Chapter 74

Evie

Evie raced down the halls of the fortress in an unseeing haze, focused only on finding her mother and fixing whatever had broken her. She barely heard the boss's voice in her ear trying to reassure her, barely saw as a door creaked open in front of her. Her eyes were fuzzy. Everything was.

Panic. She was in a fog of panic. Her mother screamed again, causing Evie to collapse to the ground. "Make it stop! Make it stop, please!" She curled up, trying to get so small she hoped she could disappear. "Help her. Someone help her!"

Then suddenly, she felt something warm and slimy plop into her hands.

She blinked as if waking. "Kingsley?" The frog prince peered up at her, stark concern in his golden eyes.

At that moment, Clare and Tatianna flew into the room, the screaming growing louder with them. Evie flinched and closed her eyes, but she felt someone lifting her up in his warm arms. "I got you, sweet Evie. I got you," Blade said as he placed her upright in a chair, where she sat with Kingsley in a death grip.

Tatianna nudged Blade aside, then began pushing Evie's hair back and off her neck, tying it with the pink ribbon Tati always wore around her wrist—her first one, her favorite one. "No, Tati," Evie protested weakly.

"Hush, little friend. You're only borrowing it. Take deep breaths. There is no danger. It's only the memory plant. Hold Kingsley close—animals can help calm the mind."

It took a second for her to process what her eyes were seeing. The screaming wasn't coming from her mother; it was coming from the long, delicate-petaled flower Clare had dropped in the corner of the room. It was a memory flower.

A memory flower that echoed her mother's screams.

"What is that? What's wrong?" Becky slammed the green room doors wide, then closed a hand over her mouth when she saw the memory flower. Renna came in after her, looking panicked and frazzled.

"Poor Evie! Please, we must silence it somehow!" Renna cried. "Evie, please don't listen. Don't look at it."

Tatianna glared. "We got it from a secret room hidden in the hall. There are hundreds of these things. We were conveniently locked in until Blade heard us banging on the walls."

Evie felt her heart rate calming, her fingers loosening around Kingsley, who remained in her hands as if sensing she still needed his support.

"We were about to leave when one of the plants started shrieking the most terrible sound I'd ever heard," Tatianna finished.

It was the most terrible sound Evie had ever heard, too.

Becky shook her head, moving a vine out of her way. "No, that can't be. Memory flowers are extremely rare—there are only three documented living specimens! And it's dangerous to produce them. Nobody in my family would ever be so reckless."

Raphael came in as if on cue, followed by the rest of the boys and Julius. The screaming halted for a moment, giving Evie a much-needed reprieve.

Raphael spoke first, shaking his head in disgust. "Tell them. Tell them what you've done."

Evie followed his eyes.

Right to Renna.

Becky stumbled away from her, aghast, as a vine wrapped carefully around her wrist. "Mom? What does he mean? What did you do?"

Renna stayed silent, but tears were pooling in her eyes now. The sight of them sent Evie's heart plummeting toward her feet.

"What did you do!" Becky screamed.

Evie stood up and looked at Blade. "Go," she offered. Blade was up and over to Becky in seconds, a gentle hand at her elbow to hold her up.

Renna broke down in heaping sobs then. "I didn't mean to. I didn't mean any harm! Rebecka, please." She reached for Becky's hand, but her daughter slapped it away.

"Renna." Julius put a reassuring hand on her back. "It's enough now." Renna looked at her husband, seeming to absorb strength from him.

She stood taller, her loose auburn hair moving with her as she pushed her chin up. "We have been aiding King Benedict in fulfilling the prophecy for some time."

Raphael bit out, "You, Mother. You ."

Renna licked her lips, folding her hands primly together. "I've been trying to find a cure for my mother. That is not a crime! That is not wrong! And everything I've done has been in service to Rennedawn and the Fortis line."

She addressed the group as she continued. "We've been working to develop a plant—a hybrid between the memory plant and another rare flower we grow on the estate to siphon magic. To relieve the burdens of overbearing power." Renna looked to Evie. "Like your mother's."

The boss, who'd been quiet, leaning against the wall in the corner, stood up and moved next to Evie, spearing Renna with his coldest, most threatening look. "Nura Sage isn't coming tomorrow morning, is she?"

Renna looked to Evie and only to Evie. She cried out, "Your mother was my very best friend! Please know that I loved her as if she were my own sister. My own blood. I have never in my life sought to hurt another human being." She inhaled hard. "Nura arrived at our gates, asking for aid. I knew of the accident; I knew of her power. I knew the king was looking for her, too, so instead of turning her over, I tried to siphon her magic away. I wanted to help her and the kingdom."

Evie stood, lip wobbling as hot, angry tears slid down her cheeks. "Then why…was she screaming?"

Renna got up, strode to the other side of the room, and pulled out a small vial of dark-silver dust. "I used the flower on her." She handed Evie the vial, which felt weightless in her hands. "But her magic had already been so abused, it was like trying to repair an already-stopped heart."

Evie looked up from the midnight vial. "Was. You said she was your very best friend?"

Renna's neck strained—Evie could tell by the veins protruding out. "Your mother's starlight enveloped her, Evie… She screamed for mercy one moment, and in the next, this stardust was all that was left of her. I'm so sorry, dear one. She died."