Three days later, Bryant returned from checking the pass. "It should be safe to cross. The river is high, but we should be fine."

It took every bit of willpower Kaye had to not show how excited she was, but she couldn't keep the smile from her face. "Good. I've already packed my things. We can leave tomorrow if you're ready."

His face said he would never be ready, but he nodded. "Tomorrow then. You should say goodbye to Elett—she will miss you."

"It's only a few days in Fie Eoin."

He shrugged and looked away. Kaye wanted to reach out to him, but there was a distance between them that hadn’t been there before. They found Elett and Celeste on the cliff, working in the spring sunshine. They had just landed when a woman's stern voice interrupted.

"Bryant. You have not introduced me to your friend." The woman frowned, and it looked like the normal shape of her face.

Bryant took Kaye's hand. "This is Kaye Odion, of Fie Eoin. Kaye, this is Catherine."

"His mother," the woman said with a frown. She looked Kaye up and down. "So this is the Odion priestess. Huh."

Somehow Catherine made it sound like a bad thing, but Kaye was determined to be nice. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Mrs. Conal."

Catherine's eye twitched. "Mrs. Lark, please."

"Oh, forgive me. I assumed…” Kaye stopped and looked at Bryant. Bryant Conal. Catherine must be remarried, as rare as that was for the Faye.

Bryant was stiff, eyes flashing at his mother. Kaye knew he didn't like being reminded of his father, and squeezed his hand.

"Perhaps when Bryant and I return we can get to know each other a little better, Mrs. Lark."

Catherine smiled, but it wasn't friendly. "If you return."

That was uncalled for, and Kaye finally cooled. "I made my choice. I chose Bryant."

"We will see." Catherine looked at her son and shook her head, then turned away. When she was out of hearing Kaye spoke.

"Did I offend her somehow?"

Bryant turned his back on his mother, some of the tension leaving his stance. "You did nothing. Catherine makes her own misery."

Catherine Lark. Kaye shook her head. At least she understood Bryant's attitude a little better—with a mother like that it was no wonder he turned out so emotionally distraught.

When she looked up, Kaye caught Bryant and Celeste arguing silently. Celeste must have won, because Bryant pursed his lips as his shoulders hardened again. When he looked at Kaye they sank. "There is something I need to tell you."

It felt as if someone plunged an ice-cold rock into her stomach. This was what he held back in Celeste's cave, and Kaye wasn't sure she was ready to know. "What?" she whispered.

He pulled her to the edge of the cliff and looked back. "Catherine is not my birth mother. She was Gabe’s first wife and raised me, but she did not give birth to me."

Kaye didn't want to hear this. Didn't want him to confess what she'd known in her heart since waking from the effects of the Altar. Its energy had poisoned her life and would not stop.

She put a hand on his chest. "Your mother is the person who raised you."

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He finally looked at her. "Who raised you?"

The pang of grief that hit Kaye was unexpected. She thought she was moving on from what happened in Fie Obsid. "Loria Odion."

"Really?" His eyes were pleading. "Loria taught you what was most important in your life?"

Tears began to threaten Kaye's eyes and it became hard to speak. "No," she whispered. "The High Priestess—"

"Kaye Conal," he whispered and looked at the trees.

Conal. The Faye were matriarchal—they took the surname of their mother. Bryant's last name should have been Lark, but he was named for his mother.

No.

Kaye took her hand away and cradled it to her chest. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, but remembered his answer from the cave. "I'm sorry. Don't answer that."

"She is the woman who raised you. I did not want to ruin that for you."

"But it was ruined for you." She took his hand again and he looked at her, the familiar pain in his eyes. No wonder he despised her when she first appeared in Aleda. No wonder he didn't want her to go home. Unlike Gabe, the High Priestess had never looked haunted by her past.

Kaye didn't know what to say. How did you tell the man you gave up destiny for 'I'm sorry I stole your mother'? She pressed her lips together as she looked at him. "Bryant, I…”

"You should say goodbye to Celeste and Elett." He released her hand and took a step back. "I will pack the rest of your things."

"I'm not staying in Fie Eoin." She tried to grab him, but the look on his face stopped her.

"Then we can bring them back." He bowed deep, as if she were the Lady, and flew off. She swallowed, took a deep breath, and went back to Celeste.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"It was not my place to tell." Celeste shook her head. "I warned him against you. He knew the consequences."

Kaye resented that. She may be named after the High Priestess, but that didn't mean she would make the same choices. "There won't be any consequences."

Celeste's whole body tightened and she squeezed her eyes closed. When she spoke, Kaye could hear the effort it cost her. "You are a Daughter of Aleda. Most beloved of Her in all your Seven Tribes. There are always consequences."

"It doesn't matter."

"You have no choice, Kaye!" Celeste put a hand to her eyes and Kaye could see the red imprint of nails on her palm. "Something will happen. Something to bring you back to Her." Celeste took a deep breath and glanced at Elett. She ran a hand over the girl's Gaerlom-brown hair. "I loved him too, once. I thought I could be happy with Bryant."

That hit Kaye even harder than the news that the High Priestess was Bryant's mother. "You and…Bryant?" She almost couldn't say his name at the thought of it.

Celeste continued to pet Elett's hair. "Many summers ago. I was much younger than you."

Hopelessness descended on Kaye. "So you, his mother, and his father have abandoned him, and now it's my turn? No."

Celeste looked up, face sharp in anger. "I did not abandon him. I am here. I am the only one who will always be here for him."

"I will always be here for him."

"It was a test." Celeste spoke through her teeth, abandoning Elett's hair. "You failed. You did not trust the Mother. You were not willing to sacrifice yourself for your tribe, which a priestess must do. You were not willing to sacrifice yourself for the Gaerloms either.”

That wasn’t fair at all. Celeste had no idea what had happened in either situation. “I went willingly with the Obsidians. It was Aleda who gave me the strength to fight back when they tried to kill me. And the Gaerloms wouldn’t hand me over. I begged Timin.”

“He thought you were a silkie! Do you think they would fight for you if they knew what you were? If you told them the truth?”

Kaye clenched her jaw. “How can you berate me for not telling them I was Faye? You spent all winter lying to me.”

“I did not lie.”

“And I didn’t tell the Gaerloms I was a silkie. I tried to convince Timin I wasn’t.” Kaye wiped at her eyes. “You knew who Kaye Conal was all this time, and you knew who Gabe was, and you said nothing.”

“It was not my place.”

“I thought you were my friend,” Kaye whispered. “Of course it was your place.”

“I am your friend,” Celeste said. “That is why I tell you that you cannot put Bryant or your sister above Aleda and the tribe. There will only be one more test, and you will not survive if you fail."

Kaye's heart felt like it was being squeezed inside her chest, and she looked at Celeste in a new light. She straightened, and when she spoke it was with all the conviction of a priestess. "Aleda would not punish me for loving anyone. You’re sorely misguided if you think the punishment for love is death."

"The punishment for putting one person above the Mother is severe."

Kaye's hands bunched into fists. "But you have never put anyone above Her, so you wouldn't know. I promised Bryant I wouldn't leave, even before I knew that everyone else in his life had. I will suffer the punishment so he does not have to, if that's what Aleda deems necessary."

Celeste shook her head. "You do not know what you ask of Her."

"You don't know what you did not ask," Kaye said and turned away in disgust. Maybe Celeste was right—maybe Kaye would regret those words. But she would regret not asking more.