Unknown Heir (ACOTAR)

TWELVE

Everyone's eyes turned to me and a smirk grew on Mor's face. Instantly I felt the high lord place multiple wards around the town house. I chuckled. I locked eyes with the high lord and he held my stare. "When I was comfortable enough to trust you guys wouldn't react exactly as you are now," I said, crossing my arms. "But I see even my right of choice has been taken from me," I continued, slowly looking to Mor. She smiled at me.

"Trusting the daughter of Hybern is one thing. Trusting someone from Mystia is another," Mor spat at me. "Your mother must have been from Mystia. Who was she?"

"The Queen," Amren said. I glared at her, feeling as if I was being stripped bare and I couldn't do anything about it.

"So you're the heir to the throne in Mystia? The one legends say has been abandoned for centuries," Cassian added. I felt my blood boil. "Are you going to reclaim it?"

"What are you going to do then? Destroy everything else in the universe? Like the rulers of Mystia once tried?" I shut my eyes, pushing my magic down. I opened them again a moment later and stared into the smirking face of Morrigan.

"Mystia. Doesn't. Exist," I said to her, slowly. She rolled her eyes. I almost lunged at her and she took a step back. "He destroyed it!" I yelled at her. She gave me a confused look. I felt the tears build up in my eyes. "He murdered everyone after taking her," I got out, trying to hold back the tears. I turned and stormed out of the room, out of the house. I came across the ward he had placed around the house. I riled some magic to destroy it but it opened for me. I turned to look behind me and saw the high lord nod. I turned and walked through the ward, summoning my wings and lifting off, away from the town house.

~~~~~

"What's Mystia?" I asked, once everyone had sat down again. The group looked at Rhys. He sighed.

"It's a realm outside our world. Like Amren's world. It's a legend to us because no one has ever been to Mystia and returned. And no one knows what happens to those who do manage to travel there," Rhys begins.

"It's said to be ruled by a king and a queen who, together, command the different elements, seasons, basically everything, of the world. They're very powerful fae," Mor added.

"A couple of centuries ago, the rulers of Mystia decided they wanted to expand. They wanted to rule different worlds, not only the one they inhabited. We were able to keep them out of Prythian but there were other places that didn't survive. We haven't heard or seen anyone from Mystia since," Rhys continued.

"Who do you think she was talking about?" I asked.

"Hybern. For sure," Cassian spat. We looked at him. "I just have a feeling."

"It is," Azriel said. He was leaning against the wall near the door, staring into nothingness. He looked up at us. "He tortured and killed her mother. If her mother is from Mystia, as you claim, then Nalé was talking about Hybern." He paused for a moment. "She told me her father took her mother purely for her mother's power to produce an offspring more powerful than himself to take over after him. But her mother never accepted him as a lover and thus he killed her. She's been used her entire life by the people who were around her in her father's palace."

"Did you know? That she was from Mystia or that her mother was queen?" Mor asked him.

"No, I didn't. But her story makes sense now," he said. Rhys gave him a questioning look. Azriel took a seat on one of the chairs in the room. "She would tell me things but never explain them. She would push them aside or have trouble telling me something, as if she was looking for a way to put it. I assume to stop me from realising she was more powerful than we thought. Her wings, for example. She didn't fly because her father had- had broken them- when she was young," Azriel said, with some difficulty. I saw Rhys and Cassian tense a little. "She said she healed them but didn't tell me how, just that she had to heal them herself because there were no healers that knew how to deal with her wings. She also said that she would fly around with her mother at night even though her mother was not alive anymore at the time," he continued.

"Do you think she can talk to the dead?" I asked carefully. Azriel nodded slowly.

~~~~~

I had flown for a good few hours, as far as possible from the Night Court. I would soon be crossing over to the Human Lands. I shifted directions and started flying right. Across the sea, over to Hybern. The one place I knew my mother would be able to find me when I opened the portal to see her. I soon landed on the pavement leading to the castle doors. I looked around me, taking in the area, noting the weeds growing through the cobblestone walls of the former polished castle. I took a deep breath and walked towards the large castle doors. They felt cold under my hand but I pushed them open anyway. I was hit with a cold breeze. I walked to the dais and looked at the two thrones there, one that was never occupied. Turning to my right, I raised my hand and started the incantation.

"Vrea ni mastic natu. Vrea ni mastic natu," I repeated a couple times before a small circle appeared a few meters away from my hand. Slowly, the portal grew until it was twice my size. I dropped my hand once it had stabilized itself. I let out a sigh. "Mother?" I asked it. The edges flickered. I watched intensively but nothing happened. I felt the palms of my hands begin to sweat. "Mother!" I shouted into the portal, hoping she would hear. It usually didn't take her longer than a couple of seconds to find me. The nerves in my body started racing. After another minute of waiting I called her name, a risky thing to do. "Mariona!" The portal didn't move. It didn't flicker. The blue mist that made up the open portal that I saw stilled. Before parting. I sighed in relief as the figure of a woman with a crown entered through the mist. I sagged to my knees as my mother stood there, watching me. She had a smile on her face. Her auburn hair cascaded down her shoulders and ended at her waist, the top half braided behind her. Her body was hidden behind a white tunic that wrapped around her chest. A golden ribbon held it in place around her hips.

"Nalé, where have you been?" I looked up at her, her icy blue eyes locking with mine.

"I- I left. I had to. He was going to destroy Prythian using the Cauldron. I didn't want to be part of it," I replied, rubbing my arm.

"Where did you go? I doubt any of the Courts would've let you in," she said, sitting down across from me on her knees.

"I went to Velaris and hid there with a glamour. It took them a while to find me," I said. I watched as her dress folded onto the floor. She was just as elegant as I remembered. Just as patient and calm as well.

"But they did?" I nodded. "Did you run again?"

"No, but I only stayed because I found someone," I said to her. She smiled.

"I'm happy for you," she replied. "And your father isn't there anymore?" I shook my head.

"He's not near you is he?" I asked, worry lacing my words. She shook her head.

"He's not from Mystia, he cannot come here. I could go to him but I don't think I will," she said with a small chuckle. I smiled at her again.

"I missed you mom," I said. "A lot."

"I know dear. I missed you too. And I was scared when you stopped calling for me. But you're safe?"

"Yea, I'm safe. How is- how are the people from Mystia?" I asked carefully. My mother seemed to look behind her.

"They are- upset. But it is what it is. Have you thought about it?" she asked. I nodded.

"But I don't know what I'll do yet," I replied. My mother smiled again.

"There's time, don't rush. Tell me about him," she finally said. A smile crept to my face and I did what she asked. I told her about everything that had happened since I last spoke to her. The war, the hiding, and everything that occurred in the Court of Dreams. "He sounds lovely," she said after I had finished telling her everything. "I would like to meet him one day." I smiled at her.

"I think I can arrange that, eventually," I replied. She nodded.

After a couple of hours of talking and flying with my mom I was walking around the abandoned castle of my father. It was more or less the same as before I left. I walked around the empty corridors and chills ran along my spine. But I kept going. There was something in the basement that I needed.