Movement behind me. Warm hands sliding around my stomach, a comforting nuzzle against my neck. The scent of candle flame and black pepper.Jude.
“Let’s sit, scarecrow,” he whispers into my hair. “Rook’s got some news.”
Draegan’s with him, too, his face grim. He briefly meets my gaze, then quickly looks away, heading past me toward the bar. But even in that brief instant, I saw it.
Not regret about our argument. Not anger over my refusal to listen to his version of “reason.”
But fear.
Swallowing hard, I allow Jude to lead me into the study, and I take a seat on the sofa next to Rook. His wing comes around behind my shoulder.
A drink is thrust in front of me, and when I glance up, I find Draegan holding the glass.
“You may want this,” he says. The scent of expensive cognac wafts up.
I take a few sips, steadying myself.
“We got into the files,” Rook says softly. “The SSD card.”
Another sip. A deep, shuddering breath. “Tell me,” I whisper.
They all exchange a loaded glance.
Rook hands me his tablet, his honey eyes full of compassion. “Your mother left you letters, West. Diaries of some sort. All written to you while she was pregnant. I didn’t read all of them—just a few as I was transferring the files. I wanted you to decide what to share or keep private.”
“Letters? From… from my mom?” Tears well in my eyes, and I can’t help the smile that spreads across my face, or the nervous laugh that follows it. “Goddess! I thought someone died, or Eloise had found a way to get to me, or… You’re all looking at me like I’ve got an expiration date. But my mother left me letters? A chance to get to know her in a way I never could before? This is… this…”
I trail off, realizing none of them have returned my laugh. They’re all still looking at me like the bomb is about to drop.
“West, before you read them…” Rook’s hand is warm on my thigh. Across from us, Jude watches me carefully. Auggie’s still pacing, and Draegan… He’s in the corner nursing a drink, his jaw tight, wings stiff with tension. “I’m going to tell you this one thing,” Rook continues. “The most important thing.”
I nod, heart hammering in my chest.
He blows out a deep breath, then says, “Brian Avery is not your biological father.”
“He…what?”
“Your father is… At least, according to your mother… He’s a—”
“Yourfather,” Draegan says, unable to keep the vitriol from his tone, “is a dark fae noble of the Wintermoon court. And he’ll never stop hunting you.”
Icy dread slithers down my spine and wraps around my heart.
Wintermoon. The same cutthroat fae who cursed the men I love.
“Subtle, Drae,” Auggie says. “Real subtle.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Draegan snaps. “She doesn’t need subtle. She needs the truth.”
Auggie slams his glass down on the mantle. “She needs time to process—”
“No, Draegan’s right,” I say softly. “I need the truth, as painful and terrifying as it’s going to be. All of it. No sugarcoating, no subtleties.”
The gargoyles nod.
I take a deep, steadying breath.
Down the rest of the drink.
