30
Blinking in a cave didn’t do any good, but I couldn’t help it. It was reflexive to struggle to see in the pitch darkness. When the cave was once again illuminated, I squinted tightly.
“Damn, Jade, you’re wreaking havoc on my retinas.”
“Jade is gone.” The voice held the softness of velvet and the old stone smoothness of the Roman statues that surrounded us. A well-dressed man sat in the throne. He seemed ageless and ancient at the same time, like he’d cultivated his wrinkles for show. Gray-streaked white hair fell back from his temples.
“Jade is you.”
“No,” he said. “Jade is my daughter. Or did Morena not tell you?”
His words landed like a punch to my throat, and I swallowed. “No, she left that little detail out.”
He studied his nails. “She never wanted to claim me, to confirm we
