“Yes, I—I came back to continue getting help in searching for my birth parents.” I shifted in my seat, barely suppressing my urge to squirm away from his unblinking gaze. “That’s what I came here for initially. To work with the Inhemsk Project.”

“You met your father, didn’t you?” he asked. “When you were in Sverige?”

“Uh, yeah,” I stammered, thrown by his use of the Swedish name for Sweden.

It was common to hear it called Sverige in Scandinavia, like in the troll island city of Isarna, but here in North America, we kept to our neighbors’ tongue. For most kingdoms that meant English and Spanish in the States, or English with some French and Inuit in Canada.

“You know who your father is, then?” he asked.

I nodded hesitantly. “I believe so, yes.”

“Did he tell you about your mother?”

“Some. We didn’t . . . I don’t remember talking with him much.”

“Because the memory was erased,” Ragnall supplied.

“Yes.”

“It’s good you still retained the memory of meeting him,” he said, smiling too brightly for the conversation. “You’ve finally gotten the answer to your question. You found your birth parents.”

“I know their names, but I wouldn’t say that I know them,” I argued carefully. “That’s why I came back to work with the Inhemsk Project. I want to know the whole truth about my family.”

A bird flew by the window—a large condor, soaring precariously close to the glass. The wingspan left a long shadow splashing across the office. Ragnall watched it, staring pensively at the ocean and the circling bird.

“The pursuit of the truth is a noble thing, albeit an endless one,” he said. “You never truly know when you’ve discovered it all or only parts of it.”

“I think I’ll know when I’ve found enough,” I said.

“Getting your memory back would be a top priority for you, I would assume,” he said, and looked back at me. “On your quest for the truth.”

“I have been trying,” I admitted.

“Any luck?”

I met his gaze evenly and shook my head. “None yet.”

“Did you find Eliana?” he asked, startling me.

An image suddenly flashed in my mind—an angry girl with Eliana’s face standing by a waterfall—but it was gone as soon as it was there.

“No, I never saw her,” I said, and I wasn’t sure if it was a lie or not.

And then, like a worm boring its way back into my brain, the song returned. It buzzed in the back of my skull.

“You don’t remember anything from your time with the Älvolk?” Ragnall asked.