by Karen Lynch
“God, I missed you,” he said hoarsely against my hair.
I hugged him tighter. “I missed you, too. How’s Mom?”
He let out a breath and released me. “She’s sleeping. I have her sedated with the pills her doctor sent home with her, and she’ll be out for a while.”
My heart sank. “That bad?”
“She’ll be better when she wakes up and sees you.”
Lukas set my bag on the floor. “Is there anything I can do to help? I can have a doctor flown here if she needs one.”
Dad gave him a grateful smile. “Thank you, Lukas, but I think all she needs is Jesse. Our doctors told us it’s normal to have emotional setbacks in the first six months outside the hospital, and it’s been harder on Caroline with us away from home.”
Lukas nodded and looked at me. “I’ll stay in case you need me.”
I glanced at my father. His lips were pressed together, and I knew there was more he wanted to tell me, but he couldn’t say it in front of Lukas.
“You should go back. The meeting with Seelie is only a week away, and they need you there to prepare for it.” I went to him and took his hand. “We have your guards here, and one of them will let you know if we need anything.”
He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
He lowered his head and pressed a featherlight kiss to my forehead. “I’ll see you soon.”
I could still feel his lips against my skin as he created a portal and stepped through it into his courtyard. I waited for it to close before I turned to my father, who was watching me with a thoughtful expression.
“He cares for you,” Dad said.
“I know.”
“And you love him.”
“Yes.” My father knew me too well for me to try to deny it. “He doesn’t know.”
“If he doesn’t see it, then he’s a fool, and the Unseelie prince is anything but a fool.” He studied me a moment longer. “The most important question is: Are you happy?”
I wasn’t sure how to answer him. If I was too honest, it would make him worry more about me. If I lied, he’d see right through it. “I miss you guys and home, but I’m making friends and finding my place there. Faerie is amazing.”
The worry lines in his forehead smoothed out, and he pointed to the wide veranda. “Let’s sit and talk a while.”
I followed him through the open glass doors to the spacious sitting area that overlooked the golden sandy beach. Before us, steps led down into a glass-walled infinity pool that ran the length of the veranda, and beyond that, waves rolled gently against the shore. The house was nestled among tall palm trees in a crescent cove with a dock at the other end.
The warm breeze tossed my hair into my face, and I brushed it aside as I sat. “Wow. This place is beautiful.”
“And isolated,” Dad replied. “The mainland is an hour away, and we don’t see many boats passing on this side of the island.”
My gaze swept the beach again. “Where are the faeries Lukas left with you?”
“There’s a second house on the other side of the island. They stay there to give us privacy, and they drop by a few times a day.” He hitched a thumb over his shoulder. “Behind this house is a trail through the woods. It’s less than a quarter of a mile.”
“Do you like it here?” I asked. My parents were accustomed to the noise and bustle of New York, and they were used to being active and on the go all the time. This had to be a huge adjustment for them.
“What’s not to like?” His voice was light, but he couldn’t mask the strain on his face.
I averted my gaze, hating that my family had to go into hiding because of me. They should be recovering at home, surrounded by the things and people they knew instead of being trapped here. A paradise was only a paradise when you were free to leave. Anything else was a prison.
“Don’t, Jesse,” he said softly. “If you want to blame someone for this, blame the Seelie queen and the people who abducted us, or Davian Woods for what he did to you. You didn’t cause any of the trouble that led us here, and your mom and I won’t allow you to feel guilty for something you didn’t do. We couldn’t be prouder of you.”
My nose stung as I lifted my eyes to meet his. “Can you tell me what happened?”
He inhaled deeply and let it out. “It was my fault. I’ve been so good at keeping her away from the internet and the entertainment shows. I made sure there were no magazines or anything else around that might have mention of Prince Rhys. We had a food delivery this morning, and sometimes they will stick newspapers or magazines in the bags. I didn’t think to check before she started to put the food away, and she found a copy of Modern Fae. He was on the cover.”
My fingers gripped the wooden arms of my chair. “And she remembered?”
“Not at first. She joked about how much the prince looked like me at that age and asked if there was something I needed to tell her. We had a laugh, and I thought we were good.” He scrubbed at his jaw. “An hour later, she started crying and asking where you were. Then she asked why Caleb wasn’t here. The more I tried to calm her, the more agitated she got until she became hysterical and screaming that the queen took her babies.”
I covered my mouth with my hands as the tears I’d held back spilled over. “Oh, God.”
“I managed to get her sedated before the faeries came bursting in. They heard her screams all the way on their side of the island and thought we were being attacked. They know about our goren addictions, so I told them it was a relapse and asked them to send for you.”
This was exactly what I’d been afraid would happen when Mom’s memories came back. Dad and I had agreed we couldn’t tell anyone the truth about Caleb, but what if we couldn’t get her through this on our own.
“She’s strong, Jesse,” he said when I voiced my fear. “When she sees you and knows you’re safe, she’ll be calmer. It’s going to be hard for her to relive the past, but it’s the only way. It was going to happen eventually, and it’s better that it happens here where we can keep it secret.”
“Can I see her?”
“Of course. Finch and Aisla have been with her since I put her to bed, but it’ll help if you’re there when she wakes up.”
We entered the house, and he showed me to the master bedroom. He opened the door, and my eyes immediately went to the figure lying in the middle of the bed. My mother looked small and pale, and a fresh wave of grief and anger went through me for all she’d suffered.
A whistle split the air, and a tiny blue shape streaked across the white bedspread. I ran and caught Finch when he leaped at me. For a little guy, he had quite the grip when he wrapped his thin arms around my neck. I rubbed his back and looked for Aisla. I spotted her peeking around one of the bedside lamps. The nixie smiled and gave me a timid wave before she slipped out of sight.
“Glad to see you, too,” I whispered to Finch, who leaned back to look up at me. “I can’t wait to tell you all about Faerie, but first I need to see Mom.”
He let go of my neck to sign, Mom screamed a lot. It was scary.
“I bet it was. We’re going to help her get better, aren’t we?”
He nodded and curled into the crook of my neck. I held him there as I went to the bed and lay down facing my mother. I reached for her hand and held it while she slept off the drugs in her system.
“Jesse?” Mom croaked.
My eyes shot open, and I looked into her red, bleary eyes. “Hey, Mom.”
A tear leaked from the corner of her eye and disappeared into her hair. “Are you really here?”
I squeezed her hand. “Yes.”
She blinked a few times, trying to shake off the effect of the sedation. Then she rolled to her side and pulled me into a weak hug. “I dreamed about you and Caleb. Only he wasn’t a baby. He was a young man, and he…”
Her head jerked back, and she stared at me with eyes full of grief and horror. “Caleb’s not dead. My baby boy is alive.”
“Yes.” It was hard to speak around the rock in my throat. Helplessness washed over me when my mother began to shake and wail like a wounded animal.
Then my father was there. He slid onto the bed from the other side and gathered her into his arms. Loud sobs racked her body, and he murmured to her in a soothing voice until she finally calmed and her cries became hiccups. I’d been through a lot this year, but nothing had been as hard as watching my strong mother come apart like this.
“Should I go?” I whispered to him.
“No,” croaked my mother. She reached for me, and I took her trembling hand.
The three of us lay there like that for over an hour. Mom stopped hiccupping, and her breathing returned to normal. Just when I thought she’d fallen asleep, she spoke.
“How long have you known, Patrick?”
“My memory came back two weeks before you left the hospital,” Dad told her softly.
She pulled away to look at him. “How could you not tell me?”
“Caroline, you heard what the doctors said. No stress or anything that can cause a relapse. It hit me hard when it all came back, and I couldn’t put you through that until you were ready. I decided it was best to wait until your memory returned on its own.”
Mom was silent for a long moment. “And Jesse? How long has she known?”
Dad’s eyes met mine over her head, and I said, “I was with him when he remembered.”
She rolled onto her back and pushed up to recline against the pillows. Her face was drawn and tear-streaked, and her eyes were red. She used the edge of a sheet to blot the moisture from her face and hugged a pillow to her chest. Dad and I were silent as we waited to see how she would respond.
Mom stared straight ahead as if she was seeing something we couldn’t. “I knew he was alive. All these years, a part of me could never believe he was gone. Then I saw him. My baby. My Caleb.” She looked at me. “When he was born, he had my hair, but I said he would look like his father when he grew up. I was right.”
“I know. Dad showed me the photos of him when he was younger. They could have been twins.”
She held the pillow in a stranglehold. “They stole my baby boy and tried to make me believe he was dead. Then they changed him into one of them. Why? Why did they take my Caleb?”
“I don’t know.” My father’s voice was gentle, masking the agony in his eyes.
I brushed away the tears streaming down my cheeks. My chest felt like it was being squeezed by a hot metal band, and all I could do was watch my parents suffer.
“The Seelie queen did this. She stole him and raised him as her child,” Mom went on as if Dad hadn’t spoken. “Did she think we wouldn’t know our own son when we saw him?”
“Maybe that’s why she didn’t want him to come here,” I said, remembering a conversation I’d had with Prince Rhys. “When he refused to stay in Seelie, she probably hoped she had changed him enough that you wouldn’t see any resemblance. I mean I know him, and I didn’t see it until Dad pointed it out to me.”
As soon as the words left my mouth, I knew I’d messed up. Dad and I hadn’t talked about Prince Rhys around Mom, and that included my friendship with him.
Mom stared at me. “You know him?”
“I’ve talked to him a few times, but I wouldn’t say I know him well.”
She reached over to grip my hand. “What’s he like? What did you talk about?”
“He’s nice, and it was mostly small talk. He found out I was a bounty hunter, and he wanted to hear about it. He didn’t talk much about his life in Seelie.” I paused. “From what he did say, he had a happy childhood.”
Anger flashed in her eyes. “Because he had no idea he was stolen from his real family. How will he feel when he learns the truth?”
“Caroline,” Dad began quietly. “We can’t tell Prince Rhys the truth.” Mom started to object, but he cut her off. “The queen’s guard tried to have us killed because we recognized him. They warned Jesse to stay away from him. They’ve worked too hard to cover up what they did to let us expose them. We have no proof, and all we would do is put our whole family in danger.”
She shook her head. “No proof? What about the child we buried? We can have DNA tests done to prove it’s not Caleb.”
I bit my lip as I waited for Dad to tell her the storm at the cemetery had destroyed the grave. But he knew as well as I she wasn’t ready to hear that truth.
“DNA tests would prove that baby wasn’t ours, but it won’t implicate Seelie in any way. The prince has no human DNA left to test, and not a soul will believe he is Caleb even if there is a close resemblance to me.” He placed his hand over hers. “The only people who know the truth are the three of us and Maurice. I wanted him to know in case anything happened to us. We can’t let on to anyone that we have our memory back. It’s the only way to keep our children safe.”
She looked incredulously from Dad to me, and I knew the exact moment she comprehended what he was saying. All I could do was watch as my beautiful, fearless mother crumpled before my eyes.
Dad took her in his arms, and she buried her face against his shirt as she fell apart again. This time, I couldn’t bear to witness it. I eased off the bed and slipped out of the room.
Emotionally wrung out, I found a bathroom and splashed water on my face before I went in search of Finch and Aisla. When I couldn’t find them in the house, I walked out to the veranda. There I got the surprise of my life when I caught sight of the two tiny figures playing in the sand. Finch, who had never gone outside except for Lukas’s warded garden, was outdoors.
I stood quietly by the railing and watched him lie on the dry sand above the water’s reach and make a sand angel. Aisla took his hand, pulled him up, and made her own angel. Their joy was almost palpable, and I smiled in spite of my heavy heart.
Aisla saw me and gave me one of her shy waves. I walked down to them and sat on the warm sand, and Finch immediately asked how Mom was.
“She’s sad, but she’ll be okay. How about you two? Do you like it here?”
They nodded eagerly, and Finch signed, Are you going to live here with us now?
“I’m going to visit for a while, but I have to go back.” My smile widened when I remembered the surprise I had for him. “Guess who I saw in Faerie.”
His eyes widened. Gus?
“Yep. He came to visit me. And guess what else. He’s big like the dragons in that cartoon you like to watch.” I stretched my arms out for emphasis. “He picked me up and flew me around. It was amazing.”
Finch demanded I tell them all about Gus. When I said Gus remembered him, he jumped up and down in the sand. Can Gus come visit us?
“I don’t think so, but I can take you to visit him sometime when Mom and Dad say it’s okay.”
Finch considered this. Six months ago, the closest he wanted to get to the outside world was through the windows of our apartment. Today, he was playing in the sand on a tropical island and pondering over the idea of visiting another realm. Life had changed so much for everyone in my family.
Can Mom and Dad come, too? he asked hopefully.
“Humans can’t go to Faerie, remember? But we can bring back lots of gifts for them and tell them all about the fun we had.” That reminded me of my trip to the market, and I grinned. “In fact, I might have something in my bag for you guys.”
The two of them were at the veranda steps before I got to my feet. Laughing, I brushed sand off my pants and followed them into the house.
* * *
It was two days before my mother was strong enough to leave her room. She didn’t need to be sedated, but Dad and I had to fight to get her to eat and drink. When she wasn’t sleeping, we took turns sitting with her so she wasn’t overwhelmed, and during my time with her, she wanted to know all about Prince Rhys.
When I wasn’t with Mom or Dad, I played outside with Finch and Aisla. I showed them how to build sand forts, and I created shallow wading pools that they delighted in for hours. I lov
ed to watch them play together. They took joy in the simplest things and never asked for more than my company. Humans could learn a lot from sprites and nixies about making the most of life. As could Court faeries for that matter.
It wasn’t until my second evening there that Dad and I were able to sit and talk again. He asked about Faerie, and once I began, it all came pouring out of me like a dam that had burst open. I described the court, the town, and the people there. His face creased with concern when I told him about getting sick, and he asked a ton of questions when I described the market.
Then I got to my reunion with Gus. I described the nerve-racking flight across the valley and cliffs and over the ocean to the island. I got to the part where I saw the ke’tain in the temple, and I don’t know who was more shocked when I said, “The next thing I know, Aedhna is standing beside me, asking if I can feel the ke’tain’s power.”
My father stared at me as if he wasn’t sure whether I was joking or delusional. “Aedhna, the Fae goddess, appeared to you?”
“Yes,” I replied hesitantly. When nothing bad happened, I laughed breathlessly. “Her magic gag doesn’t work here.”
“Jesse, what are you talking about? You’re not making sense.”
I sank back in my chair. “Wait until you hear the rest.”
He listened raptly while I recounted my whole conversation with Aedhna, including her stunning revelation that I would help her repair the barrier between our worlds. I concluded with her disappearing and Gus returning me to court. I left out the part where the king walked in on Lukas and me kissing.
“She said I wouldn’t be able to tell anyone about it until after the job was done.” I looked around, half expecting a bolt of magic to come at me out of nowhere. When nothing happened, I let out a breath. “Either her magic doesn’t work on me here, or it only applies to me telling other faeries.”
Dad’s brow furrowed. “She didn’t give you any clue about what you have to do? Or when?”
“All she said was that I would know when the time is right.” I drew my legs up under me. “What can I possibly do for her that Lukas or the king can’t?”
“Maybe it has something to do with you being a new faerie. Or it could be your goddess stone. Maybe it allows you to do things other faeries can’t.”