I nodded along somewhat sarcastically, my eyes wide. I knew all that—I’d heard it before, and Mother’s attempts to bring it to pass had cost the Heir his being.

Joel stamped his tiny hummingbird’s foot against my palm. “I did not finish the recital. That’s what got your mother into trouble.” He cleared his throat then continued, “If one attempts to bring the Foretelling to pass and fails, the Foretelling will never come to pass.’”

Okay, that was an important addition. I had to give him that one. “So, Mother’s failure wasn’t just Mother’s,” I said. “Nobody, no other soldier, can take the blood of a peculiar and the blood of a human and be King?”

“That’s right,” the Leader said. &ldq...

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