Page 99 of The Curse of Golden Blood
"No." I took another step back. "I'm not."
Something shifted in his expression, a hardening that made my stomach drop. "I'm sorry if that came out like a question."
Before I could react, he swept me up into his arms. The world tilted as he launched us both into the air, his wings of pure energy carrying us up through the night sky. I wanted to struggle, to fight against him, but we were so high that falling would mean certain death.
So, I clung to him instead, burying my face in his shoulder. That’s when I noticed he had more clothes on than usual. I didn’t mind the extra fabric but my body selfishly missed the touch of his skin to mine.
By the time we touched down inside the palace again, my legs had stopped shaking. We landed on a balcony high in the palace's eastern tower.
Zydar set me down gently, but his hands remained on my arms as if he expected me to bolt.
"Zydar..." I began, attempting to steady my breathing. "I'm really not... This is ridiculous."
"Do you know what you've just done?" he asked, voice low. "Are you aware of the kind of catastrophe you could have unleashed?"
I narrowed my eyes. "I wasn't trying to unleash a catastrophe, I was just trying to—"
"Trying to what? To reach the human realm?" He raised one eyebrow. "This isn't the mortal plane. There's nothing but the Night Realm on the other side of that portal. We guard those lands carefully. They're forbidden. I don't even know how you found that chamber, let alone how you knew how to open a portal."
"I thought I was opening a gateway home. To the human realm."
"This confirms Narietta's visions."
A chill ran down my spine that had nothing to do with the night air. "Zydar... what visions?"
"She has been seeing you in her dreams. She believes you were changed as a babe, but her visions aren't always true. So I didn't believe them. Until tonight."
I wasn't sure which part made me angry: the fact that this revelation flipped my entire life on its axis, or the fact that it was him who'd uncovered the secret. "No. I’m no changeling. Don’t tell me otherwise."
The words didn't make sense. They couldn't make sense. I shook my head, gripping the balcony railing so hard my knuckles turned white. "My father was a hunter and my mother...she died when I was a baby. She died of fever. She was normal. Mortal. Human. "
"You're the daughter of Emystra."
The name hit me like a physical blow. I stared at him, my mouth opening and closing without sound. Emystra. Former Queen of the Sun Court. Mother of Ylvena, the Scorchbringer who currently ruled.
"That's not... No. That's not possible. I hate the fae!" I struggled to find words, to make sense of the impossible things he was saying. "Her children were killed! And halflings always look like fae! I read about this in your library. They have pointed ears, some of them even have wings. And they almost always display abilities from birth. I'm just a mortal."
"Your mother... Emystra." His voice turned gentle, as if he understood the magnitude of what he was telling me. "She must have put some sort of protection spell on you. She was the most powerful fae of us all. No one could do or undo her spells. This explains why no curse gets to you. Why your fae abilities can't surface."
The world started to tilt. My vision blurred at the edges, and suddenly I couldn't get enough air into my lungs. Everything I thought I knew about myself, about my life, about who I was... none of it was real.
I wasn't human. I wasn't the hunter's daughter who'd survived tragedy and learned to fight. I was something else entirely. Something I'd been taught to fear.
My head spun as images flashed through my mind. Memories that didn't quite fit, moments when things had happened that shouldn't have been possible. The way animals had always been drawn to me. The way plants seemed to grow better in my presence. The dreams I'd had of golden courts and beings made of light.
I gripped the railing tighter, but the world kept spinning. My knees buckled.
"Mira? Mira, are you all right?"
His voice sounded like it was coming from very far away. I tried to respond, but the words stuck in my throat.
Zydar caught me before I could fall, supporting my weight with his body. He held me against his chest, and a part of me wanted to cling to him like a helpless child.
"Mira, look at me." His hand cupped my cheek, the contact soothing and warm. "Take a deep breath. Please. Just breathe."
I struggled to obey. The room continued to spin, refusing to right itself. My head felt full of cotton. The pulse throbbing in my ears was too fast, too frantic.
Without warning, he lifted me. One arm beneath my knees, the other supporting my back, carrying me like I weighed nothing at all. The world swayed as he moved, but his steps were steady, sure. He lowered me onto his bed, the mattress soft beneath my trembling body.
