Kiera's POV
The tablet slips from my hands and clatters on the floor.
"That's impossible," I whisper. "She's dead. I buried her."
Lord Silvercrest picks up the tablet, still smiling that terrible smile. "Did you? Or did you bury an empty coffin while your mother ran away to save herself?"
My legs won't hold me. I grab the edge of the desk, knuckles white.
Mom died five years ago. Skyheart explosion in the factory where she worked. They gave us her wedding ring and a sealed coffin. Said the body was too damaged to view.
I cried for three days straight. Finn held me while I screamed myself hoarse.
And she was alive the whole time?
"Where is she?" My voice sounds strange. Distant. "Where is she now?"
"That's the question, isn't it?" Lord Silvercrest tucks the tablet away. "Perhaps you'll find out. Perhaps not. But I thought you deserved to know—your family has a talent for keeping secrets."
He leaves. Just walks out like he didn't just shatter my entire world.
Davian touches my shoulder. I flinch away.
"Don't," I snap. "Just... don't."
"I didn't know," he says quietly. "I swear I didn't know about your mother."
"How convenient. You never know anything." I'm shaking now, anger and shock warring inside my chest. "Your father murdered my brother, your research justified it, and my mother—my dead mother—watched it happen. What else don't you know?"
He has no answer. Of course he doesn't.
Marcus clears his throat from the doorway. "Miss Ashwind? We need to prepare you for transport to the estate. And... Miss Nightwind is waiting."
Sera. Right. They're releasing her.
I force myself to breathe. To think. To push my mother's ghost into a corner of my mind where I can deal with it later.
Later. When I'm not falling apart.
"Take me to Sera first," I manage. "Please."
Marcus nods and leads me back down. Davian follows at a distance, giving me space I desperately need.
They've moved Sera to a holding room near the prison entrance. She's standing when I enter, testing her broken wing carefully. Someone's splinted it—actual medical care instead of letting it heal crooked.
She sees me and grins. "So you really did it. Signed your life away to marry pretty boy over there." She jerks her chin at Davian hovering in the doorway.
"I can hear you," Davian says mildly.
"Good. Maybe you'll remember it when you're being a terrible husband." Sera turns back to me. "You okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."
The laugh that escapes me sounds half-crazy. "Something like that."
"Five minutes," Marcus says, then closes the door, leaving us alone.
Sera pulls me into a fierce hug. "Talk to me. What happened after I saw you?"
I tell her everything. The contract. The conditions. Lord Silvercrest's revelation about Mom.
By the end, Sera's face has gone pale. "Your mother's alive? Kiera, that's—"
"Insane. Impossible. I know." I sink onto the bench against the wall. "I don't understand any of this. Why would she fake her death? Why watch Finn die without helping him?"
"Maybe she couldn't help him. Maybe she was trying to protect you."
"By abandoning us?" Anger flares hot in my chest. "By letting us think she was dead? By watching them execute her own son?"
Sera sits beside me, our shoulders touching. "I don't know. But you're going to find out, right? That's why you signed that contract. To get answers."
"To get justice," I correct. "For Finn. For everyone the Council has hurt."
"Damn right." Sera takes my hand, careful of my shackles. "Listen to me. You're walking into the lion's den. These people are dangerous. They'll smile at you during dinner and stab you in the back before dessert."
"I know."
"But you're dangerous too. Don't forget that." She squeezes my fingers. "You're Kiera Ashwind. You punched a guard who tried to break your wings. You started a prison riot with nothing but a spoon and pure spite. You survived two years in this hellhole without breaking."
"I feel pretty broken right now."
"You're bent. Not broken. There's a difference." She leans her head against mine. "Promise me you won't lose yourself in there. Don't become cold like them. Don't let them kill the part of you that still believes things can be better."
My throat tightens. "I promise. But you have to promise me something too."
"Anything."
"When you get out, find the others. The ones Finn worked with. Tell them what's happening. Tell them..." I pause, thinking. "Tell them the revolution isn't over. It's just changing tactics."
Sera pulls back to look at me. "You're planning something."
"I'm planning everything." I meet her eyes. "I'm going to find out who killed Finn. Who's really destroying the Skyhearts. Why my mother faked her death. And I'm going to expose all of it. Burn their corrupt system down from the inside."
"That's my girl." Sera grins fiercely. "Just... try not to die, okay? I can't lose you too."
"Not planning on it."
"Good. Because when this is over, we're stealing a ship and flying as far away from this nightmare city as possible."
"Deal."
The door opens. Marcus looks apologetic. "Time's up. Miss Nightwind, your release papers are ready."
We stand together. Sera pulls me into one last hug, whispering in my ear: "Trust your instincts. If something feels wrong, it probably is. And if you need help—any help—get a message to the Hollow District. The Windborn there remember what Finn fought for. They'll remember you too."
"I will."
She pulls back, eyes bright with unshed tears. "I love you, sister."
"Love you too."
Then she's gone, escorted away by guards who'll take her to freedom while I walk toward a different kind of cage.
Davian appears in the doorway. "Ready?"
No. I'm not ready. I'll never be ready.
But I nod anyway.
He leads me through the prison one last time. Guards stare as we pass. Prisoners whisper. Someone starts singing an old Windborn resistance song, and others join in until the whole cell block echoes with it.
When the sky falls down, we'll still have wings. When the chains break, we'll remember everything. They can cage our bodies but never our souls. The wind remembers. The wind remembers.
Tears burn my eyes but I don't let them fall. Can't let them fall. Not here. Not where they can see.
We reach the prison entrance. Real sunlight streams through the doorway—the first I've seen in two years that isn't filtered through cell bars.
A guard steps forward with a key. "Your shackles, Miss Ashwind."
The metal falls away from my wrists. From my ankles.
For the first time in two years, I'm not chained.
My wings unfold slowly, painfully. The muscles scream from disuse. Feathers catch on each other, tangled and damaged. But they spread. They work.
I'm free.
Sort of.
A sleek black car waits outside. The driver opens the door. Davian gestures for me to enter.
"After you."
I climb in, and he slides in beside me. The door closes. The car pulls away from Sky's Edge Prison, and I watch through the window as it disappears behind us.
"How long until we reach your estate?" I ask.
"Twenty minutes."
Twenty minutes until I meet Lord Silvercrest again. Until I start playing the role of obedient fiancée.
Twenty minutes to prepare for war.
I lean back against the leather seat and close my eyes, wings folded carefully behind me.
"Kiera?" Davian's voice is quiet. Careful. "About your mother—"
"Don't." I open my eyes and look at him. "Not yet. I can't... I can't think about that yet."
He nods. "When you're ready, I'll help you find answers. I promise."
"Why would you help me? Your father clearly showed me that video to hurt me. To throw me off balance."
"I know." His jaw tightens. "Which is exactly why I'm going to help you. My father uses pain as a weapon. I'd rather use truth."
Before I can respond, the car swerves violently.
I grab the door handle. "What—"
An explosion rocks the street ahead. The car screeches to a halt.
Through the windshield, I see a Skyheart facility. Or what's left of it. Flames pour from shattered windows. The building tilts at an impossible angle.
And standing in the middle of the destruction, wings spread and covered in blood, is a woman.
She turns toward our car.
Silver hair. Amber eyes just like mine.
My mother.
She sees me through the window, and her face goes white with shock.
Then she spreads her wings and flies directly at us.