Chapter 29 · Mom Behind the Seal

"Nora."

The voice hit me before I could process the face. My mother's voice. The one I'd replayed in my head for seven years until the edges wore smooth and I stopped trusting it was real.

"No." I didn't mean to say it out loud. "You're dead."

"I'm not." She stepped closer, and the light from the corridor behind her caught the silver stitching on her coat. Evelyn family crest. Right over her heart. "I know you have questions—"

"Questions?" I was on my feet before I realized I'd moved. Kael grabbed my wrist, but I yanked free. "You vanished when I was seventeen. Milo was twelve. We waited three months before they told us to stop looking."

She flinched. Good.

"Who the hell are you wearing that for?" I pointed at the crest. "You working for them? You one of them?"

"Nora, listen—"

"Don't." My voice cracked, and I hated it. "Don't say my name like that. Like you still get to."

Behind me, Milo hadn't moved. I could hear his breathing, fast and shallow.