Page 83 of The Half King
Kian squeezed her palm as if sharing her fear. “I can command the priests to leave you untouched while I’m alive, but…”
“I know,” she interrupted. She didn’t need to hear the rest. They had already argued about the topic. If she failed to break the curse, the Order would be free to erase her like the anomaly that she was.
“Cerise,” Daerick said tentatively. “I heard you say that you resemble your mother but not your father.” When she nodded, he bit his lip and apologized with his eyes, reminding her of a healer preparing to lance a boil. “How certain are you that heisyour father?”
As soon as he spoke the words, a dozen tiles clicked together in her mind to form a picture so distinct she couldn’t believe it had taken her so long to see it. Her heart resisted, but she knew Daerick might be right. It would explain why Father had panicked when someone from court had taken an interest in Mama. Mama must have had an affair with a palace lord and become pregnant. Father had obviously known, but instead of shaming Mama and casting her out, he had pretended Cerise was his child.
But why would he do that?
Because second-borns are given to the temple.
She stopped breathing. The answer shook her to her core. Father had claimed her so that he could be rid of her at the temple. She had never belonged there. She should have been raised at home with Nina. But in order for that to happen, Mama and Father would have been forced to admit the truth about her parentage, and that would’ve spawned the kind of gossip that noble families avoided. So instead of living with the reminder of their shame, they had sent her away—out of sight, out of mind—to a place where they would only have to see her on visiting days.
Her throat constricted while tears burned in her eyes.
Every part of her life had been a lie.
“I’m sorry, Cerise,” Daerick said, softer than a rose petal. He gave her an apologetic smile. “Happy Claiming Day. If it’s any consolation, mine might be worse.”
21
Daerick suggested that the three of them go foraging for sand melon in the opposite direction as that of the hunting party so they could help Cerise experiment with her magic. She agreed, but she asked Daerick and Kian to begin the search without her. She would catch up with them after she had a serious and long-overdue conversation with her family.
As soon as Daerick and Kian left camp, Cerise ducked inside her tent and unpacked her heartrending mirror. She sat on the canvas floor and called out through the looking glass until her mother heard her voice and responded.
“Darling,” Mama greeted with a smile that quickly fell when she noticed the redness in Cerise’s eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“I want to talk to Nina,” Cerise said. She knew her sister was still there. Nina’s visit wouldn’t end for another fortnight.
Mama hesitated. “You look upset.”
“Give me to Nina.”
Father appeared in the mirror, and Cerise caught herself searching his face for any resemblance to her own. She knew she wouldn’t find one—she never had—but her heart sank at the reminder that she wasn’t his child. “Where are you?” he asked, peering at the canvas walls behind her. “Is everything all right?”
She could tell that his concern was genuine, but that didn’t cool her anger. She couldn’t help feeling as though she were a stain on the floor and her parents had used the temple as a rug to cover it up. There was only one person in her family she trusted now.
“I want,” she gritted out. “To talk. To Nina.”
Father heaved a sigh and then stalked through the house until he found Nina. He passed off the mirror, and a black-veiled face filled the frame.
“What’s wrong?” Nina asked.
Cerise waited for Father to leave the room. “Are you alone?”
“Yes,” Nina said. “Why?”
“Somewhere no one can hear us?”
“Yes. Now tell me what’s wrong.”
“Fatherisn’t really my father,” Cerise said. “That’s what’s wrong.”
Nina didn’t balk at the words. She didn’t laugh in shock or tell Cerise that she was crazy. Instead, she went still and quiet in a way that hinted she had already known the truth.
“You knew,” Cerise breathed. Her heart sank another inch. It seemed she couldn’t even trust her own sister. “You knew, and you didn’t tell me.”
Nina ignored the accusation. “What happened to make you think he’s not your father?”
