Page 82 of The Ember and the Emerald

“She used his blood to spawn her first horde. They were my half-brothers, I suppose. Or my half-fathers.” A laugh devoid of humor.

I shuddered, images of the siren ghosting through my head. Eerie and quiet. A mystery promising a multitude of surprises. “I want to hear all about Sin. About Morris and Malkom. After I learn more about our mother.”

Elowen traced a fingertip over a swirling pattern in the mattress. “Andrea—Sandrine—was pregnant with me when she saw her husband in a dream. Saw what Sin was doing to him. Mother set off to find him.”

“I can’t imagine being pregnant on such a journey,” I muttered, only then noticing the similarities between the two names. Take away the S in Sandrine and you get Andrine…Andrea. “She must have loved your father very much.”

“They loved each other, and it was quite nauseating,” the maiden replied with great affection and wry humor. “Took her months, but she found and freed Morris from his prison. In the process, Mother awoke the monstra inside their shells before they were ready. They broke free, flew from the mountain, and destroyed everything in the vicinity.”

I could picture the devastation, and it was gruesome.

“The war lasted years. Toward the end, when I was eight, monstra killed me. Mother saved me. She comes from the same land as Sin. Not Hakeldama, not your Kansas, but another. Our mother hadn’t yet found the Ember, but she knew the power of the shells, an ingredient in serpens-rosa. She risked her life, acquired some, and brought me back.”

So that was why Morris had believed he could revive Andrea. Those oh, so powerful shells. “That means you and Mom are both centuries old.”

“Yes. Under the right circumstances, our kind ages much slower than humans.” She drew a deep breath, as if needing to prepare for the next part of her story. “Mother knew the Ember was the only power able to extinguish Sin and all her creatures. So, she hunted until she found it.”

“And absorbed it?” As I had.

My sister nodded. “The Ember is life in its purest form. Once, a single shell contained it, but it broke upon arrival, scattering shards. The Ember concealed itself. But that’s why the shells function as they do. They carry its essence. Sin gathered the pieces and with Morris’s blood, created other eggs. With those, she produced the monstra.”

“How do I wield the Ember, as Mom did?”

A sad smile. “You must give it your life, Moriah.”

I sputtered for a bit. “I have. Many times, apparently. So did Mom.”

“Perhaps giving your life doesn’t mean death in the sense you assume. I do not know how, exactly, it works; I simply tell you what Mother muttered before she marched into battle for the last time.” My sister’s shoulders rolled in. “I hid in the mountain’s crook when she ascended with water wings. The Ember ignited within her, and in a blink, the monstra crystallized. I thought she ended Sin and Malkom with them, but the two must have slinked off when our mother fell. Morris was there, too, on the battlefield, fighting alongside royal soldiers. He carried Andrea into the mountain and covered her in the shells.”

Elowen closed her eyes, a tear trickling down her cheek. A tear trickled down my cheek. I reached out and placed my hand over hers. How we’d all suffered.

“Mother wasn’t dead,” Elowen explained softly. “Father and I were both certain she would awaken. But weeks passed, and she did not.” Pain laced every syllable. Pain that cut through me like a blade.

How gutted they both must have been.

“We remained with her, concealed inside the mountain. But royal soldiers finally found us. They had seen Morris fighting, aiding Mother, and believed he was the one who’d handed them the victory. Called him a hero.” Another smile, this one grave. “He took credit to keep Mother hidden. Then the king arrived with an order to raze the mountain. He also offered the hand of his eldest daughter to Morris.”

I didn’t have to wonder what happened next. “To protect Andrea, Morris agreed.”

Elowen laced her fingers with mine. “He moved into the palace with me and had Mother brought to the catacombs in a coffin.”

So Ian had told the truth about that. I leaned closer to her, desperate to hear more. Everything. “But the catacombs collapsed, too.”

“Not for several years.” She clung to my hand. “I hated life at the palace. I was the world’s second known water maiden. Red while others were…not. Always having visions I didn’t understand. I became a novelty and a freak.”

“I never really felt like I belonged in Kansas either,” I admitted. Or at college. And I’d never known why. Now, the truth couldn’t be denied. I’d not been of that world.

Elowen and I…we may not have grown up together, but we were linked. Shared similar experiences. Loved the same people.

She released my hand to flutter her fingertips over her throat, becoming a picture of guilt, shame, and regret. “Morris seemed to forget me, his life revolving around awakening Andrea. I just…I just wanted him to be my father again.”

“What did you do?” I asked, my throat tightening. Some part of me already knew.

“I yelled at him, begging him to let her go. To love me again. And I…my screaming…”

“What?”

“My screaming brought down the mountain.” The guilt and shame deepened, coating her features.