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Eli grinned. “Don’t hold a grudge because I shot down your plan for me to reenact a scene from an old John Cusack movie.”
“Iris would so call the cops,” Rowan said. “And if she didn’t, Susan would.”
“That’s true enough. I truly do not like or understand that woman.” Henry Dale scowled as if the mere mention of her was enough to blight his good mood.
Rowan said, “Maybe she’s lonely.”
“Not everyone who’s lonely is also petty and mean,” Henry Dale pointed out.
While the other two chatted and bickered playfully, Eli thought about what he’d gained in St. Claire—friends who were like family, a chance to reconnect with people he’d written off, and possibly…love.
If he was brave enough to see it through.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
That moment of agony lasteda lifetime and no time at all.
Iris’s head went blurry, and she arched as the agony unspooled, leaving her soul to bleed. She opened her eyes again with great difficulty, locking onto Rain’s hand motions. As Iris struggled to grasp how she could feel pain in parts of her that had no nerve endings, Rain pulled what looked like a thin silver cordoutof her body. The ephemeral chain writhed like a snake and then vanished in a puff of smoke. She blinked several times, wishing the world made sense, but it hadn’t since she’d found a door to fairyland in her grimy basement. Now weird things just kept happening.
“That’s how you were hidden from us,” Fen said.
“And how you were bound to this form, your magical nature stunted,” Rain added.
“We should start from the beginning, my love.”
Rain agreed with a regal little nod as Sally tiptoed in with a tray of tea and cookies. Bless Sally for taking this development in stride, Iris thought, until Sally caught her eye and mouthed,What the hell,as she backed out of the room.
Right, I’m on my own.
Both the fae took cursory sniffs of the drinks and didn’t touch them as Rain went on, “I’ll try to make this concise, as it covers a fair amount of fae history. Fen and I, we come from opposing houses.”
“Seelie and Unseelie?” Iris asked.
“Oh, you’ve read some legends! That’s delightful. Not exactlycorrect, but human versions of fae history rarely are,” Fen said.
Rain sighed with an expressive flutter of fingertips so graceful that they reminded Iris of leaves dancing on the wind. “So true. But then, they don’t even document their own history accurately, so what can one expect?”
Surreal. She returned to that word as she listened to her parents—her real fae parents?—talk blithely about inaccuracies in human historical records. “You were saying…”
Rain nodded. “Indeed. We tend to be less…direct in our communication styles, as we’re not under any time constraints, so we’re finding this dialogue a bit challenging.”
“You two had a Romeo and Juliet situation then? Your families disapproved of your relationship, I take it?” Iris had managed to glean that much.
Fen smiled—or tried to—a wholly strange and uncanny expression. “Precisely. So dear Willie made a go of the writing then? How fascinating.”
“You knew…Shakespeare?”
“He visited a few times when he was writing about the fae queen. What was that play called?” Rain fluttered their fingers, trying to remember.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Iris supplied.
“That’s the one. My family thought Fen and I would go our separate ways if they…well, if they removed you. From us.”
“But the search only brought us closer,” Fen said. “We created you out of love, and you were stolen from us, sentherewrapped in an enchantment that hid most of your true nature. I’m so sorry, precious blossom.”
Rain added, “The humans granted you a good name, at least.”
“True. Iris suits you.” Fen inclined their head as if they were bestowing a boon.
