When the woman who said she was Elara's real mother spoke up, the room went quiet.
She looked just like an older version of Elara, but there was both ancient knowledge and terrible sadness in her eyes.
"You're not my mother," Elara told her sharply. "My mother died when I was born." The woman asked in a soft voice, "Did she?"
"Or did she do what any mother would do—fake her death to protect her child?" Elara's dad told her, "That's not possible."
"I buried you myself." "You buried a body," the woman told him.
"But not mine. I've been hiding in the space between worlds while I wait for the right time to come back.
"Why now?" Kael asked with doubt. The woman said,
"Because my daughter needs me right now." "And because the real war is just beginning."
Ronan asked, "What real war?" Before the woman could answer, Elara, who was dark, laughed really hard.
