I snort. “How about Earl Grey? I heard from a respectable source it’s even accepted in tea snob circles.”
“Only some of them.”
“Your uncle is Ash’s father.”
“He was, yes. He passed away a while ago.”
“Oh.” I turn back, gesturing toward him. “After…”
“Yes.”
“Were you close?”
“We were—he and my aunt chose to raise me, after all. They treated me like one of their children. He was a father to me.”
“And you didn’t get to say goodbye?” I whisper.
“No. He’ll never know I didn’t take off.”
“Rowan…”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s not.”
“All right, it’s not,” he admits. “But there’s nothing either of us can do about it.”
“How did you come to live with your aunt and uncle?”
“My mother was my uncle’s younger sister.”
“A Neilfellow.”
“Correct. She had a wild streak and took off when she was eighteen. When she came back, she had a two-year-old mage son. No one knew who my human father was, maybe not even my mom. My aunt and uncle took us in. But a few months later…”
“She left again.”
That makes the blow so much harder. His uncle must have thought Rowan abandoned the family like his sister did.
“Yes. Without me.” He sighs heavily. “Which was, quite honestly, the best thing she could do for me. I had a stable upbringing.”
“But Ash resented you?”
“He was embarrassed of me—said my mage blood was a stain on our family name. But I think he was just jealous. And I suppose I was jealous of him as well. Our whole lives have been nothing but a competition—we were always trying to outdo one another. It only got worse as we grew older. It came to a head when I started dating Keira.”
I settle at the table. “Tell me about her.”
“Her family moved to Moss Hollow when Ash and I were seniors in high school. Her parents bought the bed and breakfast off Main.”
“The one that’s for sale?” I ask.
“That’s it. Ash was immediately taken with her, and I followed soon after because that was our way.”
“And she was high fae?”
“Yes. Which was why Ash thought I didn’t deserve her.”
“But she chose you.”
