Page 29 of The Starlight Savior

Confessed what?

Saige slowly turned towards Eva, searching for some sort of answer. “Earlier…” Saige began, throat dry. “Y-You said you’ve been waiting a long time to meet me.”

Those words were now much more significant. It hadn’t crossed her mind then why this woman would wish to meet her. She assumed it was based on her magic. But what if—

“Tell me your full name,” Saige demanded, her face contorting.

But Eva was silent.

Her nostrils flared as the silence between them thickened. She refused to allow her gaze to falter as pain blossomed across her chest and her eyes became clouded.

“Nerestel,” Eva whispered, “Eva Nerestel.”

Saige’s body recoiled as if this woman had struck her. Her hand flew to her throat as heat simmered in her chest. Nerestel had been her father’s surname, but he spoke of no family. Claimed his parents had passed on long before she was born.

Saige had believed for years she had no family, always branding herself an orphan.

Was that why he had written to Etrane, investigating the mist? Because he lived here?

Saige peered at Eva with hopes of finding evidence that her father wasn’t deceptive. Yet the resemblance shined through her denial. Eva’s dark curly hair hung loosely around her face and down her back. Her icy blue eyes were wide with fear and anticipation. They were twins to Saige’s features. And her father’s.

A bitter laugh escaped her dry lips. General Zathos had even asked if she was Oscar Nerestels’s lost daughter. She had assumed lost from Oswan. Not a whole other kingdom.

“Who are you?” Saige’s voice was as hollow as her chest. She couldn’t bear to look at this woman, but she wouldn’t turn away either.

“Oscar…” Eva took in a shaky breath. Her eyes were glassy with tears. “He was my brother.”

We have had task forces sent out across Opela, but most do not return. Including my younger brother.

Saige’s head lowered, turning away from the grief pooling in Eva’s face. Her father was from here. Which meant he had been a warlock. A soldier. Sent out on a task and never returned home.

“Everyone knows,” Saige bit out, teeth bared, “everyone knows who my father was except me.”

Eva lowered her voice, her hand suddenly gripping Saige’s arm tightly. “I promise I will explain everything after supper. There are lett—”

“You should’ve explained before,” Saige said with a shake of her head.

“We were forbidden to tell you. No one knew how you’d react. If it would be safe. You have no control—”

At the sound of we, Saige’s head snapped up to the king and his court. Conor was looking straight at her, emotion swimming in the endless brightness of his eyes. He had known too. He had sat with her, holding the very answers to the questions suffocating her.

This was all too much. She rose from the table, ignoring the stares. Upon reaching the doors, Saige halted when the armored warlocks didn’t move.

“Let me through,” Saige ground out, fists balled at her side.

“If you wish to be housed and trained,” King Vospella said, his voice echoing across the room, “then I suggest you sit down. Or we can send you back where they can hang and burn you for the treason of magic.”

The room fell to a hush. The only sound in Saige’s ear was her labored breathing. Her gaze trailed from King Vospella to Conor a few seats beside him, and Eva, the woman who was now considered family. It had become a word that held little meaning outside of pain. Of loss. Even the joy connected with belonging was intertwined with the fear of losing it all.

She could walk away now, refusing to give into the games of secrecy and power woven in the world of magic. This king and his court were one step ahead of Saige. They knew her lineage, her father, her magic. It left her feeling raw and ripped open.

Or she could sit down. Sift through the lies and hope to find glimmers of truth and freedom.

Chapter 14

For the remainder of supper, a sharp pain cascaded through Saige’s chest. Gaze down, she stared at the food being spooned onto her plate. Servants bustled around with platters of roasted chicken, buttered vegetables, and meat tarts. Fresh herbs tickled her nose, but despite the hunger in her belly, she couldn’t stomach supper. Not as the stares and chatters built around her.

Eva’s worried gaze beside her was irritating. Part of her wished to shake her and beg for answers. Yet the waves of emotions were too high. All she could do was shut this woman out with the wall that had been secure around her heart and soul for years.