Chapter 8: Chapter 8: Reena

I wasn't sure why Mabel deigned to bring me to this most sacred of places with her, nor why I was chosen to bear witness to Mathias's awakening to his true history. The fact he had no idea his father was drach still seemed unlikely to me but from his reaction to her and the assembled gathering of the first race who'd come to greet him, the unexpected was the truth.

I was so accustomed to making myself comfortable in the least comfortable of conditions, especially when faced with those who didn't want me around. But this was an experience like no other, as the drach welcomed me and my power as if I belonged there. Much more disconcerting than the opposite of which I was so very familiar. It would have been easier, if I can be honest, if they'd rejected or ignored me. But that wasn't the drach way. In drawing me into their

confidence and this first glimpse of who Mathias really was, they put me so off my game I felt like a child again, struggling to understand why and who I was.