Dragons Against Them (Kingdoms of Fire and Ice #2)(26)
Now he began drafting the branches that shaped Queen Helena’s side of the family, his movements slower, methodical. Addie looked away and studied the room’s sparse furnishings. Its floors and ceiling. Anything to keep her impatience at bay.
“And this.” Zayne leaned back and slid the scroll toward her. “Is my mother’s side.”
Addie studied his script. Again, it looked similar to what she remembered. All, that is, until she read the subheadings under Helena’s parents. Their place of origin was not designated first by name of kingdom and then village, but rather by a single locale: Weston.
“I thought you said there were only two kingdoms.”
“Aye.”
“Then why didn’t you list one with this Weston place?”
“Because that village has come to be less about rulers and more about its inhabitants.”
His gaze seemed to intensify and Addie looked from him to the scroll, looking for some hidden meaning. Whatever it was, though, it was lost on her. With a frown, she looked back to him, his topaz eyes still trained on her. And that was when she knew exactly who lived there, and why he’d been so damned sure that the witches weren’t behind her half sister’s disappearance.
“Wait. Your mother’s…a witch?”
Zayne watched Addie step back, her eyes wide and wary. He’d been afraid to share his lineage with her for fear of this exact reaction. Of thinking the worst of his mother, of his family. But she was wrong, they all were.
“No, Adelaide, my mother is not a witch. But she does hale from the village where magical non-wizards have come to reside after your father cast them into exile. A village that has for centuries been a safe haven to those skilled in magic of all types—a truth her family knew, but your family apparently did not.”
She blinked. Swallowed hard. Looked from the sketch and back to him. “And her remaining family? Are they witches?”
He wished he could lie to her, to ease her worries and say there were no ties between him and the witches she had grown so terrified of these last few days. But as his one true mate, the desire to be truthful with her was too great to deny.
“Aye. There are different groups of the clan, different trades, if you will. Her younger sister, Ella, practices the trade of medicine. She has helped our family through many an illness over the years. Though her powers extend beyond sensing physical ailments alone.”
Addie studied him for a long moment, then stepped closer and traced trembling fingertips along his mother’s ancestral lines. “And your other aunt? Giselle?”
Zayne waited for Addie’s gaze to return to his before answering. “She is skilled in all trades, as their queen should be.”
“Oh God.” Adelaide withdrew her hand and started pacing the room. “So, I’m sleeping with the enemy? Is that what you’re telling me? About to get married into the same family who tried to have me killed as an infant?”
“They would have done no such thing.”
“No? Well sending me off to another dimension and dumping me on some stranger’s doorstep wasn’t exactly an act of preservation either. Damn it.” She scowled up at the ceiling. “Why? Why are you dragging me through all this?”
Zayne hated to see her this way, consumed by fear and anger, for he knew in his heart of hearts that Giselle would no sooner kill Adelaide than chop off her own hand. But how to make Addie see that?
Cursing under her breath, she turned away and stalked back toward the window. Zayne let her be for a moment, allowing her time to digest the information he had just given her. Because there was more to the story, and he needed her to be reasonable if she were to hear and understand it. When at last her shoulders sagged and she dropped onto the nearest chair, he rose and came to kneel before her.
“I know none of this makes much sense, my lady, but I hope you can learn to see past the stories told to you by your disillusioned father. The witches are a kind and proud race, one that seeks to help, not to harm. Your mother’s death…” He paused as her gaze flashed to his, fresh with hurt and confusion. “It was an accident. A terrible, terrible accident. Your father, distraught and in agony over his loss, sought to inflict pain upon the witches. A life for a life. But what Berinon told you, told us…I fear it matches not the tales I was told as a boy.”
Addie’s mouth opened into a small “o.” “W-what do you mean, doesn’t match?”
“If you will recall, the wizard told us your kidnapping was an act of revenge carried out by the family of the wrongfully killed maiden assisting with your birth. Yes, she was from the witch clan and no, she was not fully trained in her craft. But the stories I heard as a boy were that Forath’s high wizard had been in love with the maiden, and he ordered you to be taken in recompense for her death. The tales also said the persons responsible for your kidnapping weren’t witches at all but common thieves, eager to line their palms with gold.”
Addie rubbed her temples. “So you’re telling me, based on what you heard as a child, is that my father banished an entire race of people from his kingdom…based on an assumption? Didn’t the witches try to prove their innocence? Oh, wait—let me guess. My father wouldn’t listen.”
“Indeed, he refused. He exiled the entire clan, young and old, and demanded they leave this kingdom and never return.”