Dex placed a calming hand on her wrist. Andi almost yanked away from him, but he sent her a meaningful glance before looking back at Klaren with careful eyes, nodding slowly for her to carry on.

“When I first arrived in Mirabel, I managed to compel my way into the heart of the Xen Pterran king,” Klaren began. “Adonis was a good man. Kind. I couldn’t help falling in love with him, and because he loved his planet so deeply, I grew to love Xen Ptera, too. To love all of Mirabel. And then...” Her eyes softened, turned wistful. “I got pregnant with Nor, and I loved her above everything else. In my happiness, I began to forget my mission—I lost myself in the life I’d made here.”

She looked at the fire, eyes distant as the flames flickered back in them. “But as everyone now knows, the full might of Arcardius eventually came to Xen Ptera. The war was bloody, and brutal... Our people were dying by the thousands. So I gave myself over to Cyprian in order to save them, to save Nor. With the aid of my compulsion, he agreed to a cease-fire. But I never saw my husband or my daughter again. I left Nor in the care of Darai, so that she might someday learn the truth about herself and her abilities.”

“The adviser you came here with?” Dex asked.

Klaren nodded. “During my time on Arcardius, I compelled Cyprian to love me. To this day, I find myself wondering whether my control over him was ever real, or if he was always seething below the surface of my compulsion, desperate to break free and end my life. Still, I became pregnant with his child, during those years I spent on Arcardius.”

“Valen,” Andi said, as the realization hit her fully.

Klaren nodded, looking so much like Nor in that moment that it sent tendrils of unease crawling down Andi’s skin.

“Eventually, Cyprian discovered a way to overcome my compulsion. I still don’t know how he did it, but...he managed to trick me. I begged him to return me to Xen Ptera, knowing that my chances of opening the Void were gone, once he knew the truth about me. And I no longer wanted to—not really. I loved Mirabel too much.” Tears began to fill Klaren’s eyes. “But after we flew to Xen Ptera, as we hovered above the planet...he cut out my tongue. He destroyed Xen Ptera. And then he cast me out, ripping me away from Valen and Nor forever.”