Seventh Seal - Jacquelyn Faye Page 0,58

elf in her place. He might have been king of a different elfhame for all I knew, but still. Elves respected royalty. Even when they were pompous airbags.

"Light elves would never resort to poison, Lady."

"Too pure for that?"

"Magic is more efficient."

She wasn't making me feel any better. "I see why you like this place."

"Because?"

"It's light and airy. Cute. Just like you."

Candace blushed, almost putting her face behind her hands. I couldn't help but smile, and I relaxed a little. With the opening of the bookstore, she and Josie had been run ragged. I missed my little fey-blooded ball of sunshine.

"How are you and Josie doing? Getting excited about moving into your house?"

She nodded, very emphatically. I was almost worried about her head toppling off her neck.

"Getting sick of your old Aunt Dot already?"

She shook her head as equally as violent. But then she sighed and sipped her water. She seemed to be struggling to ask me something but finally blurted out, "Are you ever going to tell her?"

"Tell who?"

"Josie."

"Uhhh. Tell her what?"

She raised one of her perfectly manicured eyebrows at me. Maybe they were natural. It wasn't as if I'd ever seen Candace plucking them, but nothing could be that natural and perfect. It wouldn't have been fair to the rest of us. "The truth?"

"What truth?" An icy fist clamped around my heart.

Candace sighed, set her water down on the table in front of her, and leaned forward on her elbows. "I know."

"That…"

"She is your sibling."

"How did you find out?"

She smiled at me. "Since the moment I saw you in the same room as her. Your power is very similar, just in vastly different quantities."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because neither of you knew. I could tell that much, too. But then when you found out, I could feel it. It wasn't my place to say anything in front of Josie, but now that I have you alone… When are you going to tell her?"

"When that knowledge won't be a danger."

"You're fooling yourself."

Candace was shy and demure. Most of the time. When she had her moments of…clarity, she was almost scary in her conviction and sincerity. "About what?"

"That you think Josie is the reason why you haven't told her."

I forgot to mention that she was pretty fucking insightful, too. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Candace trailed her finger through the condensation on her glass and then rubbed it between her thumb and forefinger, thinking. "You're afraid that she will be upset."

"Of what?"

"Exactly."

I blinked in confusion.

"Do you honestly think the joy of finding out you are her sister would outweigh the shock?"

I sighed. "It's not the shock of it that I'm worried about. Josie… She's been my best friend forever. Since the day we were born. Our lives were vastly different."

"How?"

"You've met her mother?"

Candace shuddered. "But I have also met yours. I see problems with both."

"You hit the nail on the head. But my mother was the high priestess of the coven. Magic came easy to me. I had a super-hot boyfriend. There were many times that Josie and I drifted apart."

"Because she was jealous."

I shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe."

"I wasn't asking."

"Oh."

"And you think if she finds out you are siblings, she will be angry because you are so vastly different?"

"Yes."

"You both have one very important thing in common."

"What?"

"You both can be very stupid." She finished just as Charlie set our food in front of us and picked up our half-empty glasses for refills. She did snicker when she heard Candy call me stupid but left it at that.

I was shocked. Candace had called me stupid and I didn't think I'd ever been more proud of her.

She realized what she had said, blushed, and picked up her fork. She immediately started rummaging through the leaves and scooped out a candied almond. "Sorry, Lady."

"Don't you dare be. I am being stupid. My little Candace is growing up. Sniff."

She stuck her tongue out and put the candied nut in her mouth, groaning in pleasure.

"Good?"

She nodded and plucked another on out of her salad and put it on the plate next to my giblet burger. It looked about a thousand times more appetizing than the faux lunch on my plate, so I tried it and groaned a little, too.

"See?"

"Yeah, yeah. Salad good. Burger bad. Bad Dot."

She snickered.

"Kind of surprised, though."

"About what?"

"I never thought I'd see the day you put nuts in your mouth." I grinned at her, earning myself an eyeroll.

"So, are you going to tell her?"

"Fine. Yes."

"When?"

"At your wedding. How's that?"

A tear actually