Page 68 of Heart of Night
She stops herself by flapping her hand over her mouth, drawing a suspicious glance from both Clio and me.
“To save who?” Clio prompts, her tongue ready while mine is tied by a million thoughts.
“That’s what I want to know, too,” I agree when Kaira doesn’t immediately speak.
She’d been the least trustworthy of all of my so-called allies until she started speaking into my mind. But if I’m honest with myself, even that doesn’t make her my friend or someone I can trust, just someone who knows more of my secrets than anyone else.
“My sister.” Kaira’s words are a whisper, but in my head, they ring loud like the warning bells of the royal fleet under attack.
“What do you mean, your sister?” Again, Clio beats me to it, but this time, I remain silent as I hold Kaira’s brown gaze, understanding dawning.
“How is that possible? You’re part Flame.” I search for anything that would resemble my father in her features, coming up blank. Her nose is too wide, her eyes too brown, and her jaw too square. Not even the smile she gives me resembles anything close to my father’s.
Clio goes silent while Kaira and I stare at each other, reading into each other’s features.
“We don’t share a father,” I realize as her lips twitch in a sad smile that I recognize instantly. Should have recognized the first day she visited my room at the Flame estate.
“When I was little, it was common for human partners of Flames to be shunned and forced to leave after they gave birth to a Flameling.” I can’t decipher whether that’s shame in her eyes or sorrow. “Elenja Woltaya was allowed three months with her part-Flame male and her daughter before being kicked out of the Flame community. And had they known how little magic I’d have, they might have sent me with her back then. To this day, I can’t rid myself of the memories of my father’s disappointment when he realized how useless I was as a Flame.”
My heart stops. Literally stops before chasing to catch up the lost beats. If what she says is true, I have a sister.
“Is your father still alive so I can kill him for being an elitist ass?” Clio grunts, the only comment she has for now, and I can’t help the small smile stealing itself onto my lips.
Kaira’s gaze doesn’t stray from mine. “He didn’t survive the battle in the Seeing Forest.” Not a hint of grief. Not a single tear. Not even a tremble in her voice. “I had no family left and might have left the Flames had I not accidentally overheard Ephegos’s discussion with Jeseida where he explained who you were: the daughter of Elenja Woltaya who became Elenja Milevishja, wife of Ivan Milevishja, the last of the royal Milevishja line.” She reaches across the distance, placing her hand on my forearm, and I don’t shy away, too stunned to even think of defending myself in case she is just another person lying to me, manipulating me, wanting me dead or trapped, or intending to use me as a tool for their revenge.
“I have family now. Someone worth running for and fighting for. And I chose to run from the Flames to join you here. I lied to Ephegos, pretending I don’t care about you, that I believe you deserve your fate. I played the good little servant to gain his trust. And he trusted me enough to let me prepare you for the palace that first day. He trusted me enough to let me prepare your meals. So I took whatever chance I got to understand what’s going on in the palace, to explore all possible routes for an exit. To acquaint myself with the hulk of a Crow that he appointed your guard.”
“Herinor,” Clio supplies, but Kaira and I are both aware Kaira knows exactly who Herinor is. I could swear her cheeks blush the slightest bit at the mention of his name.
“Herinor,” Kaira repeats, clasping her fingers in front of her as she turns into another alley, this time not heading along but stopping at the splintered door of a shed in the backyard of what seems to be an abandoned home. “He told me your story, Ayna.” She ignores the way Clio scans her with her jade eyes as if ready to stab her with one of the sharp ends of the loose wooden boards making up what’s left of the door. “And when I learned what Ephegos had planned for you, I couldn’t just sit by and watch you being taken away again.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” It’s the only question that matters—the only question that ever matters, I learned the hard way during my time at Myron’s court. There is always a reason for someone’s actions, no matter how despicable.
“Because I couldn’t risk anyone finding out.” There is genuine fear in her expression now. “My father kept my mother’s last name a secret the way it’s custom when Flames take human lovers. But when he died and I had to take care of his things, I found a hand-drawn picture of her in his nightstand. It said ‘Elenja Woltaya on our first Ret Relah’. I knew it then, that it was her. Elenja isn’t a common name among Flames.”
“It’s a Tavrasian name,” I insert as she pushes open the brittle door and leads the way into near darkness, ignoring Clio’s skeptical glance.
But the female doesn’t object when we make our way into the half-light of the shed and Kaira closes the door behind us.
“This is where we stay until the two of you lose the effects of the drug,” she says matter-of-factly, as if she has been leading us toward this place all along.
“How do you know it’s safe?” Clio interrogates, exploring the long, narrow space with her hands raised for combat as if expecting one of Erina’s guards might step out of the shadows.
“It’s not a trap if that’s what you’re asking.”
“I’m not.” Clio shakes her head. “I just…” She stops at the end of the single room, apparently deeming it safe enough because she sinks to the flipped-over crate in the far corner and rests her head in her hands. “You planned this. You knew where we were going.” The accusation in her tone is obvious. “You could have told us—told me—that you had a plan.”
Kaira guides me to join Clio, flipping over another crate for me before sitting down against the wall across from us. “As I said, I earned Ephegos’s trust by continuing to drug you, Ayna, but he didn’t give me much leniency. I was allowed to travel between his estate in Meer and the palace, but that didn’t give me spare time to find a hideout for when we escaped.”
Too exhausted from torture and being drugged, I simply wait for her to continue speaking. By now, nothing should shock me anymore, yet when she mentions how she knows about this place, my heart does something I hadn’t believed it was still capable of: it flutters with excitement.
“Herinor found it for us.”
I should have been surprised, should have wondered, but with the way she seems to have formed an attachment to the Crow and his little tells when it came to her that he’d help, I’m more surprised he managed to find a way to actually do so.
“How did that bastard do it?” Clio asks the question I can’t seem to get to leave my tongue. “That little Crow shit kept telling both Ayna and me that he can’t help her because of the bargain he made with Ephegos.”
Kaira’s face lights up, the rising starlight falling through the broken windows illuminating her soft expression. “He told me the same. He couldn’t help you”—her gaze falls on me—“so he helped me instead.”