gritted her teeth, the intense need to piece more of her mother’s life together fighting her outrage at the incredible breach of privacy. The feeling of longing won out. If Walt wasn’t her father, then maybe her father hadn’t been some anonymous fae passing through the Brink. Maybe her mother had actually loved him.
She wasn’t sure if that made his decision to leave better or worse, but she wanted to know more. Besides, she recognized him. How could she not? He’d been standing right next to her in her hallucination, wearing battle gear with pride sparkling in his eyes.
“And did you?” she asked, centering her weight, unconsciously preparing to fight out her feelings. “Did you find out who he was?”
“Of course I did.” Vlad’s smile was serene. “He is your biological father.”
Charity stared after Vlad with a slack jaw, watching him saunter away like he hadn’t just dropped a bunch of bombs. Once he made it across the path and between two leafy trees, he turned on the jets, giving the illusion that he had vanished.
The man sure knew how to make an exit.
Charity stared down at the photograph. She’d wondered why her mother had left the photo behind. Charity hadn’t known the man, after all—the photograph wasn’t sentimental to her. Now, it struck her that it had been her mom’s way of telling her about her real father.
It had taken a nosy, arrogant vampire to solve the riddle.
“He didn’t say who your father was,” Penny said, anger hot in her voice.
“Her father is exactly who Vlad always thought he was, or did you miss his smugness?” Emery waved his hand through the air and quickly bent to collect the vial and photograph. Even as he was straightening back up with them, Penny was working magic, probably putting the ward back in place. “Her father is Arcana, he’s warrior fae, and the elves are coming. We gotta move. Devon, get your people ready. Rest time is over.”
Emery handed the vial to Charity.
“We’ll talk about this on the road,” he said. “It could be a trap. But…”
He laughed and shook his head. “But…it could be unicorn blood.”
Chapter Twenty
“Wait, unicorns are real?” Charity asked as Emery headed back to the camping site.
“Unicorns are real?” Penny echoed, hurrying after him.
“I don’t know.” Emery stuffed his thin bedroll back into his backpack. Devon stepped away for a moment to talk to Dillon. A couple of other shifters changed back to human and started grabbing up packs. From the way they were eyeing Emery, she suspected they’d heard the exchange with Vlad.
“In the years I spent wandering the Realm, I heard a million rumors,” Emery said. “Most turned out false, as you might expect, but a year or so ago I heard from a reliable source that the vampires were hunting someone who was smuggling unicorn blood from under their noses and selling it in the Brink. The blood acts as a sort of magical booster, I guess. It was turning witches into mages, and they were organizing. Or trying to. I heard whisperings about them…until I didn’t.”
Devon returned to Charity’s side and slipped an arm around her waist as Emery continued. “The vampires must have taken out the culprits and all of their followers. My source disappeared not long afterward, which suggests they didn’t just go after the people directly involved—they went after everyone who might know their secret. Now, here we are, with an elder vampire handing us a little red vial to help boost Charity’s magic and energy. I’m guessing there’s some truth to it.”
“So, if that’s what Vlad left for Charity…then we can expect to be hunted and killed by Vlad and his minions to keep their secret?” Penny asked.
Emery laughed, and Charity had no idea what was so funny. Sure, the vampires were unlikely to go after her, but Charity wasn’t sure Roger could protect Devon’s pack from being picked off one by one. Not from a vampire like Vlad.
“When he’s done with us?” Emery waved his hand near the ward and walked through without looking back to make sure everyone was following him. “Probably. Those he deems useless, at least. The rest will probably be given an offer they can’t refuse.”
“That dirty cheat,” Penny said, her fists balled up. “He can’t just throw a big secret at us and then blame us for knowing it.”
“It’s Vlad,” Emery said as though it was reason enough. He was probably right.