KINGSLAYER

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There was a flash of something in the glass. Jaylah blinked, clenching her eyelids shut each time. It was still there. The outline of a woman beside her in the reflection, clear as day. Not any woman: Jaylah's mother.

"Mother?" she called, having thought that question would never be on her tongue again. "You came back for me?"

"I came back." Her mother's voice was a million lifetimes away and right there at the same time.

A breathless noise escaped Jaylah's lips. Her mother had returned. She had so many things to say, but all she could make out was, "You are real."

"We are real, yes. Look at us." The voice came from behind her. She whirled to see her mother standing there within the room, tall and elegant, with Ourania at her side. Neither of them had aged a day since the massacre.

The sudden movement made her head whirl. When she overcame her shock, she took a few irregular steps towards them until her legs gave out. "Forgive me, Mother. Forgive me for...everything I put you through. There is too much to list."

She expected her mother to instantly accept her regret, but she said nothing. She did not appear angry, never angry, but there was a crease between her brows. Was what Jaylah did to them too unforgivable even for her gentle mother?

Unsure of how to go on with her mother, she switched to her sister, who was looking down at her intently as if she could not believe what she was seeing. "Ourania. Will you forgive me? I am sorry. I never should have sought to compete with you or thought you lesser. It was my own fault for believing Father." Her sister backed away a step, leaning in closer to their mother as if wanting to present as a united front. "Say something, either of you. Please."

"It is not proper for a Queen to grovel," her mother murmured mildly.

Did she not understand that Jaylah was willing to bypass protocol to have them forgive her? Regardless, she stood. "I am Empress now."

Her mother's eyebrows raised. "Oh..." At the news, Ourania's expression was a mixed one of fear and resentment.

"If all went to plan, what would you have done with me?" Jaylah blurted out.

"I believe you already know the answer to that question, dear."

Jaylah stumbled back. She felt like crying though she did not know why.

"Have you not always known?" Ourania added at the change in her disposition.

"Do you love me?" she asked. More to her mother, because she knew Ourania did not care for her. How could you love the thing of your blood that repeatedly took everything from you—attention, joy, self-esteem—without a care?

Her mother tilted her head in a comforting manner, but her lips remained meaningfully closed.

Why were they not saying anything? All she wanted was to know they did not hate her.

At a sound beside her, she turned to see her father staring fiercely at her mother. "Do you?" she asked him, only wanting a simple acknowledgment that he knew she was there.

"You are nothing but a shadow of mine, Jaylah," he said, never taking his glare off the two women. "How could I love someone that is not even whole?" His tone was neutral, but Ourania flinched at it.

"I made myself an Empress!" she cried. "I am building weapons terrible enough to swipe our enemies off the face of the earth!" She held her hands out to her mother, begging for acceptance. "I am getting married tomorrow. Just like you always wanted."

"Would I approve of the boy?"

Adrik wanted to leech off of her, he wanted her as a pawn. She took in the mass of her father, the thick wedding band around his finger. "I fear you would."