Chapter 24

Rebekah.

The tale Queen Cyra shared with me had shaken my soul, but nothing could have prepared me for the particular truth that came from my own mother’s lips.

Queen Renelda—my mother—once ruled Elywoods Kingdom, before it was stolen from her by Queen Cyra’s own sister, Neriah. The woman who cast us into hiding and despair, the one who nearly destroyed Queen Cyra… she was the same woman who took my mother’s crown. I can't can't believe it.

And yet, there are so many parts that still make no sense. How did Neriah even come to know our family? What did she want from us? Why?

When I pressed my mother for answers, she had none. Her confusion matched my own. She hadn’t even known that Queen Cyra—the woman in the woods—was her former ally, the fairy Queen.

And now here we are, standing at the edge of a grand ballroom, waiting to be announced. My heart pounds so loud I fear everyone will hear it.

“Lady Rebekah and Lady Renelda of the Eastern Vale,” the herald calls.