Grace has only recently learned something of her mother's family (see Grace and the Mages of Haven). Much of this background is ambiguous from her point of view. Grace's mother, Kate, had apparently been assigned by the mages to seduce Martin and produce a child with Amber heritage to be used in the future to travel into shadow. Kate did seduce Martin but instead of turning the infant  Grace over to the other mages, hid her in Catan. As far as Grace knows, Kate's death trying to stop a bar fight was accidental, but it prevented Kate from ever reavealing any of her maternal heritage to Grace.

Grace is not sure what abilities she might have thanks to her mother. Though, Grace has managed to figure out that catching fire while walking the pattern is not typical for Martin's other children.