“I need him,” I say. “But I might lose him.”

My mother takes my hand and squeezes it. “I’m so happy you found someone who loves you so much, Lor. You deserve happiness in your life, and you will find a way through this. I believe in you, and I love you. I wish I could do more to help, but no matter how dark it gets before the end, never forget how much you were loved.”

She lays her other hand against my cheek, and I press mine over it, savoring the warmth of her touch. My eyes close as I cry, clinging to her. A moment later, her hand disappears, and when I open them, she’s gone.

I’m back in the Sun Palace with everyone staring at me. I blink, wiping away tears with the back of my hand.

“What happened?” Tristan asks. “Are you okay?”

I exhale a long, shuddering breath.

“I don’t know . . . I saw our mother.”

CHAPTER 37

NADIR

“What do you mean you saw our mother?” Tristan asks, his face pale with shock.

Lor twists her hands in her lap as she looks up at her brother. I wrap an arm around her shoulders, where she sits next to me on the bed.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers as tears build in her eyes. “I—”

Willow stands up from her chair and strides over to sit on Lor’s other side, taking her hand.

“What happened?” Her expression is so kind and understanding that my chest tightens.

Lor then recounts what she saw with the Crown.

I listen with swelling alarm. This is getting more and more complicated by the moment.

I found my mate through the most unlikely set of circumstances, and all I want is to disappear with her somewhere we can be alone to explore one another, where I can protect her. Everyone is trying to kill her or cage her, but they’ll have to go through me first.

“So we have to go after Father,” Amya says, and I can see what she’s thinking. We always knew that it would come to this one way or another. Us against him. I remember every moment Amya and I confided in one another. One parent was absent, and the other was a monster. Even though I was a grown Fae by the time she was born, there are so many bleak moments we shared. It’s taken me many years to admit it to myself, but there were so many times when he willfully made me feel like nothing more than a scared child.

“There’s something else we need to do first,” Lor answers, and I register the worried look on her face.

“Such as?” my sister asks.

She looks at me. “My mother said I’d have to bond to have enough power to destroy the ark.”

I nod and blow out a sigh.

Do you think what Cloris told us is true? I ask.