76

Elder Woods cleared her throat, catching my attention. “What else did you see, Bryn?” she asked. “Did you see what happened to your mother?”

I finished the water and wiped my mouth on my sleeve. “I did. Sort of. I didn’t see everything that happened the night she died, but she was tied to a bed in a strange room within the Kings’ territory. My father rescued her, and they escaped into the forest. He helped her give birth to me, and she died right afterward.” It pained me to remember how she’d faded away. It was such a quiet, tragic ending for someone so important. “I didn’t get to see what happened to my father or how I ended up in the spot my mom found me in.”

The ritual was a success, but disappointment lingered bitterly at the back of my tongue. I wished I’d seen more. There were still so many things I didn’t understand about my mother.

“Did you see your father?” Violet asked.

I nodded. This was what I’d been slow to bring up because I was still processing the information. “It was