Hushed Willows Every day I've got a smile where my frown goes

I knew your mother.

Mae's breath caught in her throat. Her mother. Her mother. And this woman, this Reverie, she knew Akavir too — but that mattered less to her than the unspoken promise of the knowledge Mae wanted more than anything else, that missing piece of herself which haunted her more with each passing day. The woman who'd given her life; the woman who'd abandoned her.

She scarcely heard the rest of what Reverie said. Any pain she felt now was secondary, insignificant compared to the frantic feeling bubbling up in her chest. You knew my mother? Her voice had dropped to a whisper, eyes fixed unblinkingly on the woman who could not seem to look at her for more than a few moments.