Page 84 of The Half King
“Does it matter?”
“Yes, it matters,” Nina said. “Tell me what happened.”
Cerise hesitated. She used to believe that she could share anything with her sister. Now, she wasn’t so sure. “If I tell you,” she began, “you can’t tell anyone else, not even Mama or Father or your husband. You have to keep it a secret.”
“All right.”
“Promise me. Swear it on the goddess.”
Nina held a hand to her heart. “May Shiera strike me dead if I’m lying.”
Cerise frowned. She didn’t like Nina’s choice of words, but she told her sister about her visits to the underworld, her compulsion to obey the king, how her magic had manifested, and the possibility that she was descended from Shiera. By the time she’d finished, Nina seemed to have stopped breathing.
“I couldn’t have inherited the fire blood from Mama,” Cerise said. “It had to come from my father—my real father. I want to know who he is. If I can find him, maybe I can understand more about what I am and why I have these gifts.”
“I already know what you are,” Nina said.
Cerise perked up. “You do?”
“Yes. You’re my sister, and I love you.”
“Oh, stop. This is important. Be serious.”
Nina blew out a sigh that billowed her veil. “All right. Here’s the truth.”
Cerise pulled the mirror closer, listening intently.
“I don’t know who your father is,” Nina said. “But I do know he’s dangerous. When Mama was pregnant, I overheard her and Father arguing about him. It was a long time ago, but I remember thinking they were afraid of him—so afraid that they lied to everyone to keep him from finding out about you.”
Cerise cocked her head. That was the last thing she had expected. “So they didn’t send me away to the temple to cover up Mama’s affair?”
“Affair?” Nina repeated. “Bloody crows, no. It was nothing like that. From the way Mama acted, it sounded like the man took advantage of her.”
“You mean he…” Cerise couldn’t speak the rest. She didn’t want it to be true. “A man forced her? And she had to havemeafterward?”
“No!” Nina flashed a palm across the mirror. “I don’t want you to think that.”
“But you said—”
“Forget what I said,” Nina snapped. “That isn’t what I meant.”
“Then what did you mean?”
“That maybe she was taken in by his charm or his power,” Nina said. “There are so many ways for people to manipulate each other, Cerise. I have no idea what actually happened because Mama wouldn’t talk about it. All I know is that the man was dangerous—Mama and Father didn’t want to cross him. So Father claimed you as his, and that meant we had to give you to the temple. But it wasn’t to get rid of you. We all love you to the stars and back. I hope you know that.”
Cerise felt a flush of guilt rise to her cheeks. During her short time at court, she had gotten so used to lies and manipulation that she’d assumed the worst about her parents, ignoring all evidence to the contrary. Mama and Father had never missed a visiting day at the temple. They had never pressured her to try harder when the other oracles had received their gifts and she hadn’t. They had never made her feel unwanted or unloved. In spite of her origins, they had cherished her.
“Oh,” was all she could say.
“Listen to me,” Nina urged. “Whoever your father is, it’s important that he doesn’t find out about you. That means you can’t go looking for him or ask questions that might get back to him. Do you understand?”
“I can be discreet,” Cerise said. She knew better than to generate gossip by asking questions of the wrong people. “The palace has an archive room full of records and diaries and travel logs. I can start by making a list of all the powerful men who visited Solon the year before I was born.” But she frowned, realizing her father might have lived in Solon and not at the palace at all, in which case there would be no records of him there. “Did Mama say where he was from?”
“You’re not listening to me. Just let it go.”
“Did she say where he was from?”
“No. She didn’t say anything about him.”
