him a pointed glare.
“Excuse me?” he said uneasily, all the anger draining from his expression.
“Ramer is not your father. You are not even related to him.”
He stared at her for a second. “W-what?”
“My visions were about your parents. I had the last dream, which tied them all together. Your father was a Guardian, and your mother is the Queen of Tipet,” she told him gently.
Terrin looked unsteady on his feet. Abruptly, his knees buckled, and he landed on the ground in a daze. Elurra rushed to his side and knelt beside him.
“How did that even—my father was a Guardian? Are you sure?”
Elurra sighed, sat down beside him, and began to tell him everything, although she found she had to talk slowly and repeat things often.
“Princess Lira is my mother?” he asked when she revealed Lira’s identity, still sounding a bit dizzy. “Is she dead?”
“Well, obviously not. You are here,” Elurra said curtly, wishing he would stop interrupting. “As I was saying, they were about to kill your mother, but then your father put the Kutsal Stone back in the crown, which sucked all of the Demons into Yamoi and saved her life.”
Terrin looked absolutely stricken. “But those from Yamoi can’t touch Kutsal Stones. We already saw what happens when they do. Doesn’t that kill Demons and Guardians?”
Elurra grimaced. She was hoping he would be too overwhelmed to understand the implications of what she was saying.
“He did it to save your mother,” Elurra assured him hastily. Terrin looked like he was on the brink of passing out, so she quickly summarized his grandfather’s final despicable act and his death.
“Is that why she gave me up?” he asked softly.
“Exactly. She did not think you were safe with her anymore, considering you were both cursed. She gave you to Ramer to protect you. He was a magician like we suspected. Now that I think of it, I hope she does not think you are dead considering what happened at the house.”
The thought seemed to disturb Terrin greatly.
“You’re telling me my mother thinks I’m dead, my father is dead, every Demon in Yamoi wants me dead, and my grandfather doomed me with his death?”
Elurra twiddled her thumbs uncomfortably. “Basically, yes.”
“No. No,” he muttered, shaking his head. “There must be some mistake. It could’ve been another kid who lived with Ramer before—”
“Terrin, it was you,” she said quietly.
“How could you possibly know for certain it was me?” he asked in weak defiance.
Elurra leaned over and rested a cool hand on his cheek. He cringed and protested, but Elurra held a finger to his lips. She delicately brushed her fingers over his cheek as she looked deeply into his troubled gaze. There was no doubt in her mind.
“Terrin, you have your father’s eyes.”
Tears slipped down his cheeks. He sat in silence for a while, soaking in everything she told him.
“What was my father’s name?” he finally asked, his voice almost inaudible.
“Zavier,” she answered softly. He rested his head on her shoulder, like a small child asking for a bedtime story.
“What was he like?”
Elurra couldn’t resist running her fingers through his silky black hair.
“He was very kind and protective,” she said after giving it some thought. “He had your eyes, but other than that you look very different. You resemble your mother. He had pale skin and blond hair like me. He always put others’ safety over his own. He cared about everyone and did all he could for the people of Tipet. He loved your mother deeply. He was a very noble man, and someone to look up to.”
“I wish I could’ve met him.”
Elurra rocked him gently, letting him softly cry in silence, until the soft light from the moons lulled them to sleep.