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off the street. I did a lot of odd jobs. I found myself in conversations where after a few drinks, it was easier to pull out a few details here and there. I kept journals of everything I learned so I could connect the dots later. And, I always tried to find out where the next closest community was before I started in about the queen or the Elders, in case I needed to move on.”
    It was odd to reconcile the stiffness of Cole’s posture with the easy-going flow of his words. There had to be so much more he wasn’t saying. So, I sat silently, waiting.
    “I actually focused a lot during those first few years on the queen. It was just as hard to get people to talk about her, but once I found the right person and we were in the right environment, they’d let loose for hours. Like I said, give them a few drinks out by the lake where no one else was around, and all these Mages wanted was someone to listen. They had lost family or friends to her demented plans. Damn it, Amelia, I never even wanted you to know this stuff.” Cole dragged a hand through his hair and finally looked over at me. “I was so naive and I thought I was going to find some hidden answer. Some way to either get you out of this betrothal or to unlock whatever power you have that she wants. To give you time to use it, master it, and go in there with a fighting chance.”
    I looped my arm awkwardly around his neck for a half-hug. “I know,” I said. “It just isn’t that simple, Cole. It never has been. And, given the way my crazy power has been acting, I don’t know if I want any more of it unlocked.” He patted my hand, nodding. I settled myself next to him again and he continued.
    “You know the basic history. You understand how the Hunters work for the queen and the AniMages have been exiled. You know about how Elders used to be in positions of power working with Queen Julia. But, nobody talks about how or why that changed. That’s what these people told me. They told me both how and why. Somehow, Julia found out how she would die, so she started taking out anyone who could possibly be involved. She didn’t know when it would happen, so her plans were mindless and insane. Some of the people I spoke to even shared their memories, the same way dad has before. The first time it happened I was talking to an older man who had lost his wife to one of Julia’s raids. Mid-sentence he couldn’t speak anymore, so he just reached over and touched my temple. His memories will forever be burned in my mind.”
    Cole shook his head quickly back and forth, as if he were trying to change the channel in his head and make those scenes stop. I wasn’t sure how much more of this I truly wanted to know. Even though I needed to, I refused to ask for more details. Not yet.
    Cole carried on. “Okay, remember the history lessons from when we were little? Our races have been around for hundreds of years. We can be traced back to the Fertile Crescent and Rynna told us our parents grew up in Syria where the main castle and communities stood. What we weren’t taught was that there was a time when the queen was nothing more than a figurehead. Everyone always talked about Elders being so powerful, but from what I understand, it’s so much more than that, Amelia. Elders weren’t just powerful Mages. Elders were the most powerful Mages. They led us all. And by all , I mean that in the beginning, all races were equal. The Elders oversaw Mages, Hunters, and AniMages alike. It was Queen Julia who changed everything, and she was also the one who forced the silence about what really happened. She put a fear into the hearts of all Immortals so deep, she was sure no one would defy her.” The way his face pinched together, his lips a thin line as the tendons in his neck protruded, made it clear that my brother’s hatred for the queen went far beyond the conversation we were now having.
    “There used to be a group of Elders,” he continued. “Five families made up the Elder