Rina’s telepathy, they might be able to block Mom’s power, too.”
We stared at each other as we continued to consider this possibility. What if I do have a daughter? She’d been out there for seven years without me, someone else raising her. Did she know about us—her parents, her twin brother? Who took care of her? How did they treat her? Do they love her? I sniffed against the tears threatening to fall.
Tristan took my hands and pulled me into his arms. I fell into his lap. “Don’t cry, Lexi. If it’s even true, it’s good news. But we don’t know if it’s true. His thought wasn’t that specific, right?”
“Hers,” I corrected.
“Hers what?”
“Her thought. It was a female voice.”
“Well, that narrows it down. The only female mages on the council are Minh, Galina, and Charlotte.”
“It definitely wasn’t Charlotte.”
“I wouldn’t expect so. Of course, I wouldn’t expect any of this. You’re sure that’s what you heard?” His hazel eyes pierced into mine as if he expected I’d suddenly give a different answer.
“Yes. ‘Of course Alexis won’t have a daughter. We already have the girl. We just need to keep her hidden . . .’ And then the thought trailed off.”
“Trailed off or you lost it?”
I considered his question and realized I wasn’t exactly sure. I’d been quite upset by then, so I may not have heard the rest.
“I don’t know.”
“So maybe there was more . . . something that explains it better.”
“And what could that be? It sounds pretty clear to me.”
Tristan blew out a heavy breath of frustration. He had no answer.
“What if she’s out there, Tristan? What if we have a daughter after all this time?”
He squeezed me tighter against him. “Then we find her.”
I nodded. Yes, we would certainly find her.
Though Mom, Rina, and Solomon were among the most graceful people on the planet, my powerful hearing picked up the whispers of their footsteps coming down the hall. The meeting must have adjourned. There was a soft knock on the front door of our suite, then they all, along with Owen, entered. I quickly moved out of Tristan’s lap to sit in the middle of the bed against the pillows. Mom and Rina sat next to me, on the other side from Tristan, and Solomon and Owen stood at the end.
Rina took my hand. “What did you hear, my darling?”
I inhaled deeply and blew it out slowly. Then I told them.
“That’s ridiculous,” Mom said.
“Impossible,” Rina added. “We would know.”
Tristan and I explained all the reasoning we’d already considered.
“We were there for the entire birth,” Rina said. “No one else was close.”
“You’re absolutely sure?” I asked. “Not even a brief moment, when someone could have flashed in and out?”
“We would figure out you’d had another baby, though,” Mom said. “And it would have to be longer than a moment. Long enough for you to give birth and them to cut the cord and then flash—with someone in their arms, which only Tristan can do—without Rina or me knowing.”
“I also had the house shielded,” Owen added. “There aren’t too many mages powerful enough to break my shields. It’d have to be a sorcerer.”
Solomon rocked back on his heels. “We have no sorcerers, so that would mean Daemoni.”
Everyone fell silent. I guess because I was allowed to be ignorant, I asked the question they all had to be thinking.
“Could there be Daemoni on the council?”
Everyone stared at me as if I were crazy. Okay, maybe we hadn’t been thinking along the same lines.
“Of course not,” Rina finally said. “We all have senses for Daemoni.”
“It would mean they infiltrated us over seven years ago, which is impossible,” Solomon said. He crossed his arms over his broad chest. “They would have exposed themselves by now. They don’t have that kind of self-control.”
“So if it’s not Daemoni, it must be Amadis,” I said. “And it’s not just the video. There’s a girl . . . possibly my daughter.”
Rina’s fingers picked at something invisible on her dress. She shook her head slowly. “I do not understand why or how this would happen. The Daemoni have never succeeded in killing the youngest daughter. Why would anyone think this daughter would need more protection than usual?”
“And why would they do it without the matriarch’s knowledge?” Solomon demanded. “If there is reason to think this daughter’s life is in more danger than usual, why wouldn’t they tell their leader?”
Mom shifted toward me. “Honey, are you sure that’s what you heard? Are you sure that’s his exact thought?”
“Her thought,”