My Infinite System.

The world warped.

One second Althea was gripping Lucian’s hand in the dim hallway outside her solar, the next her stomach lurched sideways and the air snapped back into place. She stood in the middle of a quiet room.

She yanked her hand back like it was burned.

”What did you just do?”

”Walked,” Lucian said, like it was obvious. He moved to the chair by a small table and sat. He didn’t look tired. He didn’t look anything. ”Sit down.”

Althea stayed standing. Her eyes darted—a bed, a washstand, one window shuttered. An inn room. His inn room.

Her hand went to the hilt of her sword.

Lucian saw it and gave a slight shrug. ”Keep it out if you want. Doesn’t bother me.”

”Don’t patronize me.”

”I’m not. I’m being practical.” He leaned back. ”You look like you’re about to fall over. Sitting helps.”

Althea’s jaw clenched. She didn’t sit. She took a slow breath, forcing the Earl’s mask back into place.

”How did you get us here?” she asked.

”Took a shortcut.”

”That’s not an answer.”

”It’s the only one you’re getting right now.” He watched her face. ”You want to stand there shaking, fine. But we have things to talk about, and I’d rather you didn’t pass out in the middle of it.”

”I’m not shaking.”

”Your left hand is.”

Althea glanced down. Her left hand, resting on the sword’s pommel, was trembling slightly. She stilled it by force of will and finally sat, stiff, in the other chair.

Silence settled. Not comfortable.

”Who sent the assassin?” she asked.

”Don’t know yet.”

”You must have an idea.”

”Ideas are cheap. I need proof.”

She studied him. The black hair, the black eyes. The unnatural calm. ”You said you were my uncle.”

”I am.”

”Prove it.”

Lucian almost smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. ”How? You want a blood test? I don’t bleed the way you do. You want a family story? I could make one up. You felt what I did back there. You saw the portrait. You know I’m not lying.”

Althea’s fingers tightened on the chair. ”Tell me about her.”

”Your mother.”

”Yes.”

”What do you want to know?”

”Everything.”

Lucian sighed, a low sound. ”That’s a long story.”

”I’m not going anywhere.”

He looked at her for a long moment, then nodded slowly. ”Alright. But you’re not going to like it.”

”I don’t like any of this.”

”Fair.” He shifted, elbows on his knees. ”Her name was Lucy. Is Lucy. She was... stubborn. Funny when she wanted to be. Had a temper like a summer storm. Fast to laugh, faster to fight if someone she cared about was threatened.”

Althea said nothing.

”She wasn’t the oldest,” Lucian continued. ”But she acted like it sometimes. Took care of people. Even when she shouldn’t have. Even when it cost her.”

”How did you end up separated?”

Lucian’s gaze went distant. ”War.”

”What war?”

”The kind that doesn’t get written down in history books. The kind between things that shouldn’t exist.” He looked back at her. ”We weren’t from here, Althea. This world, this... universe. It’s new. We’re old.”

Althea’s brows drew together. ”What does that mean?”

”It means we come from somewhere else. A place that’s gone now. We had different enemies. Different rules.” He paused. ”Our father... he was part of it. He came back after we thought he was dead. Told us the truth.”

”Which was?”

”That we were never human.”

The words hung in the air.

Althea stared. ”That’s impossible.”

”Is it?” Lucian’s voice was flat. ”You saw what I did. Does that look human to you?”

She had no answer.

”He had a plan,” Lucian went on. ”A bad one. He wanted to reset everything. Wipe the slate clean. To do that, he needed power. A specific kind. The kind Lucy had.”

Althea’s throat felt dry. ”Her bloodline.”

”Yes. He targeted her. Waited until she was vulnerable. She’d just awakened her true power protecting me. She was exhausted. Hurt. He took her from the med bay. Just... walked in and took her.”

”And you let him.”

Lucian didn’t flinch. ”I was dying at the time. So, no. I didn’t let him. I failed to stop him.”

The raw honesty of it startled her.

”He trained her,” Lucian said, his voice dropping. ”Not to be strong. To be a weapon. To be the key to his revenge. He broke her down. Built her back up wrong. Filled her head with poison.”

Althea’s chest felt tight. ”Did she... believe him?”

”For a while.” Lucian’s eyes darkened. ”He was good at making his madness sound like sense. But Lucy... she was always stronger than he gave her credit for. She fought him. From the inside. It took years, but she started to remember who she was.”

”What happened?”

”She escaped. She ran. Fell in love with a man from another clan. Your father. She started building something real. Something he couldn’t touch.” Lucian’s jaw tightened. ”He found out. He didn’t like that.”

Althea’s voice was a whisper. ”Is he the one who sent the assassin?”

”Maybe. Or one of his followers. Or someone else who knows what her bloodline means and wants it erased.” Lucian leaned forward. ”But that’s not the point. The point is she hid you. She left you here, in this backwater, low-magic world, because it was the safest place she could find. No one would look for a Progenitor’s child in a place like this.”

”Progenitor?”

”Ancient being. Source of power. Like a living ley line.” He waved a hand. ”Details later. The point is, she left you to protect you. And now someone’s found you.”

Althea sat back, her mind reeling. It was too much. Fairy tales and nightmares woven together.

”Why tell me all this now?” she asked.

”Because you’re in danger. And you deserve to know why.”

”And what? You’re here to protect me? Out of family duty?”

Lucian’s expression didn’t change. ”Yes.”

”I don’t believe you.”

”That’s your right.”

She studied him, searching for a lie. ”What do you get out of this?”

”I get my sister back.” The words were simple. ”I lost her once. I’m not losing her again. And that means keeping you alive.”

Althea looked down at her hands. The hands that had signed trade deals, that had gripped a sword in battle, that had never once held a mother’s hand.

”All my life,” she said quietly, ”I thought she abandoned me. That I wasn’t enough to stay for.”

”She stayed as long as she could,” Lucian said. ”Leaving was the hardest thing she ever did.”

”How do you know?”

”Because I know her.”