“He held me hostage for a month and erased my memory,” I said flatly. “I would not call him trustworthy, no.”

Bryn looked over at me. “Then why do you trust him on this?”

I handed her the napkin, the one with the names written on it. “Bekk confirmed he is the father of the child she’s carrying, and I met Noomi in Sweden. I haven’t looked into Asta or Minoux yet.”

“The mothers are all Skojare and Omte,” she said, almost to herself.

“He seems to target those two tribes. There’s a Skojare and Trylle population in Isarna, but instead of ‘dating’ there, he made multiple trips across the ocean to find prospective mothers in the Omte capital,” I explained.

She stared down, her jaw tensing subtly under her pale skin. “Strong women,” Bryn said with a sigh. “He’s looking for strong women to carry his child. Physically, the Omte and Vittra are the strongest, but the Vittra are nearly infertile. The Skojare are surprisingly resilient, with high tolerances to cold, pain, and lack of oxygen.”

“The Kanin and Trylle got things going for them too,” Ridley chimed in, and his skin rippled, shifting its usual olive to eggshell to match the walls around us. He—like many of the Kanin—had the ability to blend in with the surroundings, like a chameleon.

“Those are something beyond biology,” Bryn said. “Magical and powerful, yes. But not the main concern if you’re on the hunt for a womb to help you make a big, strong baby.” Her eyes landed on me.

“There’s only one place to go from here,” Bryn said, and stood up. “We have to talk to my mom.”

“We?” I asked in surprise.

“You’re the one who knows about this. She’ll want to talk to you.” She went toward the bedroom. “I need to change, and then we can go.”

I gulped down some water, and Bryn returned a moment later in jeans and a striped tank top. She said a quick goodbye to Ridley and kissed him on the cheek, then we were out the door.

“Don’t say anything you’ll regret!” Ridley called after us as the door swung shut.

As we went down the stairs, I asked Bryn if now was the best time to have this conversation with her mom. In her matter-of-fact way, she informed me that her dad was at work, her mother was a teacher with summers off, and she should just be getting back from her morning swim in the nearby lake.

They had moved to Storvatten, the Skojare capital, for some time after the Kanin Civil War, but they had found life there too stifling, and they returned to Doldastam. Bryn had briefly lived in the family home while they were gone, so they were able to move right back into the house she’d grown up in.