be a bit of a shock.”
Shy’s eyes changed, going all black, and her whole body seemed to shift, shoulders softening, the expression on her face becoming something oddly familiar to me. “Hello, me darlin’ girl. It’s been so long, and I’ve missed you. Devinshea, you still need a haircut. You look like a girl.”
Her accent had become a deep Irish.
“Harry?” Dev asked.
I barely heard the question because the day had been way too much for me, and my peripheral vision started to fade.
Dev caught me even as I heard Lee sigh.
“Told you we should have eased her into it, Grandad.”
I let the darkness take me and prayed this was all just a dream.
Chapter Five
I came to on an unfamiliar bed, candles lighting the room. Someone had moved me here, covering me in a soft quilt. For a moment I tried to convince myself that it had all been a dream and I was back in Summer’s palace.
But the smallness of the room, the scent of something cooking, all told me I was exactly where I thought I was.
“Hey, Mom. There’s water next to you,” a soft voice said. “Should I go get Papa? Dad is still out talking to the vampires we have here, but Papa is in the kitchen with the boys.”
I sat up and Evan was in a chair by the bed, a fire glowing softly in the hearth. She looked like her sister. Not exactly, of course. She was shorter than Summer, her body more petite and lithe. She wore the same tactical clothing her brothers wore and I could tell she was fit and muscular.
From years of training when she should have been playing.
“I’m sorry Lee hit you with Shy that way,” Evan began. “Lee doesn’t get that you have to be eased into things. He kind of steamrolls his way through life. I should explain.”
“My father is dead and he found a way to stick around.” I forced myself to sit up. “Did Myrddin kill him?”
Evan nodded shortly. “Yes, though we didn’t know exactly what had happened for years. He was there that day. He was there when Myrddin came for us.”
“Tell me about it.”
“You should rest. I’m sure Rhys will give you a full debrief.”
“I want to hear it from you. I think Rhys has become a leader, and he’ll leave emotion out of it. I want to know what it was like. How did my father die? How did you end up with Sasha? He was in Italy at the time. How long was it between when we disappeared and you were forced to flee?”
“It was the morning after you went missing. From what I understand Myrddin waited until the warrior vampires were sleeping before he made his big move. It was early enough that I hadn’t woken up yet. Albert came in and woke me up and handed me a bag. He told me I had to put some clothes in it and I could take one stuffed animal. It’s the only time I can ever remember seeing Albert flustered. Granddad was there, and he came in and helped me. He promised me it would all be okay, and he let me take two stuffed animals. He also slipped a picture in my bag. I didn’t find it until later. It was a picture of our family. He had to fold it up, but I still have it.”
My heart ached with every word she spoke. “Why didn’t he go with you?”
“Because Myrddin showed up before we were ready,” my daughter explained. “He rushed in and we were in our rooms. Granddad held him off. Held all of them off. He bought us time with his life. He’ll have to tell you that part. He doesn’t talk about it past that. Anyway, Eddie managed to get us out of the penthouse. He can only teleport to places he’s been to before, so we ended up in Italy on the island of Poveglia. From there we made our way to Venice and Marcus Vorenus’s townhouse there. Sasha was in residence, and he and Trent took control. For the first several years, we moved around a lot. Even from plane to plane when they found someone who could teach us.”
They’d gone from pampered kids to fugitives overnight. “Teach you how to fight?”
“Yes, and some magic. I’m not that great with it, but Rhys has been able to funnel some of his Fae magic into powerful Earth magics,” Evan explained. “Sasha was insistent that we all