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Back The Ever After Save as PDF
Chapters (92)
  1. Cover
  2. TheEVERAFTER
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
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  88. 86
  89. Epilogue
  90. GLOSSARY
  91. TheEVERAFTER
  92. By Amanda Hocking

Most of the Marksinna and Markis around her age had been changelings, meaning they had been switched at birth with children from wealthy human families and raised far away from Förening in human cities. Because of that, and the class differences, I didn’t interact with any of them very often, so I didn’t really know how any of them felt about the process.

“Anyway.” Sunniva looked back at me, her dark eyes studying me. “I didn’t come here to talk to you about toys.”

“What did you come here to talk about?” I asked.

She went back to looking around the room, and she paced slowly between the cribs as she spoke. “I’ve been training with my mother. Aurora. I don’t know if you know her.”

“I know of her,” I clarified. The Kroners were a powerful and wealthy family with strong ties to the royal family. Everyone knew of them.

Sunniva shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Aurora’s a great healer. Was.” She paused. “Is. The powerful abilities run in my family—Tove moves things with his mind, Aurora can heal even deadly wounds, Noah has flashes of precognition. They’re all very draining and dangerous. They age you.”

“If you don’t want to do this, I understand,” I replied carefully.

“No, it’s not that. It’s the opposite of that, really.” She faced me. “It’s taking longer to get the hang of because of the amount of energy it takes. But I know I can do it. I will be able to. And I wanted to make sure you understood that you don’t have to do this. Aural healing is a volatile thing—auras don’t like being manipulated by outside sources.”

“Most things don’t,” I said.

She smiled faintly. “You should be aware of the risks.”

I considered what she was saying and then asked, “If I say that I don’t want to do this again, would you keep training and practicing your aural healing?”

“Yes, I would,” she answered without hesitation.

“Why?”

“When I found out I was a changeling, I didn’t want to come here,” she explained. “But what changed my mind was that I wanted to get a handle on the intense, superhuman things my body can do, and the only way I could find out my full potential was to come to a place where everyone understood what I am.

“That’s why I’m here. That’s why I’m learning this,” Sunniva said. “And if I can help you or others along the way, even better.”

“I can respect that,” I said. “And I’m up for it if you are.”

Sunniva smiled, deeply this time. “Excellent. I’ll keep working with Aurora and Tove while you’re gone, and when you get back, hopefully, we can meet up.”

I nodded. “I’ll see you then.”

13

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Dreams