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before her. She knew she was right. The evidence was undeniable. She cleared her throat softly and said, ‘Before we go back, I have to tell you something. It’s something I’ve already hinted at, and I know you probably think I’m mad, but it’s important to me and I hope it becomes important to you.’
    ‘This is about you being our grandmother, isn’t it?’ Swift said.
    The young woman’s bluntness startled Meg. So she has listened to me , she thought. ‘Yes,’ she said.
    ‘How do you know?’
    There was an edge of bitterness in Swift’s question and Meg’s uncertainty threatened to return, but she was determined to resolve the matter, especially as she’d nearly lost Swift to the Kerwyn soldiers. ‘I know it’s all circumstantial, but the evidence is strong.’ She turned to Chase. ‘Your father—he called himself Trez, short for Treasure, didn’t he?’
    Chase nodded, watching her intently. ‘My son’s name was Treasure. I named him after…’ She paused,memories at the edge of her reason. ‘I named him after one of the old Shessian princes.’
    ‘Anyone could have done that,’ said Swift.
    Meg nodded. ‘But Treasure wasn’t a common name. It wasn’t popular.’
    ‘Why not?’ asked Chase.
    Again the past crowded into her mind, the guilty pleasures, the secrets she’d kept under control for a lifetime. She met Chase’s questioning eyes and it was as if Button was asking her to share her past. ‘Treasure Overbrook was the illegitimate child of Queen Sunset. He tried to help the Seers take the throne but they were defeated.’
    ‘And what happened to him?’
    The truth was more terrible than a lie, she decided. ‘He was killed in battle.’ She expected them to accept her lie because the past was long before their world came into being, but the expression on Swift’s face was utterly unexpected. ‘What?’ Meg asked.
    ‘You killed him.’
    Swift’s accusation cut through her like a sword. The images of the suppressed past swamped her and she gasped as if the air had suddenly been sucked from the chamber.
    ‘You want us to believe that you are Lady Amber and our grandmother,’ Swift continued, her aggravation rampant in her voice. ‘You’re telling us that we are the grandchildren of legends and ballads.’
    Swift’s mocking tone angered Meg. ‘I’m telling you that you are my grandchildren,’ she replied. ‘I lost my son, Treasure, to the Kerwyn when they invaded our country. They murdered my husband and my other boys, but they stole away my daughter, Emma, and Treasure, and sold them into slavery.’ The outburst of the past, conveyed in her sudden anger, overwhelmed her and she wobbled on her feet, reaching for the wallto steady herself. Chase took her arm, his gesture immediately soothing her.
    ‘Where did they send your children?’ Swift asked.
    Meg looked at the young woman and realised that what Swift wanted was answers to make the whole moment comprehensible. ‘They were meant to go to Andrak, across the oceans. They sent Emma. But they didn’t send Treasure. He was bought by someone in Westport and taken to Port of Joy.’
    ‘How do you know that?’
    Meg stared at Swift, seeing her own defiant green eyes in her granddaughter’s gaze. ‘I followed. I found Emma in Andrak, but not Treasure.’
    ‘And where’s Emma?’
    Meg shook her head. It was too much. She hadn’t anticipated everything that was going to be asked, hadn’t prepared for the past being so insistent on the present. ‘Emma…’ she started, stopped, and finished with, ‘Emma is dead.’ A tear escaped and slid down her cheek.
    Chase squeezed her arm and crooned, ‘Sorry.’ Meg put her free hand on his and forced a smile.
    ‘But how do you know Treasure was left behind? How do you know he was our father?’ Swift asked.
    ‘Leave her alone,’ Chase said. Meg’s heart warmed at his defence of her.
    Swift glared at him. ‘She wants us to know. And I want to know.’ She looked at