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“He’s not fighting you back, Ash.”
“Dammit.” He lets go of Sindri and steps back. “No, he’s only talking nonsense about furniture.”
I catch the fae boy’s arm as he slides down the wall. “Sin!”
“I’m okay,” he slurs. “Arawn, I feel shitty.”
“It’s the booze,” Ashton mutters.
“I never said I had any,” Sindri says hoarsely.
“Then what have you had?” Ashton demands to know.
“The fucking naked truth of it is that I haven’t had anything at all.”
Ashton grunts, rakes a hand through his hair. “What else did your mirror show you?”
Sindri lets his head rest back against the wall. I put a hand on his cheek and it’s cold. “You should be in bed,” I tell him. “You’re unwell.”
He catches my hand, gently lowers it. “I saw my mother’s face.”
That’s something I hadn’t expected. “Your mother?”
“I’ve been looking for her for years. Trying to find her since she disappeared. The elders… They told me that I’d find a clue here, at the Academy.”
“That’s why you’re here? To find your mother?”
“Yes. What did you think? Fae princes have tutors at the palace. They never attendschools.” He manages to make the word sound filthy. “I fought tooth and nail to attend the Academy so that I could search. I followed the thread of rumors again and again, always hitting dead-ends.”
“The photo you took from that girl in the grove,” I whisper. “You were following a rumor.”
He nods. “I was told she knew where my mother was, that she had a picture of her. It wasn’t true.”
Pieces are clicking into place. “And the mirror said your mother… is here?”
“The mirror is cryptic. I wonder what it meant by showing me the vampire’s tasteless room, I…” His head rolls to the side—and then he sits up straighter. “That photo. On the floor.”
I turn to look at the photo of the girl that fell from my hand earlier. “What of it?
He goes to his knees, reaches over and takes it, all color draining from his already pale face. “Where did you get it?
“It’s mine,” Ashton says stonily. “Why?”
His voice is hushed. “That’s her. That’s my mother.”
“Nonsense,” Ashton says though I notice that his face has gone white, too. “This woman was human.”
“Was?” Sindri’s eyes narrow. “Was? Where is she?”
“She’s dead,” Ashton whispers. “I’m sorry.”
“What are you sorry for? What…?” Sindri sits back on his heels, staring at the photo. “What have you done, Ash?”
The door of the room creaks as it opens wider. Turning, I see Jason and Emrys standing there.
“Guys?” Jason glances from Sindri to Ashton. “There was magic leaking all over the place. What’s going on?”
“I don’t know.” Ashton swallows hard. “He burst in here, telling me to unhand Mia, and now he’s saying that a human girl in a picture I have is his mother.”
