Page 77 of When Night Falls

"I found her a few years ago," he admits, which causes Troy to fall completely to her knees.

I rush over to her, needing to make sure she's okay. I know the news is a lot for her to handle.

"How could you keep this from me?" Tears threaten to break free, her voice cracked with pain.

"I didn't want to risk her safety. Father was still alive and-"

"So you kept her all to yourself?"

I help Troian back to her feet; I can feel the heartbreak radiating from her. Almost like I could with Lucynda the day I first met her.

"She asked me not to tell." Travois is now sitting at my desk, visibly upset with himself for disappointing his twin. He doesn't show emotion often either, but this is not something anyone can take lightly.

I however . . . I'm fucking ecstatic.

"Did you-" Troian turns to look up at me. "Did you know?"

Fuck. I can't lie to her, but I don't want her to know just yet how I might have known that her mother had been alive this entire time.

"I had a feeling," I tell her. Not really telling her the truth but not lying to her either.

"How has she gone untraced all this time?" Her curiosity is also my own.

"No. I'm not telling you anything else," he says as he puts his hands up in defense.

"How!" I demand, standing up straighter and this time, not giving a fuck if my apparent anger shows through.

Trav flinches.

"She had Dominek drain her of her Hollows blood."

His confession infuriates me.

"Dominek?" Troy asks.

"That's why Viktrum thinks the rogue comes from us. That bastard knew she was alive.” The realization that she might have something to do with all of this wracks me. If she was in some kind of relationship with Dominek and he ended up dead, that would explain why Viktrum pointed the finger at me.

But what does that mean if any of it does hold true.

"So, she's just a Nocturne now?" Troian directs her question to me.

If Ameliana drained her Hollows blood, technically eliminating her trace as a Royal, it would make her human again. The thought of her suffering through that torture brings frissons of joy to my soul.

"Technically, she's a Valor Nocturne now," Travois says as he stands from the desk.

His admission means that Ameliana married a Royal, likely Dominek, and they performed the blood bind. But why?

"I'm so disappointed in you, Trav." Troy walks away from me while giving her brother a daggered look.

"What's new," he whispers sarcastically.

"Invite her," I say stalely, command lingering in my tone.

"What?" Troy snaps her head back over to the two of us.

"I want her at the wedding," I state.

Travois gives me a look that says he can tell I'm up to something.