Brood of Vipers by Maggie Claire (good books for high schoolers .txt) 📕

more moments of silence, he clearly states, “While I have loved you as my own, you are not my biological daughter, Little Bird.”

It takes my heart a few beats to catch up to the agony ripping through my bones. Tears stream down my cheeks as I wail, “I…I didn’t need to know that! It doesn’t change anything—”

“You did need this information, child, because the rest of what I must say hinges on this truth,” my father interjects, and while I am curious as to the meaning of his words, all I can do is wonder what I should call him now.

“Why? How could that possibly matter?” I cry, eyeing the dark hole that will lead me back into my own reality. As beautifully clean as this land seems to be, it holds just as much sorrow as my homeland.

“Your mother was a dear friend to me, but she was never my wife as you believed. Her beloved was a soldier in the king of Déchets’ border guards. Though it killed her to do it, she left him behind when she crossed into Cassè, and she did so for you. She wanted you to grow up in our lands, to see what life was truly like on our side of the Devil’s Spine.”

“To what end?” I snap, bitterness rising like bile in my stomach. “Why would she want me to suffer as I have?”

“Everything went to hell after the windstorm, something your mother had no means of predicting. She wanted you to see the good in Cassè; she wanted to bring you to this very moment. When the wretched King Alaric gets greedy again, she hoped you’d be ready to stand against him.” My father takes a deep breath, a sound I’ve already come to regret hearing because it means more troublesome news is coming. “Your mother never told me outright who she was, but I know she came from nobility in Déchets. You are a full-blooded, Windwalker magic-wielding member of Déchets noble class. Your word has weight in the king’s court because of your mother’s title. Alaric will stand against Cassè, but because you are a citizen of his country, he is law bound to protect you.” Lowering his eyes, my father gives me a moment to digest this information before he speaks once more. “It puts you in a very precarious position, Little Bird, and for that, I am truly sorry. But you are a noble of Déchets, and you stand with the Ddraigs and people of Cassè. You have an opportunity to bridge the gap between our nations—or lead a coup to overthrow Alaric for good. That choice will be yours in the end.”

What a glorious gift from my mother, I sarcastically retort in my mind, clenching my fists as I consider the unfairness of it all. “I never wanted any of this.”

“But it’s yours just the same,” my father replies, his tone reminiscent of the one he’d use in my early years, full of patience and tenderness. Looking over my shoulder, my father’s mouth turns to a deep-set frown as he urgently ushers me to the dark hole. “This gateway between the living and the dead is closing soon, and you must go back to your world. I’m sorry, Little Bird, for I do wish you could stay here with me. There’s so much more I wish I could tell you, but—”

“Now is not the time,” I deduce as a sharp pain twists in my gut. Deep red claws reach through the gateway in front of me, ripping through the air and ether as they search for my soul. A voice beckons me, whispering my name through the darkness. I turn my tear-soaked face toward the man I’d loved all my life, completely speechless as I reel under the weight of all his revelations. Then, saying nothing more, I allow myself to be plucked from the light by those vibrantly gleaming claws, the terrifying darkness of reality swallowing me whole.

***

“She’s coming around.” Drake’s gruff voice bellows over me, worsening my throbbing headache. He slumps beside me, his elbows perched on his knees, hanging his head low as though completely exhausted.

“Iris!” Cyrus whimpers my name, and when I turn my head, I see that he’s pinned to the ground by Suryc. The black Ddraig’s eyes are fevered, his long claws carefully securing Cyrus, preventing him from escaping or self-harming. “Say something to me, Iris!” Cyrus demands, and I can hear his crazed, mindless hysteria in his frenzied tone.

“I’m here,” I croak, my voice gruff and barely recognizable as my own. “Let him come here, Suryc.”

“Are you sure that’s wise?” Suryc questions, turning his skeptical golden eyes on me. “When we got in here, you were dying, and he was beating on your chest—”

“I was trying to keep her heart beating,” Cyrus snarls, struggling under Suryc’s unyielding claws. “I wasn’t trying to hurt her. I would never—”

“But you did!” Siri roars, cutting off my view as she steps between us, her silver eyes swirling with tears as she leans down to me. Smoke swirls from her nostrils as she carefully sets her chin on my stomach. Even without purposefully putting pressure on me, Siri’s head causes intense, agonizing pain in my chest. “I think a couple of ribs are broken,” Siri diagnoses while I gasp and try not to scream. “Clearly, there’s a limit to your skills.”

“Is she still bleeding from her neck wound? No! So, don’t gripe at me for leaving a broken rib or two,” Drake snaps, cutting his eyes hatefully at Siri. “The life-threatening injuries were all I could handle right now. I need to rest before I try again.”

“You healed me? How?” I rasp, surprised that Drake, of all people, would opt to save me. “Those red claws I saw in Death, was that Ekard?”

“Don’t say we never did anything nice for you,” Ekard grumbles, his deep voice resonating through my body. The vibration jars my broken ribs, and I bite my lip to keep